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THIRTY-ONE-FOOT WATERLINE CRUISING YAWL— SAIL PLAN. 
Our Boston Letter. 
Boston, Jan. 20. — Among the yachts that will be raced 
under the rules of the Eighteen-Foot Knockabout Asso- 
ciation this summer, will be one, at least, of amateur 
design. The lines have already been turned out, but the 
work of construction has not yet commenced. The sails 
will probably be made by Wilson & Silsby, who turn out 
the fastest racing sails built. The designer of the, new 
18-footer, who will be her owner and who will undoubted- 
ly race her on every occasion when he has the opportu- 
nity to do so, is Joseph J. Moebs. Mr. Moebs is a mem- 
ber of the Hull-Massachusetts, South Boston and Quincy 
Y. C.s and is well known among racing men in Massa- 
chusetts. He formerly owned the 25-footer Little Peter, 
and raced her very consistently during five seasons. In 
1900 this yacht made a good record in the Y. R. A. series 
against the champion Flirt, although equipped with a poor 
set of sails and faulty rigging. There are many who 
believed then and still cling to the opinion that had Little 
Peter been properly equipped she would have made a bet- 
ter showing, and might possibly have — but that is another 
story. ' i HHj| 
Last season Mr. Moebs sold Little Peter and did not 
engage much in racing, but he could not keep out of the 
game very long. During the winter he commenced to talk 
18-footers, and then he decided to have one, and finally 
he decided that he would try his hand at designing, and 
to draw the lines of his own boat. This was no mean 
undertaking, for there are certain rules regarding the 
construction of 18ft. knockabouts which are calculated 
to give the erstwhile amateur designer considerable trou- 
ble in getting around. In the first place, the most diffi- 
cult obstacle is the rule of displacement, by which the 
weight of these yachts is fixed at 4.ooolbs.. beyond which 
it is not desirable to go to any extent. Then there are 
the scantlings, which must conform to the restrictions. 
Sail area is a matter of comparative ease, so far as figures 
go. However. Mr. Moebs tackled the restrictions and has 
turned out a very clever little boat in which he has not 
only figured as close as possible to the displacement of 
4,ooolbs.. but has introduced a new wrinkle in the matter 
of shifting his ballast shoe, to work the yacht into per- 
fect balance. He has also provided for the accompanying 
shifting of the mast step. 
In these days of modern yacht designing it is customary 
to cut away the lateral plane of the yacht to the last de- 
gree. This makes the figuring of the balance of the yacht 
an extremely hazarlous undertaking, and it sometimes 
happens that, even in the designs of the most skillful pro- 
fessionals, the balance is found to be all askew when the 
yacht is put in the water and started on her racing career. 
In such cases there is a deal of trouble, for the yacht 
will either gripe or else carry such a lee helm that she 
cannot be nursed up to windward even in strong breezes. 
In small boats means have been taken to overcome this 
difficulty, first by providing a sliding mast step to shift the 
center of effort, and then by combining with this a mov- 
able fin to alter the center of lateral resistance. Crown- 
inshield has adopted both of these methods with more 
or less success. 
But in Mr. Moebs' new yacht it is not intended to 
move the fin, for fin she has not, being of the semi-keel 
type. Instead, he has provided a scheme for sliding the 
iron shoe forward or aft as may be considered necessary, 
and thereby hangs a tale on construction. The keelson 
running forward and aft is in two pieces, the after part 
meeting the forward part at an acute angle, the forward 
part continuing in a straight line to the after end of the 
keel. Between this and the after piece of the deadwood is 
filled in and above the two parts is a piece set in to form 
part of the keelson. The iron shoe is flush to the under- 
neath piece and is bolted through. An arrangement is 
provided so that the shoe can be moved up on the straight 
underside of the lower member of the wooden keel, and 
the bolts are changeable. It can be moved aft as well as 
forward, as she carries a balance rudder and the shoe 
extending beyond the after side of the keel would make 
no difference. There is a play of about a foot in the mast 
step, and there is a further means of experimenting with 
the centerboard, which houses under the cabin floor. The 
centerboard pin may be moved forward or aft, and it can 
'be also given different lengths of drop. 
The hull rf the boat is very shallow, the only tise of the 
little keel being to get the ballast outside. Mr. Moebs 
prefers thi^ type of boat, as he believes that boats of this 
size should be pushed over the water rather than through 
it. She has flat floors and straight topsid.es, while there 
is just the suspicion of a sweep to the bilges. She is of 
the scow principle, the deadrise being very slight. Her 
sections are carried out full forward and aft. and in the 
hull proper there is a resemblance to the lines shown in 
the hull of Independence. She is just under 
18ft. on the waterline, 32ft. over all. 7ft. water- 
line beam, and 2ft. 6in. draft. The hull of the boat 
draws just a foot. Her overhangs are in the extreme 
class, and, considering her form, her beam of 7ft. seems 
to me to make her a trifle too powerful for a limit of sail 
area of 450 sq. ft. To get the speed out of this type of 
hull it is necessary to sail her "on her ear." She carries 
a total sail area of 445 sq. ft., 355 sq. ft. of which is in the 
mainsail and 00 sq. ft. in the jib. 
She will be provided with water-tight bulkheads for- 
ward and aft. In the forward compartment there will 
be a system of diagonal wooden bracing, and beside 
these there will also be a wire rope truss brace. It is 
calculated that these will offset the pounding which her 
long, flat forward overhang is sure to get in a head sea. 
There will also be bracing in the after bulkhead to keep 
the overhang where it belongs. She will have a cabin 
trunk which will give about 3ft. 6in. headroom. There 
will be transoms on either side of the cabin, and there will 
be sufficient room for the racing crew of three when cruis- 
ing from port to port. The deck will be covered with 
canvas. 
Power tenders are becoming quite a fad in this vicinity. 
Borden, of Dorchester, is building a number of them. 
They are intended to ( be powerful boats of very strong 
construction. 
At Lawley's the keel of the Lippitt bronze 60-rater is 
being turned out. It is expected that the lead may be run 
this week. The 104ft. steam yacht is planked and a num- 
ber of smaller boats are taking form in the east shop. 
MacConnell Bros, have sold the auxiliary yawl Hy- 
perion to Fred W. Ranskolb, of Boston ; the 25-footer 
Hermes to C. W. True, of Auburn, Me. ; the sloop Idle- 
wilde to Messrs. Morrisey and Reardon, of Boston ; Zelica 
to C. C. Durgin, of Boston, and Muriel to W. W. Colson, 
of Winthrop. ■ 
Crowninshield has an order for Otto B. Cole. White, 
of Manchester, has started work on three 18-footers, of 
Crowninshjeld's design for W. B. Rogers, W. A. Russell 
and H. F. Kellogg, to be used on Lake Champlain. Rice 
Bros., of East Boothbay, are going ahead on the work of 
construction of the Crowninshield one-design raceabouts'. 
