Harper's Outdoor Book for Boys

by Joseph H. Adams

A HOUSE-PUNT

Between the middle rib and each side an inner keel should be arranged so that each plank can be nailed fast to it. This will act as an additional brace to hold the sheathing planks in place and make the bottom more rigid. This inner keel should extend from end to end of the punt, and short pieces may be laid inside the bevelled ends to lend added strength.

At each end a spruce plank eight inches wide is made fast with long boat nails, first leading all the joints to make them water-tight. The deck planks are laid on the same as the sheathing, and to brace them from underneath, in the space between the middle rib and the sides, two-by-three-inch spruce rails are propped on short sticks which are nailed to the inner keel and to the rails as shown at Fig. 5. These under props should be arranged about eighteen inches apart, the entire length of the punt. Groove the upper edges of the end and side planks with the iron, then lay the lamp-wicking in, lead, and nail down the planking, taking care to put the nails in straight and true. When the punt is finished give it several good coats of copper paint on the bottom and sides and several coats of good marine paint on the deck.

To construct the cabin lay down the sill-joist of two-by-three-inch spruce, making the plan fourteen feet long and seven feet and eight inches wide (Fig. 6). To this nail the uprights and bracing timbers, forming the sides and ends as shown in the drawings of the side and end elevation (Fig. 7). The door spaces at the ends should be three feet wide and seven feet high, so that when trimmed and the doors hung the actual size will be two feet and eight inches wide by six feet and ten inches high.

The window openings are two feet wide by two feet and six inches high, and between all the uprights braces are nailed fast to prevent the frame from racking. The arrangement of framing timbers is quite clearly shown in the drawings, and in the deck plan (Fig. 6) the arrangement of the bunks is indicated. Across the top of the framework one-and-a-half-by-six-inch beams are laid having their upper edge crowned as shown in the end elevation (Fig. 7). Over these the roofing boards are laid lengthwise, and on top of them canvas is drawn and tacked down all around the edges with copper tacks.

The roofing boards may be of three-quarter-inch stuff planed on both sides and from two to four inches wide, whichever is the easiest to obtain. The boards should extend over the ends and sides for two or three inches so that a finishing moulding can be made fast under the boards. Give the top of the boards two good coats of paint, then stretch oiled canvas over the top and tack it fast. Several coats of paint will finish the canvas and make it hard enough to walk on, for in pleasant weather this upper deck will make a pleasant place to spend many hours under the shade of a canopy. The cabin sheathing is of narrow matched boards planed on both sides and as free from knots and sappy places as it is possible to get them. The boards must be thoroughly sun-dried before they are laid on and nailed fast, and it would be well also to paint the matched edges so that moisture may not get in and swell them. The inside and outside of the cabin is to be painted to protect the wood from moisture, and if painted a light tint of any color, or white, it will be cooler in summer when the sun is shining than if coated with a dark color. Dark colors absorb light and heat while light ones reflect or shed them.

The window-sashes should be arranged on hinges so that they may be swung in and back against the inside of the cabin and hooked. Or, by cutting away a part of the upright, the sash may be arranged to slide. Wire screening may be tacked over the window-frame at the outer side to keep out flies and mosquitoes, and screen doors can be made also for the front and rear doorways—to swing in, as the wooden doors swing out.

Over the rear deck a canopy is arranged on poles. This is similar to a tent fly for camping, and will shed the sun and rain from the deck when the cook is preparing meals.

A small cook-stove may be arranged inside the cabin, but if it is not convenient to carry coal in a box on the deck an oil-stove will answer every purpose.