The whole craft should be thoroughly painted (see Painting).
Houses are sometimes built on rafts. This will do very well if the raft is a good one, like a float. A float can be easily made, if you have the materials, by laying a thick flooring on logs or heavy timbers and providing greater buoyancy than such a platform naturally has by fastening under it, between the timbers, as many empty and sealed barrels or casks (oil-barrels are good) as may be necessary. When the float is stationary and under ordinary circumstances, there is, of course, no need to fasten the casks in any way except to fence them around so that they cannot roll or slide out, as their buoyancy will prevent their escaping, but it is easy to fasten them by chains or otherwise if needed. This makes an excellent foundation on which to build a house, and has some advantages over a boat for a stationary arrangement, but is obviously not as well suited for moving around as a scow or flatboat.
PART V
COMMON TOOLS AND THEIR USE, WITH SOME EVERY-DAY OPERATIONS
CHAPTER XVI
Anvil.—An anvil is often useful and is sometimes combined with a vise. It should have a flat steel surface and also a tapering, rounded (conical) point. An old flat-iron does quite well.
Auger-Bit.—See Bits.
