Linen will serve for the sails, and odds and ends of fishing lines for the ropes and rigging, with stouter cord like whipcord for the shrouds. The caps, deadeyes, blocks and such things may be made, but the process is wearisome and difficult and perhaps the better way is to buy them. The following measurements will be useful:—
| inches | |
| Bowsprit | 3½ |
| Foremast | 15 |
| Mainmast | 16 |
| Topmast | 6 |
| Fore boom | 8½ |
| Fore gaff | 8 |
| Main boom | 12 |
| Main gaff | 8 |
The sails should be made to fit these. If the schooner has been properly made she will sail well with the rudder but slightly turned to one side. If it is necessary to turn her rudder much she will lose speed and will not rank in the first class. To steady the schooner it is necessary to nail or screw along her keel, a strip of lead as ballast. Err upon the side of making this too heavy, because it is easier to cut and file away than it is to add.
The making of a Cutter.—Having made a schooner it will not be difficult to make a cutter from the appended diagrams with a few particulars regarding the measurements.
The cutter has but one mast reaching about fifteen inches above the deck. This is surmounted by a seven-inch top-mast, so that the complete height above the deck is twenty-two inches. Here are the other measurements.
Bowsprit, 9 inches from the stem of the vessel to the end.
Main gaff, 9 inches long.
Main boom, 15 inches.
