(1) Boats.—All boats shall be constructed and properly equipped as provided by these rules, and shall be of such form and proportions that they shall have sufficient freeboard, and ample stability in a seaway, when loaded with their full complement of persons and equipment.
All thwart and side seats must be fitted as low in the boat as practicable, and bottom boards must be fitted so that the thwarts shall not be more than 2 feet 9 inches above them.
All boats and other life-saving appliances are to be kept ready for use to the satisfaction of the board of trade. Internal buoyancy apparatus may be constructed of wood, or of copper or yellow metal of not less than 18 ounces to the superficial foot, or of other durable material.
SECTION (A). A boat of this section shall be a lifeboat of whaleboat form, properly constructed of wood or metal, having for every 10 cubic feet of her capacity, computed as in rule (2), at least 1 cubic foot of strong and serviceable inclosed air-tight compartments, so constructed that water can not find its way into them. In the case of metal boats an addition will have to be made to the cubic capacity of the air-tight compartments, so as to give them buoyancy equal to that of the wooden boat.
SEC. (B). A boat of this section shall be a lifeboat, of whaleboat form properly constructed of wood or metal, having inside and outside buoyancy apparatus together equal in efficiency to the buoyancy apparatus provided for a boat of section (A). At least one-half of the buoyancy apparatus must be attached to the outside of the boat.
SEC. (C). A boat of this section shall be a lifeboat, properly constructed of wood or metal, having some buoyancy apparatus attached to the inside and (or) outside of the boat, equal in efficiency to one-half of the buoyancy apparatus provided for a boat of section (A) or section (B). At least one-half of the buoyancy apparatus must be attached to the outside of the boat.
SEC. (D). A boat of this section shall be a properly constructed boat of wood or metal.
SEC. (E). A boat of this section shall be a boat of approved construction, form, and material, and may be collapsible.
(2) Cubic capacity.—The cubic capacity of an open boat and of a deck boat of section (D) or section (E) shall be ascertained by multiplying the product of the length, breadth, and depth by 6, subject, however, to the following provisions:
The length shall be measured from the foreside of the rabbet on the stem to the afterside of the rabbet on the sternpost, and the breadth shall be measured from the outside of plank to the outside of plank amidships. The actual depth shall be measured from the top of the gunwale to the top of the bottom plank next to the keel, but the depth used in calculating the cubic capacity shall not in any case exceed 3.6 feet; and if the actual depth measured is equal to or less than 3.6 feet, the depth used in calculating the cubic capacity shall not exceed 45 per cent of the breadth measured, as indicated above.