4 a ■ 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[May 31, igoa. 
the full length of your boat; in that case they are made in 
two or more pieces with the ends where they meet cut 
so they butt square against each other. Don't cut them 
so they meet on a frame and try and nail them both to 
the one frame, for you can't do it. Fig. 24. Make the 
DECK FjEAffS- 
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DECKING 
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Fig-24. 
Butt 
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PLANK' 
■BUTT 6 LOCK 
joint come midway between two frames, and then fit a 
piece of J^in. -oak board as wide as the plank between the 
frames and rivet the ends to this. 
The secret of good planking is to either wedge or 
serew-clamp the planks close together as they are put 
on. . Use a couple of wooden extension clamps to span 
the distance (Fig. 25) and you . will find the planking 
A 
-FRAME 
PLANK 
A Wl 
CLAflP 
Fig-25. 
will be a far better job than you could ever do by putting 
the planks on by hand. 
In fastening the planking on be sure and bore holes 
for all the fastenings. Don't do it lazy man's way, which 
is to drive a nail in and split both plank and frame. You 
should have two braces and bits. In one have a 5-i6in. 
bit to bore the hole for the .head of the nail. Bore in 
3-16 of an inch with this and then with a bit alaout 1-16 
of an inch smaller than your copper nail bore the rest of 
the way through planks and frame. 
Boat builders have an ingenious way of muzzling their 
bit to prevent it from going deeper than desired, by bor- 
ing a hole lengthwise through a round piece of wood the 
whole length of the bit on which they leave it, sawing off 
Fig,- 26 
Wooden 
J4in. or ^sin., whichever depth they want to counter- 
sink the nail head. This insures all the holes being 
alike, and a man can do the work much quicker when 
he doesn't have to watch the bit and try and gauge it 
with his eye each time. Fig. 26. 
I am speaking now of fastening the planks on with 
copper nails riveted on copper burrs. If you want a 
cheaper boat and want to hammer in galvanized or plain 
iron boat nails and putty over the heads, I would advise 
using at least an inch frame for this same boat; then she 
will be no stronger, and probably half the frames will 
be split. 
The principle of the fastening is illustrated in the ac- 
companying sketches, Fig. 27, showing how the cut nail, or 
Fig-27 
fvjail driven 
Into a hole 
BoTcd fOTit. 
f^ail driven 
into wood 
ujitYiout a 
hole, horad for if. 
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1=* 
Noil riveted on a "burr Nail clinched" or 
hent over. 
square-pointed nail, driven in by force, tears the fibers of the 
wood, whereas the copper nail, driven into a hole bored 
almost its size, simply squeezes in and slightly compresses 
the wood, holding more than the cut nail, as the thin 
splinters that are all that hold the cut nail soon rot away 
if there is the least play or work to the nail. Some "clinch 
nail" by using a nail that goes through the frame, and 
then hammering the end over. 
The trouble with clinching galvanized nails is, the 
bending either breaks the nails short off or at least 
destroys the galvanizing. With copper nails it is just as 
easy to rivet them on burrs as to do it half, way by knock- 
ing them over as in clinching. 
But to continue with the planking. We left off after 
telling how to put on the first one or two strakes of 
plank. Do not put on more than three strakes of plank- 
ing before you put on the lowest plank, the one next to 
the keel, called the garboard. To do this it is customary 
to turn the launch bottom up. In most launches the 
moulds have to be removed to permit all the frames being 
put in, but I have so spaced them in this one that they 
can remain in even now to help stiffen the structure while 
being turned over. As a rule, the moulds are knocked 
out as soon as the top strake, which is variously known as 
the top strake because it is such, the sheer strake because 
it outlines the sheer or sweep of the top edge of the boat, 
and the binding strake, because it is the strake that binds 
or holds all the heads of the frames together. 
To determine what shape the garboard will be is about 
the hardest piece of boat building the amateur will have 
to solve. But it is done just the same as for the top 
strake, with the exception that it is customary to cut 
your pattern or spiling plank so it roughly fits the rabbet. 
Then clamp it down over the frames, make your spiling 
marks and scribe off at each one the distance you set your 
compasses to. Fig. 28. Around the sharp curve at the stem 
Fiq-28. 
ft 
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I 
it is wise to make many measurements to insure a per- 
fect reproduction of the required shape. Then take off 
the pattern or "staff" and lay it out flat on the wide board 
from which you intend to cut the garboards. Measure 
back on to it with the compasses (still set the same as 
when you pricked the marks on the staff) in the direction 
indicated by the pencil marks, and reproduce enough of 
those marks to guide you in matching the garboard back 
into its place on the keel. 
The process explained for one does for all until you 
come to that supremely happy moment when there only 
remains one more plank to be put on to each side. 
Those planks are called the "shutters" because they shut 
in the hull, completing the planking. To determine their 
shape you must "spile" for each edge, and here we come 
to the question of the edge of each plank, which we had 
better discuss before going further. Here you will soon 
discover, if you haven't already done so, that it is a 
very difficult matter to put the edges of the planks to- 
gether so daylight will not show through, and many ama- 
teurs will try to make the outer edge of the planks fit tight 
regardless of the inner edges. The result is, when they try 
to caulk the seams the cotton falls right through as the 
opening becomes larger the further in it goes. (Fig. 29.) 
The proper seam is one whose inner edges make a per- 
fectly tight seam; but a seam can be a good caulking seam 
fectly tight seam; but a seam can bea good caulking seam 
and yet show a line of daylight all along its length, if its 
edges form a wedge with the point in; for in caulking the 
cotton can be wedged in so tightly as to insure a per- 
fectly water-tight seam. 
So, to return to our shutter, if the planks each side 
have a good caulking edge the shutter can be gotten oul| 
with square edges and jammed in hard between them^S 
wedging itself and the other planks tightly together. 
The. u/rony Am J of <z se<????. Open 
on the. of f he hoot 
F.<*-2?. 
The. T7j7if hnd of $ ww. Open 
on the, outsrcfe, of /he la^t 
The shutter completes the planking, so far as fitting 
the boards go, and an amateur who successfully accom- 
plishes this much has every reason to feel proud of his 
work. 
[to be continued.] 
Boston Letter* 
Boston, May 26. — The freaks now being built to com- 
pete for the Quincy cup appear to be holding much of the 
interest throughout Massachusetts Bay at present. There 
are three of them in all, two of which are for the de- 
fense of the cup and one the challenger. All are now 
partly constructed. The challenger is for Mr. Henry 
M. Faxon, of the Quincy Y. C, from designs by Mr. 
Arthur Keith. One of the defenders is being built by 
Fenton, for a syndicate headed by Mr. A. Henry Higgin- 
son and Mr. Reginald Boardman, and the second de- 
fender, representing the Manchester Y. C, is being built 
by White, of Manchester, from Crowninshield design for 
the following syndicate : John A. Burnham, Jr., E. A. 
Boardman, F. Lothrop Ames, Thomas M. McKee, S. P. 
Bremer, George Lee and R. D. Boardman. 
All of the boats are radical departures and are, with- 
out doubt, the most ridiculous things in the way of boats 
that have ever been built. They have abnormally long 
ends and carry immense sail spreads. The Burgess boat 
has a superstructure trussing of lattice bridge formation 
to keep her ends up. This will not be seen on the other 
two boats, but they each have other freaky features that 
will by no means make them last in interest. Some idea 
of the extent to which the designers have gone may be 
seen from the following principal dimensions of the 
Crowninshield boat : 
Over all, 55ft; waterline, just under 21ft.; beam, 
17ft., and draft, ift. 2in. She is the longest of any on 
top, and it is likely that she will also have the largest 
sail spread. Her draft is somewhat more than might be 
expected in a boat built to compete for the Quincy cup, 
but this is on account of the peculiar construction of her 
hull. There are some things about her construction that 
I am not at liberty to give at present, but enough can be 
told, to show how radical this boat is. Her overhangs are 
each 17ft. in length, and there are reverse curves in both. 
This was necessary, not only to get her ends closer to the 
water, but also to give more strength. 
She is designed to carry 2,000 sq. ft. in the ordinary 
working sails, mainsail and jib. Of this, 1,600ft. will be in 
the mainsail and 400 in the jib. There will be two 
smaller jibs. There will be no headstay, but strength 
will be obtained from a wire halyard and the bolt rope in 
the luff of the jib. The larger jib extends beyond a 
point just above the outer end of the bowsprit, and the 
two smaller ones lead directly from the bowsprit end. 
The spars will be hollow and will be built by Lawley. 
The mast is 50ft. 6in. from the deck to the shoulder, and 
there is a bury of 2ft. oin. The difference between the 
bury of the mast and the draft is accounted for by the 
immense crown to the deck. At the deck it is oin. in 
diameter, at the hounds gYz'm., and, just under the top 
withe, 6in. On the forward side there will be a strut, 
leading a jumper stay. There will be two shrouds on 
either side, one leading from a plate just above the hounds 
and the other slung from the mast head. Both will be 
bridled at the chain plates and will be set up with turn- 
buckles. There are two backstays, one running direct to 
the taffrail and the other acting as a masthead runner. 
The last is bridled to the chain plate and the setting-up 
tackle, thus giving strength to the whole of the wind- 
ward side above the waterline. 
The dimensions of the mainsail are as follows: Hoist, 
33ft. jin. ; head, 29ft. 6in. ; leach, 67ft. ioin., and foot, 
47ft. 5in. The largest jib is 23^ft. on the foot, 42ft. 3m. 
on the luff and 35ft. 2in. leach. As has been said, this 
boat is radical in other particulars, but she has been, ex- 
amined by Louis M. Clark, who has been appointed chief 
judge, and he has declared that she is eligible to compete 
for the cup under the rules made by the Quincy Y. C. 
This boat will not be the only one whose hull will be 
radical, as will be seen when the full particulars of both 
she and the Faxon boat come out, White has the con- 
struction well started, and it is expected that she will be 
jn the water by June 20. She will be raced under the 
fiames of John A, Burnham, Jr., and R. D. Boardnian, 
