CHAPTER IX 
PUNT CARRIAGES, WAGONS, AND HOUSES 
OnE of the most useful tools in connection with punting is a 
carriage to run the punt from, and to, her beaching quarters, 
or in and out of the punt-house. Without such an adjunct to 
the working of a heavy double-handed punt, especially when 
the punt is to be moved some distance overland, it is very hard 
work indeed, no matter how short the distance may be. This 
is, perhaps, even more evidenced when no extra assistance is 
available. Rollers and so on are but slow tools, even when 
going is good, and, although they may be very useful to get 
a punt out of an awkward place, they do but poor service in 
the stead of a carriage. Carriages for punts need not be 
elaborate in any shape or form. A pair of wheels simply 
rigged on a cross axle of wood will suffice for all ordinary 
purposes in the use of a single-handed punt. A large double 
punt, owing to its extra length and weight, should have better 
support to ride on than a single spar amidships. In such 
cases punts of large size are apt to sooner or later become 
strained, which means leakage. 
A carriage of this kind is sufficiently strong, and gives 
enough bearance to take the punt a few miles by road. For 
this purpose, however, we recommend a proper punt wagon. 
At one end of the carriage is mounted a three-inch diameter 
oak roller. At the other end two cross-pieces of the carriage 
body are so arranged that a handspike can be inserted between 
them, so as to lever the carriage up when the nose of the punt 
is put on to the roller, and thus push the carriage under the 
220 
