Fig. 461.
The details of such a small ice-boat you can work out for yourself by modifying and simplifying according to your ingenuity the suggestions for a larger boat given above. The hardest part to fix is the rudder-post and tiller. Some iron arrangement is best, but something can be contrived in the following manner, which is not, however, recommended as very satisfactory. Fasten the rudder skate upon a piece of board in which is cut a mortise. Into this mortise a short piece of hard wood, like a large broomstick with squared end, is fitted for a rudder-post. The upper end of the rudder-post, squared just like the lower end, is fitted into a mortise cut in the tiller piece. A washer should be placed between the skate-block and the backbone, and the rudder-post should turn freely in the hole in the backbone, but not loosely enough to wobble around. Cut the mortise in the tiller and fit to the post before cutting off and shaping the tiller, to avoid danger of splitting. An extra block may have to be put under the backbone at the rudder to level the boat so that the skates will bear properly on the ice, for if the stern is much lower, so that they drag by the heels, the boat will not sail properly. Wooden arrangements of this sort are, however, only justifiable as makeshifts, and require good workmanship to be strong and effective.
House-Boat.—A house-boat consists of two parts, one of which (the boat) is essentially like the scow or flat boat already described, and the other (the house) is usually much the same as some of the little structures described in Part III. (House-building for Beginners), however expensively and elaborately it may be arranged and fitted up. The advantages of the house-boat for camping, shooting, fishing, and for some kinds of excursions are too well known to require explanation. It is an excellent thing for two or more to build together. It may not be out of place to suggest that, in the desire to have the house sufficiently large and convenient, you should not be misled into making plans which will necessitate building a large boat. Dimensions (on paper) for such things are quite deceptive, and to build a large boat, even of such a simple type as the scow or flatboat, is quite a serious undertaking for the beginner—as regards both labour and expense.
If you can find a scow or flatboat already built, of suitable dimensions and which is sufficiently tight, or can be made so by caulking, you have only to proceed to build the house upon it. If, however, the boat as well as the house is to be built, you can proceed to build the boat in the way already described (page 299). Additional suggestions may be found in Figs. 462 and 463.
Before beginning read carefully Marking, Rule, Square, Saw, Plane, Nailing, in [Part V]., and look up any other references.
Fig. 462.