Obtain two clear cedar planks sixteen feet long and from fourteen to sixteen inches wide. Four feet from either end begin to round the lower edges of these side boards. Cut two spreaders five feet and six inches long and make them fast four feet from the ends of the sides as shown at Fig. 25. Between these spreaders attach an inner keel in the forward end of which an opening has been made. The keel is of hard-wood eight inches wide and the opening is three inches and a half in width and four feet and eight inches long.
A centre-board trunk is made and fitted into this opening as described for the sailing sharpy. Then braces are fastened between the sides and trunk as shown at Fig. 26.
Two bevelled hard-wood bow and stern pieces are cut as shown at Fig. 27. The ends of the boards are sprung in and attached to the ends of these pieces, and between them and the spreaders two more boards are fastened as indicated by the lines of nail-heads in Fig. 26. At the bow just ahead of the forward long cross-piece or spreader step the mast, and at the stern make the rudder-post trunk, taking care to use plenty of white-lead and lamp-wick so as to render the joints water-tight. Put a line of braces through the middle of the frame, then begin at the bow and plank the bottom with boards not more than three or four inches wide.
With the planking on and the braces, spreaders, and trunk in position the frame will appear as shown in Fig. 28. The deck planking is of strips seven-eighths of an inch thick and three inches wide. Begin at the middle of the boat by laying down a strip six inches wide by one inch and a quarter in thickness. Drive the deck planking close to this and smear the points with white-lead in which the lamp-wicking is embedded. Make all the fastenings with galvanized boat nails and drive the heads well into the wood with a nail-punch so they can be puttied and covered from the action of the water. An outer flat keel is laid along the bottom of the hull from the forward part of the cockpit or about under the mast. This leads aft to where the stern begins to round up and there it is stopped.
A LARK
This keel is attached with galvanized or brass screws, and a generous number are driven through the keel into the bottom edges of the centre-board trunk.
The rudder is made from galvanized sheet-iron as shown at Fig. 29, and is let into a one-and-a-quarter-inch round iron rudder-post and riveted fast. Just above the rudder-blade a collar of iron is welded to the post and this bears against the bottom of the boat. To prevent the rudder from dropping down a pin is passed through a hole in the post close to the deck and a large washer made fast to the deck will prevent the pin from chafing the wood.
Have the top of the post made with a square shank so that a tiller may fit over it and be held in position by a nut.