THE BARNEGAT SNEAKBOX 
S O many amateur builders have asked 
for some dope on the old sneak box 
that we have jumped without pre- 
liminaries from the flat to the 
round-type of boat in our aim to please. 
By departing somewhat from the usual 
construction there will be little difficulty 
for the man who has already built one 
of the flat-bottom craft. 
The boat shown here is a development 
of the original sneak box which was 
purely a hunting-boat to which in time a 
sail was added merely for ease in getting 
to the shooting-grounds. The boats of 
later years have had more attention paid 
to their sailing qualities and many of 
them have never been used for anything 
else ; several yacht clubs even have spe- 
cial racing classes for them. The boat 
here offered is of this type with addi- 
tional depth enough so that one can tuck 
his legs under the deck, make up a bed 
on the floor and spend the night aboard. 
I have cruised many hundreds of miles 
in just such a boat and would cbeerfully 
start off for a week or so in this one. 
Possibly I would spend more thought on 
the equipment because I think more of 
comfort now than twenty years ago, but 
we’ll leave the matter of equipment until 
we have built the boat. 
First we’ll need a plank for a building 
form, which should be 2" by 8" by 14 
feet. Also a couple of extra pieces to 
pad up the ends. Then we will want a 
straight grained strip of yellow pine or 
spruce y- 2 ." square and 16 feet long; and 
another one about Ya!' square and six 
feet long. Be sure one edge of the plank 
is straight and square a line across it at 
every foot. Call one end 0 and number 
the lines, the other end of the plank be- 
ing 14. Set off on each line the distance 
as marked in Fig. 1 which also shows 
the filling pieces at ends of the plank. 
Now with some slender brads nail the 
Yi" square strip (which is called a bat- 
ten) to the plank so that one edge of it 
touches each of the points. Stand off 
and look at it from each end and if it 
seems to be a smooth curve draw along 
the edge. If a hump shows anywhere 
take it out, even if you have to move the 
batten away from one of the points. 
There will probably be less than an 
eighth of an inch error and it may be 
that by setting the batten a little above 
one point and a little below the next 
there will be less than a sixteenth error. 
This is up to your own eye and care 
should be taken to get it right. 
When it is right, remove the batten 
E are depending upon the 
friends and admirers of our 
old correspondent Nessmuk to 
make this department worthy of 
his name. No man knew the woods 
better than Nessmuk or wrote of 
them with quainter charm. Many 
of his practical ideas on camp- 
ing and “going light” have been 
adopted by the United States 
Army; his canoe has been preserved 
in the Smithsonian Institution; and 
we hope that all good woodsmen 
will contribute to this department 
their Hints and Kinks and trail- 
tested contrivances. 1 — [Editor.] 
and cut the plank down to the line, cleat- 
ing the end fillers solidly in place. The 
plank will then look like Fig. 2. This is 
next to be firmly fastened about 2 feet 
above the floor somewhat like a saw- 
horse as in Fig. 3 and is now called the 
building stocks. When set up, the lower 
line of the plank should be level and we 
are ready to go ahead with some of the 
actual boat. The first piece is the keel. 
This is made from an oak plank Y" 
thick, 5" wide and 16 feet long. If you 
cannot get white oak, yellow pine is next 
best. Strike a center-line with a chalk 
line and diaw it in with pencil; then lay 
out the lines as shown in Fig. 4 and cut 
the keel to shape. Cut carefully the two 
mortices for the posts o^the centerboard 
case. 
Next comes the sternboard or tran- 
som, made from Y" oak and laid out as 
shown in Fig. 5. This is fastened to the 
keel by the oak knee shown, the bevel 
of which should be taken from the 
stocks, so that the transom will stand 
plumb. 
The nose piece is the next problem and 
should be cut from a good solid chunk 
of oak, about 8 inches wide, 3 inches 
thick and 7 inches long. Fig. 6 shows 
several views of this. It is to take the 
fastenings of the various pieces at the 
bow and hold them together. The rab- 
bet takes the keel, the first two planks 
and the deck. The exact shape of the 
round at the end is unimportant. Suit 
yourself. 
W E are now ready to get out the 
frames and we start by making a ' 
set of paper patterns. Get some sheets 
of fairly heavy cardboard which comes 
28 inches by 36 inches or thereabouts. ; 
Now look over the little table given in 
Fig. 7 which furnishes all the dimen- 
sions for laying out the frames. For the 
benefit of those who know something 
about boatbuilding, I will say that this is 
