1871 ] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
37? 
for rowing or sailing in deeper water, and 
which may be made of any suitable size. The 
proportions to be observed in building these 
boats is a length equal to four or five times the 
width ; the greater width being adapted for 
boats to be used with, 
a mast and sail. The 
first requisite is to lay 
the blocks, on which. 
the boat has to be 
built, at a sufficient 
bight to enable the 
work at the bottom to 
be done conveniently; 
the next to procure 
and lay the keel. This 
should be a piece of 
sound white oak, six 
inches wide and two inches thick, perfectly true, 
and free from any twist or spring, and should be 
dressed down to an inch thick at the bottom, and 
be grooved at the top to receive the edge of the 
first streak or board. It should be clamped 
on to the blocks or trestles by side-clamps or 
pieces spiked to the blocks, and the keel-piece 
is firmly held by means of wedges which can 
be knocked out when the boat is finished, and 
the keel released. The stem of the boat may 
be of asli or elm, naturally crooked, or sawn out 
to a proper curve, and should be mortised into 
ene end of the keel and fastened with two cop¬ 
per bolts, which will not rust. The stern should 
then be cut out of a piece of ash or yellow pine 
to a proper shape, and be firmly fixed on to the 
keel by. means of a knee, as shown in figure 1. 
This engraving shows the blocks or trestles, the 
keel, and the method of mortising the stem and 
stern to it. In addition to the knee a metal strap 
may be used, to firmly unite the keel and stern 
together. All these joints should be made water¬ 
tight, by means of a piece of brown paper soaked 
in pine tar placed between them, and should be 
firmly secured by screws or screw-bolts and nuts. 
Then the mold should be made and fixed 
lightly to the keel, as it must afterwards be re¬ 
moved. This consists of three or four boards, 
as shown in fig. 2, cut to fit the shape and size 
©f the boat, the center one being of the width 
the boat is desired to be. The W'idth across the 
center of the boat is called the beam, and the 
amount of beam desired regulates the size 
of the mold. The mold gradually tapers 
towards the stem and stern, to suit the shape of 
the boat in those parts. They will be somewhat 
of the shape shown in fig. 2, but will vary as 
the shape of the boat may vary. Possibly the 
first boat built may not have the most desirable 
lines or shape, but the next one can be brought 
into more perfect form by making changes which 
will occur during the first experiment. It is 
not to be supposed that directions can be given 
here, sufficiently minute to enable any one to 
construct a perfectly handsome model of a boat 
at the first attempt, but if these directions are 
followed out as nearly 
as may be, the prob¬ 
ability is that the 
second attempt will be 
pretty satisfactory to 
any but a very fastidi¬ 
ous boatman. With 
practice comes perfec¬ 
tion. Then w r e pro¬ 
ceed to the laying on 
of the streaks or 
boards. These should 
be of very good, clear 
stutf, free from shakes, 
and of the very best of soft white pine, or 
spruce, or cedar, for here is where strength 
and lightness are wanted. They should be sawn 
half an inch thick, and should be dressed down 
to three eighths. They need 
to be cut of a peculiar shape, 
to fit the curve of the boat, 
and this shape may be got by 
first clamping the streak into 
its place with the clamps 
shown in fig. 2, and marking 
with a pencil where the edge 
of the streak should come, 
and cutting sufficiently far 
away from the mark to allow 
for the lap, which should be 
at least half an inch, but not 
much over. The first streak 
should be made to fit closely 
in the groove in the keel, and 
be firmly nailed all along. 
There should be no nails 
driven into the mold, as they would leave Juries 
to be afterwards filled up, and damage the boat. 
The boat is built up regularly on each side, and 
care must be taken 
that the mold is exact¬ 
ly the same on each 
side and the streaks 
are laid on of exactly 
the same width and 
thickness. The boards 
should be fastened 
with boat-nails, which 
are made so that they 
can be driven Avithout 
splitting the boards, 
and are of very soft metal, so that they may be 
clinched on the inside. The clinching should 
be done on the inside with a light hammer, a 
heavy one being held on to the head of the nail 
outside, and if burrs are not used, the point of 
the nail should be turned and bent sideways, 
and made to enter the wood on the lap. If the 
boaids are found difficult to bend into the abrupt 
curves at the head and stern, they may be greatly 
softened by steeping in boiling Avater, when they 
should be clamped in their place until dry, and 
when cold can be easily nailed and secured. 
When the sides are completed, the ribs may bo 
put in. They should be made of tough white 
oak, and should be steeped in Avater until 
quite pliable, Avhen they may be bent into their 
places and nails driven through the boards into 
them; here and there some longer nails should 
be passed right through and clinched. The ribs 
should he an inch square, or if the boat is heavy 
may be an inch and a half Avide. There should 
he several short ribs, coming half-way up the 
sides of the boat, fastened betAveen the other 
ribs, to strengthen the bottom and to furnish a 
place on Avhich to rest the foot-boards. All these 
ribs should be firmly nailed or screwed to the 
keel. The thwarts or seats should rest on a nar¬ 
row streak fastened inside the boat to the ribs, 
but if permanently fixed, might rest on small 
knees, made of the roots of small tamaracks or 
cedars, which are attached bj’'small bolts to the 
ribs at a convenient bight for the seats, or not 
less than ten inches. The gumvale is made by 
laying a streak two inches Avide all around the 
inside of the boat at the upper edge, and it should 
rest on the ribs and be of the same thickness as 
they are. Another streak is laid around the out¬ 
side, Avhich maybe ornamented with a molding. 
Any other fittings, as lockers, or boxes, or ring¬ 
bolts, may be put wherever they are desired, 
and the roAvlocks are the same as in any other 
boat. The rudder for steering is hung on the 
center of the stern, and is worked either by 
means of cords, Avhich is the most convenient, 
or by means, of a tiller. The cords may ha 
affixed to arms fastened to the rudder-head. If 
-dam and avaste gate.— pb'ee next page .) 
a mast is desired, it may lie stepped into a piece 
of two-inch plank, fastened in the forward part 
of the boat to the keel, and in Avhich is a hole 
to receive the foot of the mast; ail iron strap 
which receives and embraces the mast, is affixed 
to the front of the forward thwart or seat. The 
cut of the complete boat (fig. 3) shows all these 
little details. It is advisable to brush over the 
inside of all the joints of the streaks with the 
stem and stern, before nailing them, with white 
lead, that they may be made water-tight. 
-n>.-- . ..-— 
Dams and Ponds. 
The building of dams is a work that needs 
care and skill, or the labor is very often l brown 
away. The difficulty of making a simple and 
tight dam often prevents the use of tlm water 
Fig. 1.—LAVING THIS KEEL AND ATTACHING STEM AND STERN. 
Fig. 3. —BOAT COMPLETED. 
