It is necessary to build the centreboard box and cut a hole through the bottom of the boat. For the average row-boat or skiff, you can make the centreboard box about 48 inches long and not higher, of course, than the gunwales of the boat. Make the box of 2-inch plank, and before nailing the sides together coat the seams thoroughly with white lead so as to prevent it from leaking. The centreboard should be made of 2-inch plank, which when planed down and smoothed will be about 17/8 of an inch thick, and the space in the box should be wide enough to allow it to move freely up and down, with no danger of its jamming. A hole should be cut in the bottom of the boat to correspond with the opening in the centreboard box, which, with a 48-inch box, will probably be an opening of 40 inches long and 1 inch wide. The centreboard is hinged to the box by a bolt run through at the point marked A on [Fig. 205]. The centreboard should move freely on the bolt, but the bolt itself should fit tightly in the sides of the box, otherwise the water will leak through. There will be no danger of the bolt's turning in its socket if the hole through the centreboard through which the bolt is thrust is made large enough. The centreboard box should be generously painted with white lead on the bottom edges where it fits on the floor of the boat around the centreboard hole. The bottom of the boat floor should also be coated with white lead and over this a strip of muslin spread before the box is securely nailed to the floor of the boat from the bottom or under side of the boat. When this is done the muslin covering the hole can be cut away with a sharp knife. A rope may then be fastened to the loose end of the centreboard with a cross-stick attached to the end of the rope to prevent it from slipping down the hole in the box. With this rope the centreboard may be raised or lowered to suit the pleasure of the sailor. ([Fig. 205].)
CHAPTER XIII
A "ROUGH-AND-READY" BOAT
Just What One Must Do to Build It—Detailed Instructions as to How to Make the Boat and How to Rig It
Good straight-grained pine wood is, without doubt, the best "all-around" wood for general use. It is easily whittled with a pocket-knife; it works smoothly under a plane; can be sawed without fatiguing the amateur carpenter; it is elastic and pliable; therefore use pine lumber to build your boat.
Examine the lumber pile carefully and select four boards nearly alike. Do not allow the dealer or his men to talk you into taking lumber with blemishes. The side pieces should be of straight-grained wood, with no large knots and no "checks" (cracks) in them, and must not be "wind shaken."
Measure the wood and see that it is over twenty-two feet long by one foot four or five inches wide and one inch thick. Trim two of the side-pieces until they are exact duplicates ([Fig. 206]). The stem-piece (or bow-piece) should be made from a triangular piece of oak ([Fig. 212]), and it is wise to make it a few inches longer than will be necessary, so that there may be no danger of finding, after all your labor, that the stick is too short; much better too long, for it is a simple matter to saw it off. Make a second stem-piece ([Fig. 213]) of oak about one inch thick and the same length as the first, and two or three inches wide, or twice as wide as the thickness of the side-boards.
The Stern-piece
The stern-piece can be fashioned out of two-inch pine boards, and may be made as wide or narrow as you choose. A narrow stern makes a trim-looking craft. With your saw cut off the corner of the tail-piece, so that it will be in the form of a blunted triangle ([Fig. 214]), measuring three feet ten and one-half inches across the base, three feet four inches on each side, and nine and one-half inches at the apex. The base of the triangle will be the top and the apex will be the bottom of the stern-board of your boat.