Before beginning work read carefully Marking, Rule, Square, Saw, Plane, Nailing, in [Part V]., and look up any other references.
Care should be taken to select clear, straight-grained stock, free from knots, checks, and other defects, and thoroughly dry. Pine is excellent.
Fig. 444.
The general principle of construction does not differ from that of the flat-bottomed boats already described, and detailed directions are therefore omitted. The sides should each be of one ¾" or 7/8" board. The arrangement of the details is obvious. Knees can be used to good advantage. The deck should be of wood, the boards (½") resting on cross-beams or carlins, reaching from gunwale to gunwale (as already shown) and slightly arched. Around the well-hole, brackets can be used (Fig. 445). The deck can be covered with canvas.
Fig. 445.
This boat, as shown in the illustration, is planked across the bottom like the other flat-bottomed boats already described, but the bottom boards can run lengthways instead, if preferred. In this case knees should be inserted, or cross-frames of some kind, to reach across the bottom and to which the bottom boards can be nailed. The bottom boards should be not less than ¾" thick and the edges must be carefully jointed (see Jointing). They can be laid slightly apart and the seams caulked (see page 302). Strips of flannel laid in thick white-lead paint can be placed between the edges of the sides and stern and the bottom boards, or the edges can simply be painted.
Fig. 446.