If you use a cat-rig, spritsail, or other rig without any head-sail before the mast, it would be well to place the runner-plank further forward.
Fig. 458.
The latest and best way to brace the frame of an ice-boat is to strain guys of wire rope (Fig. 458), tightened with turnbuckles, omitting the side pieces, and fastening a car or box to the backbone, but this arrangement, though lighter and more elastic, is more expensive and not so easy to make for a small boat as the one just described.
A somewhat simpler way to arrange the framework is shown in Figs. 459, 460, and 461. In place of the runners already described a cheaper arrangement can be made by the blacksmith of 5/8" bar iron, steeled, and bent up at the ends, as shown in Fig. 461.
A much smaller affair can be made by simply arranging two pieces of joist or plank in the form of a cross (bracing them so far as may be necessary), putting cleats under each end of the shorter cross-piece or runner-board and fastening common skates to the cleats, using another pivoted skate at the stern for a rudder. The runners of the skates should be ground, or filed, as shown above.
Fig. 459.
Fig. 460.