494 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
CONSTITUTION. 
CopjTiglit by Janies Burton, New York. 
bias, and as a keel craft with a 2ft. curve to her con- 
cave bottom, a boat absolutely without accommodation, 
all of which was exploded at the opening of the doors of 
the building shed. All that can 'be said against Canadian 
is that she is not handsome. 
Charle-s H. Snider. 
Western Yachts. 
Oiicago Y. C. will this afternoon engage in an interest- 
ing little contest betv/een some of the 35-footers. this being 
■<>, sort of preliminary trial among those seeking honors in 
the trials for the Canada cup competitibn. Illinois. Prairie 
and Josephine are all in commission, and well tuned up, 
and all three of these yachts are expected to start this 
afternoon. Yankee, the boat built by a Chicago syndicate, 
is hardly apt to be in shape to race this afternoon. Prairie 
came down Wednesday from Kenosha and made so favor- 
able an impression during her run that she is hoped to 
giA'e Illinois a good rub this afternoon. The big fellows, 
Siren, Vencedor and Vanenna, will go over the new 
course of the club in an event to which considerable in- 
terest attaches. The owners of Siren want to get back at 
the victor, Vencedor, and there should be a hot race 
arovmd the triangular course to-day. Vanenna, the old 
boat, which used to contest the Michigan City race so 
closely with Siren, has recently come into port after lying 
idle last j^ear, and will take a hand in the triangular race 
this afternoon. 
Columbia Y. C. will start a number of small boats for 
the regular club cup, among those Ripple, Wasp, Gironda, 
Albatross, etc. Sallie, Brier and Dolphin are recent ar- 
rivals of the Columbia fleet. 
Jackson Park Y. C. pulls off its opening regatta this 
afternoon. Perhaps the main event will be the compe- 
tition between Peeps II. and Arrow, which were close 
ri^'als in last season's races, and both of which have been 
carefully tuned up for this season's sport, Three P. M, 
is the hour set for the sport of the regattas this afternoon. 
E, H. 
Seawanhaka-Corinthian Y. C. 
I ' OYSTER EAY^ L, I. 
Saturday, June 15. 
The first race of the series between the club knock- 
abouts for the Center Island cup was sailed on Saturday, 
June 15. The wind blew strong from the .southeast. The 
first leg of the course was a reach, the second a beat and 
the third a run. The course was sailed over twice, ma- 
king nine miles in all. The summary folows ; 
Seawanhaka Knockaliouts, Start, 3:15. 
Elapsed. 
Marcia, Licquelin and Dresser 1 57 10 
Nakoda,'j- L' Sherman 1 57 24 
Vagrant, Low and Barnes 1 58 28 
Triumph, H, Landen 2 03 25 
Heron, F. R. Cnuderr ...2^iii:; 
j\T3rcia >ynn| iS^akodo scconci Vagrant third, 
Small Yacht Construction and 
Rigging- 
BY LINTON HOPE. 
V. — Timfaering and Planking (Continued). 
Havlng set off the widths of the planks on the stem, midship 
mould and transom iu No. 1 boat, and also on the stern-post and 
counter frame of Ko. 2, a batten should be placed over these 
points, and a fair line marked on all the other moulds and 
timbers. A ^ery good plan is to start witli the garboard, moving 
cacli ribband as you come to it if it crosses a searn, but be sure 
you do not take any of the ribh)ands entirely olT, till you are 
ready to fit the plank, and do not touch the next ribband till 
the "plank is on and nailed to the timbers, or you will have 
vour timbers out of shape. I mention this now in case a rib- 
band should be removed to make the spacing of the planks. If 
it is, it must be replaced carefully and fastened, till it has to be 
removed for th-j plank. By the way, in is'o. 2 boat be sure and 
make a seam come just at the junction of the stern-post with the 
counter-frame. There is a sharp twist here, and it is very difficult 
to fit unless the seam comes in the angle between the two. • 
Most builders dispense with the rabbet on the counter frame in 
No. 2 type, and let the planks run past the stern-post, and meet 
sloug the center line of the frame. This saves a good deal of 
trouble, and also some weight, but for an amateur, it is easier to 
get a tight joint where the rudder passes through the counter 
frame, if a rabbet is left as shown in the sketch, because the 
seam can be caulked if not very well fitted, but where the plank 
merely lies flat on the frame, and a hole for the rudder is cut 
through the plank, leaving an exposed joint inside the hole, it 
requires perfect fitting between plank and frame to prevent leak- 
ing, and if a leak should occur there, it is very difficult to stop. 
The first plank to be fitted, is the garboard strake, or that 
next the keel. It is generally the most difficult, and should be 
most carefully fitted, as on this depends much of the strength of 
the bottom of the boat. To get the exact shape of the edge of 
the plank next the keel, which will have to fit the rabbet for the 
whole of its length, take two pieces of thin wood, about Sin. 
wide, and ratlier more than half the length of the garboard strake, 
roughly cut to fit each end of the rabbet, and tacked over the 
moulds and timbers, so that they overlap each other in the mid- 
dle. Now take a pair of compasses and set them about an eighth 
of an inch wider than the widest gap between the edges of tlie 
two boards and the inner edge of the rabbet. With the com- 
passes set to this distance, prick ofi a' series of spots along the 
iioards, say every six inches, till the turn of the stem comes, and 
there decrease the spacing between the spots (or 'spilings') to 
every three inches. Always keep one leg of the compasses against 
the inner edge of the rabbet, and be careful to mark the spilings 
at right angles to the board, or 'spiling batten' as it is called, and 
not at right angles to the rabbet line. The accompanying sketch 
shows how this should be done. 
FIG. 21. METHOD OF FILLING THE PLANKING. 
If the spilings were taken at right angles to the rabbet roupd a 
curve, they would never give the true shape of the ctirve, but 
would give a smaller curve of similar sliape and sharper ttirn, 
like two concentric circles. 
Ayjipi x\}p spilitisfs are all pricked pff on \he Ijoards, take them 
off the boat and cut the edge to the spiling spots and try them up. 
in place again, fitting the edge with a small plane till you have a 
good joint all along the rabbet. Then, with the spiling battens 
fitted carefully into the rabbet, nail them together where they 
over-lap each other, so that they arc quite ridged like a single 
plank. They can now be taken off the boat again and laid on a 
piece of the planking and a pencil line drawn round the fitted 
edge. Mark off the width of the plank in the centre and at each 
end, but cut it an eighth of an inch outside both lines. 
The plank should now be tried up in its place fitted to the 
rabbet in the same manner as the spiling batten; but greater care 
must be used, not only to insure a perfect fit, but also to avoid 
cutting away more of the edge of the plank than is absolutely 
required. The final fitting done by chalking the inside of the 
rabbet, and cramping and shoring the p'ank careful'v to D'ane, 
tapping it close with a hammer along the outer edge. When the 
shores are removed, it will be found to be marked by the chalk 
where it has touched it, and these places should be planed off till 
it shows the chalk mark all along. 
The outer edge should now be shot fair and to the correct width 
with a jack plane, and both sides of the plank planed up. 
It is now ready for fastening in its place, and the rabbet must 
have a coat of either red and white lead and varnish, or some 
thick varnish out of an old can. The latter is best for a varnished 
boat, but the other is more durable. 
Before fastening the plank in place, it should be tried up m 
place, on the other side of the boat; and if it is a fairly good 
fit, as it should be, it should be laid on another board and the 
opposite plank marked off from it. 
Cramp and shore the plank into its place as before, driving it 
tight into the rabbet, and start nailing; at the fore end, carefully 
boring to the full depth of the nails with a boat builder's piercer 
a little smaller than the nails. 
Nail the inner edge first, taking care that the plank does not get 
away from the rabbet. The nails should be spaced about five 
times the thickness of the plank apart along the keel, and about 
three times the thickness up the stem. 
After nailing the plank along the rabbet, the outer edge must 
be cramped and shored close to the timbers, and nailed to each 
with copper nails ^im- longer than the total thickness of plank 
and timber. x\n intermediate nail should also be placed in the- 
middle of the plank at each timebr, but care must be taken that 
these are not all in the same line of the grain of the plank, or it 
may split. In very wide thin planks the intermediate nails are 
increased in number; a good rule being a nail for every fotir 
inches in width in li-in. planking, or spaced eight times the 
thickness. 
For the rest of the planking it will not be necessary to fit the 
spiling batten itself to the edge of the last plank; but by using a 
spiling batten as long as the boat and about Sin. by %m. with 
straight edges, the spilings for each plank in turn can be set ofl: 
on the batten, and then planed off when done with. 
In using this straight spiling batten, it must be laid quite fiat 
on the tirnbers, without any twist edgewise; and so that it just 
touches the edge of t.he last plank, from which the spilings are to 
be taken. It will be 'found that in some places it is several inches 
away from the edge of the plank; so that the spiling, if taken 
with compasses as before, would not all come on tlie batten. To 
get over this difficulty, instead of using the compasses, the dis- 
tance from the edge of the plank to the batten is taken at right 
angles to the batten, every foot or so, and written on the batten 
.ilongside the line on which it is taken. Where the distance is 
not to an exact sixteenth of an inch, it is usual to write it down 
thus:— 3 7- 16=*, meaning 'full.' or just over the 7 -16, while, if it 
is under the nearest sixteenth, it would be written 3 7-16-or 'bare.' 
.Another sign is J. or 'hard off,' used where the edge is touching. 
The great secret of getting a tight boat is wed fitted seams, 
and these can only be gof by careful spiling, and trying up the 
planks several times before fastening them, chalking the edge of 
the last plank each time, and planing off the chalk marks on the 
new plank till the chalk marks, the edge all along, as . explained 
previously. 
If the seam is to be caulked it must be left open on the out- 
side and tight on the inside so as to hold the calking. Por 
■J/oin. planking a sixteentl^ of nti j?\cli is wide et\o\igh for the oyt? 
