We therefore do not recommend half-decks for the class of boat of which we are now speaking. When a boat is big enough to be a small yacht, and the half-deck forward covers a cuddy large enough to afford sleeping accommodation to the crew, the case is different, and the half-deck becomes a decided advantage.
Ballast.—A small boat’s ballast, whatever form it may take, should be readily movable. Thus, if lead is used, it should be cast in small blocks of not more than half a hundredweight each, and in order that it may be lifted with ease, each block should be provided with a handle. Lead being very heavy, and therefore occupying little space in a boat, is the most convenient form of ballast, but it is also by far the most expensive. The iron half-hundredweights with handles at the top, which can be purchased at any marine store dealer’s, are nearly as convenient as lead weights, and are very cheap.
Battens should be nailed to the bottom of the boat to keep the ballast in its place, otherwise it might slide to leeward in a squall and cause a capsize.
Stones and bags of sand are often employed as ballast, but water contained in small barrels, or, better still, in metal tanks, shaped so as to fit closely into the bottom of the boat, is far the safest ballast that can be used. For if a boat provided with water ballast capsize and fill she will be no heavier than if she contained no ballast, and, consequently, she will not sink.
Another advantage of water ballast is that it can be pumped out to lighten the boat when a calm necessitates the use of oars, and be quickly admitted again when a breeze springs up and the sail is hoisted. Again, when the water-tanks are empty the boat is practically converted into a lifeboat, and if a sea fill her she will still float.
The advantages of water over other forms of ballast are so numerous that nothing else would be used in small boats were it not for the great amount of space it occupies; and so serious is this objection that one but rarely comes across a boat thus ballasted.
The Centre-Board.—In England the centre-board of a small boat is generally of galvanized iron; thus acting also, to some extent, as ballast. In America wooden centre-boards are more often used. If a boat has often to be beached or carried, lightness is an important object, and therefore the wooden centre-board is to be preferred. One objection to the centre-board is that its trunk or case occupies so much space in the interior of the boat. A telescopic or fan centre-board has recently been invented which folds up into itself when hauled up, and therefore requires no trunk. We believe, however, that this is only adapted for canoes and other very small boats.
False Keels.—If the tyro lives by the sea it is very likely that he will commence his nautical career by becoming the proud possessor of some old yacht’s dinghy or ship’s boat, which, when he puts sail on her, runs before the wind to his complete satisfaction, but is too shallow to turn to windward. Now, to put a centre-board into a boat that has not been expressly built for one is an expensive and generally unsatisfactory job, but any carpenter can nail a false keel on to the old one, and so give the boat the necessary draught at a small expense. A false keel should be rounded up towards the bow and stern, and have its greatest depth some way abaft the middle of the boat.
Lee-Boards.—The tyro will find lee-boards even less expensive and possibly more effective than a false keel, and when they are raised the boat will row more easily than if she were provided with the latter. There is some prejudice against lee-boards in England, and to eyes unaccustomed to see them on pleasure craft they appear ugly, but in Holland no boat or yacht is without them.
Large lee-boards are made in several sections, and are strengthened with iron bands, while they require a good deal of gear to support and raise them; but the author has found that with a small boat the following simple method of fitting lee-boards proved very satisfactory.