The rudder is eighteen inches long, including the post, and ten inches high. It is fastened to a post of hard-wood three inches wide and seven-eighths of an inch thick. At the top of this an iron strap is fastened to hold the tiller as shown in Fig. 17 A. The rudder is hung to the stern of the boat with pins and sockets, as shown in Fig. 17 B, so that if it becomes necessary the rudder may be unshipped by lifting it out of the sockets or eyes. The rudder is fastened to the post with galvanized-iron pins ten inches long and three-eighths of an inch in diameter driven through snug holes bored in the wood as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 17 B.
It is impossible to hold a boat on the wind without a centre-board, but as this sharpy has none a lee-board will be required to keep her from drifting leeward. Fig. 18.
This board can be made five feet long, thirty inches wide, and hung over the lee side when running on the wind, where ropes and cleats will hold it in place. The board may be made of three planks banded together at the rear end with a batten, and at the forward end it is strapped across with bands of iron as shown in Fig. 18.
With a sail of twilled or heavy unbleached muslin this boat may be driven through the water at five or six miles an hour, and two boys can have a great deal of fun out of her. Care should be exercised in handling the boat; and be sure to reef the sail in case of a strong breeze.
A Centre-board Sharpy
When making a sharpy to sail in, a trunk and centre-board should be built when the keel is laid so that the cumbersome and unhandy lee-board may be done away with. The centre-board is housed in the trunk, through which it can be raised or lowered as occasion requires.
The arrangement of the trunk in the boat is shown in Fig. 19, and it is located so that the front of the trunk is three feet from the bow. For a centre-board one inch and a quarter in thickness the trunk should be one inch and three-quarters wide between sides, five feet long, and eighteen inches high. It is made of tongue-and-grooved boards one inch and one-eighth in thickness, and these are attached by stout screws to posts one inch and three-quarters square at bow and stern. The trunk is mounted on the keel, set in white-lead, and securely fastened with screws. A slot is cut in the keel the same size as the inside opening of the trunk—that is, two inches wide and about five feet long. The bottom planking is butted against the sides of the trunk at the middle of the boat as shown in Fig. 20.
An inner keel is laid over the bottom planking through the centre of the boat from stem to stern, and where it fits around the trunk it is cut out. Both the inner and outer keels are six inches wide and the exposed edges are bevelled with a plane. A sectional or end view of the trunk and its location in the keels is shown in Fig. 20, where the shading and lettering will designate each part.
The centre-board is four feet and nine inches long, thirty inches wide at the back, and twenty-four inches at the front. It is attached to the trunk with a hard-wood pin located near the forward lower end, and when it is drawn up it will appear as shown in Fig. 21 A, but when lowered it will look like Fig. 21 B.
The centre-board is made of hard-wood, several boards of which are pinned together with galvanized-iron rods three-eighths of an inch in diameter and driven through from edge to edge of the boards in snug holes made with a long bit or auger. The rods are riveted at both ends over washers to prevent the boards from working apart.