The Boy's Own Book of Indoor Games and Recreations / A Popular Encyclopædia for Boys

by C. Stansfeld Hicks; John Nevil Maskelyne; Gordon Stables

Fig. 5.

You will now want two to three stringers each side, of elm, ash or other tough wood, of sufficient length, and about half an inch thick by one inch wide. These will run from stem to stern over the shadows, and be firmly secured to the parts. The gunwale must be of the same sort of wood, say one inch square, and let in half an inch into the shadows to bring it flush with the stringers. The gunwale must be secured to the stem and stern posts, leaving about an inch of the posts above it; and a triangular piece of hard wood an inch thick and about three to six inches deep must be shaped to fit between the gunwales and the stem and stern posts, and the gunwales firmly secured to it by countersunk screws. This will bind all firmly together. As you will have taken the measurements from your plans, in which you have decided the sheer of the boat, the gunwale will follow this sheer, starting from the midship shadow and curving up towards the posts.

You have now got the framework ready, with the exception of the ribs, which are put in afterwards. The next step will be to get the canvas to form the outside skin.

You must buy sufficient canvas to cover your canoe. See that it is close and strong (No. 6, Navy unbleached, or something as near that as possible). Turn the canoe upside down, and stretch your canvas over it, tacking it firmly along the keel with copper nails about an inch apart, and then strain it tightly to the gunwales and secure it there with copper tacks (iron or large tin tacks may be used here if you are short of copper), first turning down the raw edge of the canvas. Then tack down the ends to the stem and stern posts, lapping one side of the canvas first round the opposite side of the part and securing it, and then bringing the other side of the canvas over the part secured and tacking it on the opposite side, thus doubling the canvas over the stem and stern posts. It is as well to run a copper band from six inches down the stem and stern posts to about a foot along the keel, to take the wear off the canvas, and a slight wooden false keel may be screwed over all with brass screws, or fastened with copper nails. Any slackness that may exist in the canvas must now be taken up. Turn the canoe right side up and gather in the canvas where you can find it slack, which will probably be at the bow and stern; and, after gathering it tightly in a pleat, sew it strongly down on the inside. This, perhaps, had best be done before you completely secure the canvas down, and while it is only secured at the ends and along the gunwale, leaving it unfastened along the keel.

Next get your ribs ready; these had best be made of rock elm or other tough wood, to avoid the trouble of steaming. They must be about three-sixteenths of an inch by three-quarters wide, or one inch or even two inches wide will do if you can bend them. Space the ribs about six inches apart; you can put them closer if you want extra strength. See that they are cut the right length, that when put in—which must be done by main force—the ribs take all the stringers, and butt tightly under the gunwales. You may either cut a slight notch in the gunwale to receive the ends of the ribs, or, after all the ribs are in, run a strip of wood half an inch by half an inch under the gunwale and over all the ribs, screwing it firmly to the gunwale, to keep the ribs in their places. When the ribs are all in their places, you may remove the shadows and look over the canvas again to see if it is all tight, putting an extra rib in wherever you have taken it up, and securing such a plain to the rib by a few tacks.

You must now cut the crossbars the proper size and fit them in, securing them to the gunwale by knees on each side. You have now only to paint the canvas, and when it has had two or three coats, firmly dried on, the canoe is ready to use. After using it turn it upside down, so that water cannot accumulate inside, as if it does it will soon rot the canvas, and whenever the paint wears off a little be careful to replace it. With these simple precautions such a canoe will last a long while, and will be of great use and amusement to you, as it can be easily carried from one piece of water to another by one person. Should you wish to make it a lifeboat, all you have to do is to get two zinc cases fitted to each end, which will float the canoe if capsized, or run a tapering belt of painted canvas filled with corks round the canoe outside on the water-line (see [Fig. 5], A A A A A). If you take this precaution you will probably not regret it, as a capsize is a very simple matter to achieve in any round-bottomed light boat, and there is not much stuff in such a slightly-constructed craft to float the occupant if capsized.

Fig. 6.

The American paper canoe was constructed something in the same way as to framework, but two of the shadows were left in after being cut away in the middle (see [Fig. 6]), leaving them three or four inches deep all round, and the keel was left about one foot wide between the two shadows, which were placed so as to divide the keel into three equal parts. They were firmly screwed to the keel, stringers (B B) were then run from stem to stern. The stem and stern posts were of green elm screwed to the bottom board or keel, and bent (see [cut]) into the required position; the ribs were made of osier willow switches put in while green; the gunwale (A A) was of ash. This framework was covered with very strong wrapping-paper, smooth and very tough, neither stiff nor very thick. This was secured first to the bottom board, the canoe being turned upside down; and then the paper was trimmed into shape and brought up to the gunwales, and secured there by being turned in over the gunwale and held down by long strips of ash or cane. The whole outside surface of the paper was then given three coats of varnish ([Fig. 7]).