open Canoe Cruising 



III. — The construction of the lee boards, their location for handling the canoe 

 under sail. Stowing outfit, making a landing and the canoe as a fishing craft 



By E. T. Keyser 



IN order to sail to windward, lee boards 

 will be needed. Square up two pieces 

 of ?4-in. mahogany, oak or cherry, 

 each 30 in. long by 12 in. wide. On the 

 lower left edge, make a mark 1^2 in. 

 from the lower left corner. Lay a line 

 from this point to the lower right corner 

 and saw along this line. With a marking 

 gage, run a line 3-^^ in. distant from the 

 right edge at the top. On the right edge. 



The lee boards as they are fitted to the 

 canoe gunwales for sailing to the windward 



mark a point 10 J ^ in. from lower right 

 corner and, with this point as a center, 

 describe an arc with a 12-in. radius from 

 the bottom of board to the line which 

 runs parallel with right edge. Cut out 

 this arc with a compass saw and rip along 

 the parallel line from the top of the board 

 to the arc. 



From the waste, cut out two pieces 

 each 3^ in. square and screw them to 

 the head of the lee boards as indicated 

 in the cross section view. Through 

 center of this square, bore a hole 1^2 

 in. diameter through both lee board and 

 reinforcement and round off the tops of 

 lee boards as shown in Fig. 15. Work 

 down the front edge of the lee board as 

 shown in the cross section; apply a couple 

 of coats of linseed oil with a soft cloth, 

 allowing the oil to soak well into wood 

 between coats, and finish with three 

 coats of varnish well rubbed down be- 

 tween each coat. The lee boards are 

 fastened, one to each end of a 1^'2-in. 

 axle, by means of sash pins for which 



holes are bored through both tops of 

 lee boards and axle and are held to the 

 canoe by two straps passing around the 

 ends of the axle and thwart, as shown in 

 illustration. A brass tube long enough 

 to reach from gunwale to gunwale and 

 encasing the axle would allow the lee 

 boards to lower and rise more freely, 

 with tighter buckling of the straps. 



A halliard, leading from one of the sash 

 pins to a small cleat fastened to the in- 

 wale, on being pulled in will lower the 

 boards for going to the windward while 

 their buoyancy will cause them to rise 

 when the halliard is cast off from the 

 cleat. Pulling out the sash pins allows 

 the removal of boards from the axle and 

 the whole outfit stows compactly when 

 the canoe is under paddle. 



The proper location of the lee boards, 

 the position in 

 which they al- '^ 

 low the canqe | 

 to do the best i 

 windward 

 work, is best 

 found by ex- 

 periment. 

 Should the 

 best location 

 lie between 

 the thwarts, a 

 pair of large 

 brass screw- 

 eyes may be 

 set into inwale 

 to take the 

 holding straps. 



The princi- 

 ples of sailing 

 a double rig 

 canoe may be 

 studying Fig. 16 



Fig 15 



Details of a lee board 

 for use in canoe cruising 



easily understood by 

 In A is shown the 

 tendency of the wind pressure on the 

 mainsail to make the canoe pivot 

 on her stern and throw her bow away 

 from the wind, increasing the tendency 

 to capsize. In B is shown how the pres- 

 sure of the wind on the dandy tends to 

 cause the canoe to pivot on her bow and 



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