"Well, let me see," said Ned. "The Red Bird was twenty-four feet long in the keel—twenty-five feet over all,—and five feet wide amidships. We must allow liberally for waste in trying to use the old materials, so we'll take off six feet of length, giving the new boat a keel of eighteen feet, a total length of nineteen feet, and let the beam width take care of itself."
"How do you mean?"
"Why, we shorten amidships only; that is to say we omit the six or eight ribs that were in the middle of the old boat, and bring the next ribs forward and aft to the middle. Whatever width they give will be the width of the boat amidships. In that way we shall preserve the old proportions, while changing the old dimensions. The new boat will be, in shape, precisely what the Red Bird would have been if we had cut out six feet of her length amidships, and had then brought the two ends together."
"Yes, I see," said Charley. "What is the first thing to be done?"
"To lay a keel," said Ned. "The old keel is broken, so we must have a new one. Besides, that was double, for a centre-board, and we'll have to build without a centre-board."
"What are the dimensions of the keel?" asked Jack.
"Eighteen feet long, as nearly as we can guess, and about three inches by six or seven."
"To be set on edge?"
"Yes, and to project below the bottom. That will give steadiness to the boat."
"What is the best timber for the keel?" asked Jack.