Plan of Ice Boat
Details of Ice Boat Construction
The ice boat is each year becoming more popular. Anyone with even small experience in using tools can construct such a craft, and the pleasure many times repays the effort.
Take two pieces of wood 2 by 6 in., one 6 ft. and the other 8 ft. long. At each end of the 6-ft. piece and at right angles to it, bolt a piece of hardwood 2 by 4 by 12 in. Round off the lower edge of each piece to fit an old skate. Have a blacksmith bore holes through the top of the skates and screw one of them to each of the pieces of hardwood. These skates must be exactly parallel or there will be trouble the first time the craft is used.
Over the middle of the 6-ft. piece and at right angles to it, bolt the 8-ft. plank, leaving 1 ft. projecting as in Fig. 1.
The rudder skate is fastened to a piece of hardwood 2 by 2 by 12 in. as the runners were fastened. This piece should be mortised 3 by 3 by 4 in. in the top before the skate is put on. Figure 2 shows the rudder post.
A piece of hardwood 1 by 6 by 6 in. should be screwed to the under side of the 8-ft. plank at the end with the grain running crosswise. Through this bore a hole 1-1/2-in. in diameter in order that the rudder post may fit nicely. The tiller, Fig. 3, should be of hardwood, and about 8 in. long.