94 
FO 
The Bilge-Board Canoe Foggy Dew. 
We are indebted for the accompanying lines to the kind- 
ness of Mr. H. Lansing Quick, of the Yonkers C. C, who 
at our request, took them from the canoe and made the \ 
drawings. Of all the canoes seen at the A. C. A. and 
Division meets of late years none is more generally or 
favorably known than Foggy Dew ; in fact, she is the best 
representative now extant of the old-time type of all- 
around sailing canoe. Mr. Quick himself is an old racing 
man, the reputation of the Yonkers C. C. in its early 
days resting largely on the skill of himself and his partner 
Mr. Oxholm, two of the best sailors the Association has 
produced. An expert on the long slide and a master of 
the racing machine, Mr. Quick finally tired of it and took 
to the present boat, of good dimensions and displacement 
and with ample room below, in 1892. Since then she has 
been in constant use on the Hudson River, and has visited 
most of the meets, sailing in club and Association races. 
Foggy Dew was designed and built by Capt. George 
W. Ruggles, at Charlotte, N. Y., in the winter of 1891, 
her dimensions being 15ft. 41"- by 311"-, with a draft of 
from 4 to sin. She is built after the caulked carvel sys- 
tem, introduced by Capt. Ruggles, with planking 2in. 
wide, and scant .%'m. thick, there being nine white 
cedar planks to each side, with an upper strake of butter- 
nut. The seams are caulked with one fine strand of 
cotton run in with a roller. The keel is of oak, the stem 
and stern of apple, natural knees, and the frames of 
oak, J4 X 5-i6in., spaced 4in. The deck is of Spanish 
cedar, scant ^in. There are two bilge-board trunks, one 
in each bilge, with an outer solepiece of oak showing 
flush with the outside of planking, headledges of oak 
and sides of white pine stiffened by oak strips. The 
cockpit coaming is of oak. The floor is carried on light 
oak bearers about ^in. square, at such a height as to 
make a level floor of the full size of the cockpit. 
There are two bulkheads, located as shown, with full 
space for sleeping in the center of the boat, there being 
sufiicient breadth between the bilge board trunks. The 
bulkheads are of ^in. pine stiffened by oak braces. The 
sides of the well are stiffened by knees on each alternate 
beam, running well down the side, so that the deck is 
strong enough to walk on. Directly under the deck 
seat are two heavy oak knees well fastened, to take a 
movable cross beam through which pass the two holding- 
down bolts of the sliding seat. 
The bedpiece of the seat is of oak, strongly made, and 
the slide, which is 5ft. long and 6in. wide, has a top of 
spruce with runners of oak. 
The bilge boards are of brass, No. 14 guage, hung from 
the deck so as to lift out, with spring hook on after end. 
The rudder is of the ordinary brass drop pattern, with a 
solid stick connecting it to the tiller instead of the usual 
chains. 
The mast tubes are each 25^in. diameter at deck, taper- 
ing to i>^in. at step. The forward step is of oak, i^in. 
thick, fitted to the inside of the planking and with a piece 
of sheet brass on top to prevent splitting. There is a 
deck hatch forward and one aft, the hatches being fitted 
with a taper. Inside the hatch coaming a round cord of 
rubber is fitted, inclosed in a strip of canvas, against 
which the hatch wedges. 
A special feature of the canoe, in connection with the 
large open cockpit, is the watertight canvas, bag, which 
makes a total capsize possible without taking water below 
or impairing the stability of the boat. The cockpit is 
partly covered by movable hatches, the space between 
them being fitted with a watertight bag of canvas, with a 
handle sewn in the bottom, so that it can be easily turned 
inside out and emptied. The upper edges of the bag are 
fastened to oak strips, which in turn are secured to the 
coamings by thumb screws. 
The sail plan and rigging of the canoe has been kept as 
simple as possible, the sails being of the ordinary one 
batten lowering type, known as the Vaux sail. They 
are hoisted by double halyards, running through deadeyes 
on the yard, masthead and deck and after hatch ; the main 
halj'^ards leading aft along the deck to cleats on the for- 
ward cockpit hatch and the mizzen forward to cleats on 
the after hatch. Each sail has a hand reefing gear led 
through pockets on the sail so that it will not foul on 
stakes or other obstructions, and leading to hand in the 
cockpit. The main sheet is endless and has no traveler, 
leading through a deadeye under the boom and then 
through a deadeye on each side of the cockpit and through 
a Butler cleat ; the mizzen being rigged similarly. In this 
way the sheets may be handled from either side, and 
both with one hand, as the Butler cleats hold auto- 
matically. In all cases deadeyes are used in preference 
to blocks. 
Mr. Quick has also favored us with the following de- 
scription of the canoe and also his opinions on this style 
of craft. 
As you are publishing the lines of the Foggy Dew 
in this issue of Forest and Stream, you will probably 
like to have my opinion of such a boat. 
In 1891, when I decided to drop racing in a machine, as 
they are termed, I looked around for some kind of a 
good serviceable cruising canoe, out of which I could 
get a little speed if needed. 
I had always liked Mr. Brokaw's bilge board canoe 
Brooklyn, so I decided to see what could be done in that 
line. Capt. Geo. W. Ruggles was consulted, and the 
result was the Foggy Dew, and I have nevef regretted 
the building of such a boat. 
In the first place, Mr. Ruggles' method of construc- 
tion has been all that could be desired. I told him to 
build a boat heavy and strong enough to stand 200ft. of 
sail and a loft. seat, if needed, and he did, for at the 
end of eight years' of hard sailing there is not a strained 
seam or joint in the boat, and to-day it is as good as the 
day it left his shop. 
As to style of boat I think all depends on the us»s it is 
to be put too. If a man has time for cruising in open 
water, I do not know of any kind of boat equal to the i_ 
bilge board canoe such as Foggy Dew, but for the man 
who has very little time to give to the sport and has the 
ability to handle it, the so-called machine is the boat ; 
being simpler in fittings, etc., it requires less time to 
keep in shape, and it is certainly a very safe kind of 
