Rudder.—For long sailing this is useful, and foot-lines should be used, or a rod to the yoke. I used the rod for sailing in the Dutch cruise always.
Leeboards.—These may be made of wooden triangles one foot each way, hung at each side by two corners. The lee one is thus pressed against the gunwale, and acts well.
Centre-board.—When the “Rothion” sailed across the English Channel, the late Hon. James Gordon used a centre-board at my suggestion, and his Rob Roy thus furnished held her wind admirably. The centre-board might come up through a slit one foot long in the garboard streak (not through the keel) into a closed mackintosh bag, so that when raised it would turn to one side, and lie flat on the bilge within.
The Apron.—The canoeist soon finds that this is the most difficult part of the boat to arrange with perfect satisfaction. I have had more experiments and trouble and thought about the apron than upon any other part of the canoe’s arrangements.
A full wooden hatch does well for common work, but not for rough cruising. Now and then the legs need “play,” and if the hatch is rigid at the height thus needed, it is much too high in ordinary times; and it curbs the freedom for the arms near the deck, being also unwieldy for instant debarking in rapids, and for stowing away.
The detached apron of the Baltic pattern is wet in use. Side pieces on deck to clutch the wooden cheeks kept out by a cane across the knees, and a permanent flap on deck, covering the fore end of the mackintosh, are great improvements. The Jordan Rob Roy had a sheet mackintosh apron, with only a cane fixed in the combing to keep the apron off the knees. For her cruise she had under this apron six inches of the after part of wood. The loose breast flap and side flaps rolled up (usually) form a curved edging near the body. By lifting this hatch, and laying it forward, the whole apron is folded forward of the knees, and in one foot of space fore and aft. This plan is a complete success; and at last my apron is all right. When a single bladed paddle is used the apron is needed only in rough water, that is, one day in four.
Stretcher.—The form described with a cut in the “Rob Roy on the Jordan,” is a very great improvement. Each foot has a light board abutting on the carline above and the timber below, so that ample room is given for the luggage bag, and much strength is combined with extreme lightness.
Sail.—Many forms have been tried, but the Club sailing matches have often been won by a lug sail. This rig is also the safest of all, and the boom can be detached from a hook on the mast to stow away.
Portable Canoes.—A wooden canoe in four pieces is easily made, although somewhat heavy. The additional expense is soon saved, if the canoe is taken often by railway as a box. Colonel Bradford’s india-rubber canoe packs up into a parcel five feet long, and one foot across. In the Eastern trip a canoe in two pieces might have been readily carried on a horse, but the Rob Roy, undivided, was thus carried easily. Berthon’s Collapsible Boat Company presented to me a charming collapsible canoe, nine feet long, and which is very cheap, safe, light, and can easily be carried in one hand. The shortest canoe in the Club was the Wharbe, 8 feet 6 inches long. But I have paddled the little “dingy” only eight feet long, which was carried aboard the Rob Roy yawl. I think 12 feet the best length for a cruising canoe.
I have designed a cork canoe in three pieces, five feet, four feet, and three feet long; the last to pack in the next, and both in the large middle one; weight about 30 lbs.