The wheels are each twenty-four inches in diameter and two feet long, and are made from wood seven-eighths of an inch in thickness. Seven blades eight inches wide are screwed fast to the sides or held in place with long, galvanized boat nails.
The axle is of spruce two inches square, and the wheel sides are provided with square holes through which the axle is driven as shown in Fig. 33. The ends of the axle are banded with iron, or copper wire may be wound round them to prevent their splitting. Into the ends half-inch round iron pins are driven which revolve in the bearings.
The seat-frame is thirty inches high and made from spruce rails three inches wide and one inch and a half in thickness. On the middle upright a large and small gear wheel are arranged on an axle with the cranks and pedals, and on the front post a small wheel is attached so that tandem power may be used on the paddle-wheels or one boy alone can work the boat. A rod and handle-bars may be arranged for the rear boy to grasp, and with a socket and set-screw it can be raised or lowered at will.
The forward bars have a cross-piece of iron at the foot of the vertical rod. This is two feet long, and from the ends of it running aft wires connect with the ends of a tiller for operating the rudder.
The rudder is hung between the wheels on a skag which is the rear extension of a short keel that should be nailed fast to hold the punt steady on the water.
Four canopy poles may be arranged to fit into sockets at the sides, and an awning six by ten feet can be supported over the machinery of the boat to keep off sun and rain.
This is a genuine boy-power boat, and as the wheels are substantially large and strong it can be driven over the water at quite a good speed. While it takes two boys to properly run it, that is not the boat’s capacity, for she will easily carry from four to six boys, their lunch-baskets, or a one-day camping outfit for a visit up the river or lake.