Harper's Young People, July 12, 1881 / An Illustrated Weekly

by Various

BY W. P. STEPHENS.

The building of a round-bottomed boat requires more skill in using tools than most boys possess, and some experience besides, but a very serviceable bateau, or flat-bottomed skiff, is easily built by any one who can use a saw, plane, and hammer.

Our boat must be of light draught, capable of carrying three or four boys, and adapted for rowing, hunting, and fishing on rivers and ponds. So we will take a flat-bottomed bateau, twelve feet eight inches long (so as to use thirteen-foot boards, the common size) and of three feet six inches beam.

But one mould will be needed, of the shape of Fig. 2, thirteen inches wide, three feet four and a half inches on the top, and two feet ten and a half inches on the bottom. It may be of rough board, as it has no permanent place in the boat. A strip one inch square is nailed on the upper edge, projecting over each end, and making a guide in setting up the sides.

The bow is a piece of oak three by four and a half inches, and sixteen inches long, its shape being shown in Fig. 5. It can be hewn out with a hatchet and finished with a plane, the rabbets or recesses on each side for the ends of the side boards being cut with a mallet and chisel, and finished up square and true with a rabbet-plane. Too much care can not be taken to have all the joints true and close, leaving no seams to be stopped with putty. The square should be used constantly, as small errors at the start have a way of ending as very great ones.

Before going further, let us look at one very important difference between the work of most amateurs and that of a finished mechanic. The amateur generally cuts out his guide lines, while the other cuts just to them, and no more. For marking, a sharp pencil or the point of a knife should be used, the rule or square being held firmly, and but one steady stroke taken.

Now we are ready to mark out our two side boards of pine, thirteen feet long, fifteen inches wide, and three-quarters of an inch thick. First plane an edge of one up straight. Then draw lines across with the square as in Fig. 8—one, a e, as near to the end as possible, f i at six feet six inches from it, and b h at twelve feet nine and a half inches; and also the lines a d and b g, the distance d e being three inches and g h four inches, laying off eight inches from b to the point c. To draw the curves at top and bottom, a piece of straight-grained wood half an inch square and thirteen feet long is needed. Such a piece is called a batten, and is used in ship and boat building when it is desired to draw any curve other than small circles, as when bent it will take of itself an even, regular curve, with no flat spots or breaks. One end of the batten is tacked at e, and the centre at f, and the other end is bent up to c. A few nails may be driven at intermediate points until it coincides with the line from e to f, and thence curves gently up to c. After the line is drawn, the same process will give the upper curve, i being an inch and a half from the edge. The board so marked must now be laid on the other; and a few nails driven to hold them together, when both are ready to be sawn to shape, as shown by the heavy lines in Fig. 8, except that the end beyond b c must be left for the present. After sawing and planing up the fore end and two sides, the lines b c and i f are marked on the second side also. The stern (Fig. 4) is cut from an oak or ash board an inch thick, and is eight and a half inches wide, two feet four and a half inches long on the top, and one foot ten and a half inches on the bottom. After painting the rabbet in the bow with thick white lead, one side is laid in place, and secured with one-and-a-half-inch No. 9 or No. 10 iron screws, first boring the holes with a gimlet and countersinking the heads, the screws being dipped in white lead before inserting. Then stand the board on edge, and screw on the other side, when they will resemble a large V. Now take the mould, and nail it to one side board at the centre mark; then, with some one to help, draw in the other side, and nail it to the mould, making a letter A.

Place this frame-work on a level floor, and measure carefully to ascertain that it is all right—the sides at the same angle, etc.; then place a rope around the projecting ends beyond b c, and draw them together until the stern-board will just fit between them. Now the ends of the stern being cut square, and the side boards not being parallel, there will be an opening of perhaps a quarter of an inch between the sides and the inner edges of the stern. Fasten the stern exactly in place, and taking a pair of compasses, set their points a little farther apart than the greatest width of the opening; then keeping one leg of the compasses flat against the side board, move them so that the other point will draw a parallel line on both sides of the stern. Mark each end in this way; then remove and cut to the marks, and on returning the piece to its place it will fit exactly, except that, being now a little shorter, the sides must be drawn in to it, when they can be screwed fast.

Remove the rope; saw off the projecting ends, and plane them down; and turn the boat over, when it will be ready for the bottom. Now apply a straight-edge, as in Fig. 6, and it will be seen that it touches only along the outer edges, n o, which must be planed down until it lies flat on each board; then starting at the stern, nail on the bottom boards of three-quarter-inch pine, eight to ten inches wide. Eightpenny finishing nails are the best, three in each board, the heads being driven in to admit of puttying. The holes must be bored with a brad-awl, and the nails driven very carefully, or they will run out at either side. The joints between the boards must be planed very neatly, as the boat is not to be calked. When all are nailed on, the bottom is planed over. A skag, m, Fig. 7, is then put on, and nailed from the inside, and a piece of oak nailed down the stern and its after-end to stiffen it. Turn the boat over once more, and screw in a cleat on each side, ten inches long, seven inches above the bottom, and just forward of the mould; fit the seat on it, and nail fast, and then remove the mould. A board five inches wide is now nailed the entire length of the bottom to stiffen it, six-penny clinch nails being used.

The seats in bow and stern are of three-quarter-inch pine, supported by cross-pieces, shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1; or a locker may be made instead in the stern, with a hinged lid. A gunwale of oak or ash two inches wide and three-quarters of an inch thick is next nailed around the edge on each side. Two pieces of oak, twelve inches long, one and a half inches wide, and one inch thick, are screwed on to take the rowlocks: iron ones are best, and cost but little; if wooden ones are used, they are of oak or hickory, seven inches long, two inches wide, and half an inch thick, mortised into the bed-piece and gunwale, the centre of the opening being eleven inches from the after-edge of the thwart.