The edges of the cockpit should be finished by oak combing nailed to the deck and timbers, and a quarter-round molding should then be run around the outside where the combing and the decks join.
If the deck is carefully made and laid in white lead, it will be tight, but if desired it may be covered with canvas laid in paint and with the edges folded down over the sides, trimmed closely and concealed by the molding.
The rudder should be made of either wood or metal. For a small boat, brass or galvanized iron is the best. It should be hung under the stern by means of a post run up through the keel and after deck. To prevent water from entering, a piece of brass tube, or pipe, threaded at both ends, is run through the hole, and set up closely by means of “waste-nuts,” after which the ends of the pipe should be filed off smoothly and slightly rivetted or burred over to prevent the nuts from coming loose.
If you succeed in building a sharpie, as directed, you can attempt a V-bottomed, or skipjack, boat or a dory, for the principles involved are the same in all, but space will not permit a full description of how to construct these. You can obtain a far better idea of how they are built by examining a boat and studying its various parts than by reading many pages of text.
Finally let me warn you not to attempt to build any boat, not even a small, flat-bottomed skiff, unless you possess patience and perseverance and are willing to take plenty of time and painstaking care. No boat that is worth building can be made by slap-bang, careless, slack methods. Boat-building is something which cannot be hurried, for the finished result depends very largely upon little things and attention to details. To watch a boat-builder, one would think that he did his work by guess and took little care, but in reality he does everything in a certain order and a certain way. His apparent carelessness is really expertness, for he has done exactly the same thing so many times that it becomes second nature and is almost involuntary.
If there is a boat-builder in your vicinity visit his shop, watch him by the hour, note the way he handles his tools and the order in which he shapes the parts and puts them together and your time will be well spent. It’s the best possible way to learn the details of boat-building.
CHAPTER X
WHAT NOT TO DO
In learning to sail a boat or when handling a boat after you have learned to sail, there are certain things you should do and many other things you should not do and of these the latter are perhaps the most important.
In the first place don’t try to learn to sail by using several different boats. Every boat has its peculiarities. If you use one boat on one day and another the next you will be confused and will be unable to make rapid progress, for one craft will sail to best advantage with the sails trimmed in one way and the very next boat you use may require very different treatment. One boat will sail closer to the wind than another, one will luff more quickly than another and one will come about readily every time, while the next may miss stays under the same conditions. Still other boats require special arrangements of ballast, a certain amount of centerboard or a definite trim in order to behave well and you must learn every whim and caprice of your craft to become expert in handling her.