FOREST AND STREAM 
179 
How to Make a Canoe Sailing Outfit 
By Ben W. Hill. 
There is not one dyed in the wool canoeist 
who has not, at some time or other, wished 
that he had a sail with him, to take advantage 
of a fair wind. The joys and excitement of 
sailing a canoe are too well known to the aver¬ 
age canoeist to dwell upon, as he 'has either 
sailed, or has seen others out skimming along 
with a free sheet. This is not a treatise on how to 
enjoy 'sailing a canoe but how to make a really 
serviceable up-to-date sailing outfit for a canoe, 
that can be adapted to any open boat. The 
owners of decked canoes, of course, have their 
center boards, etc., so this will not be for them. 
The majority of canoe owners consider it quite 
an undertaking to make their own lee boards, 
spars, etc., but most every one can get hold 
of a good plane, a saw and a few sheets of 
sand paper which are all the tools required. 
In choosing material for your lee boards, 
mahogany seems to be the most serviceable, least 
apt to warp and easily worked. Go to your 
nearest lumber dealer and have him pick out 
a well seasoned piece of mahogany % inch thick, 
9 inches wide and seven feet long. This will 
give you two pieces three and one-half feet in 
length. The better and more popular design is 
the one shown. An ordinary key hole saw, used 
by the writer, cost only ten cents and served 
the purpose admirably. Mark out on the board 
the curve of the handle, this is used to readily 
raise or lower the board. Next saw it out with 
the key hole saw, an easy job. Put the board 
on your bench and start planing from the center 
well up toward the handle end, down to the 
square end. Leave the thickest part along the 
middle and gradually taper it down to the broad 
end, so that the strain will be properly taken 
care of. The planing finished on both of them, 
they will, of course, need sand papering. .Give 
them two or three coats of oil and let it soak 
in, after which use any good spar varnish. 
Find a piece of inch and a half round ash, 
oak, or any hard wood. This will be used in 
joining the two lee boards, across the cane and 
will be the length of the width of the canoe. 
Brass flag pole sockets, inch and a half inside 
measurement can be had of any supply house. 
These are bolted to the lee board and the cross 
piece inserted in each socket. The boards are 
now complete. To hold them in place, buy two 
one foot lengths of % inch round brass. Thread 
the ends of these rods and bend them over the 
cross piece and connect them with a plate of 
brass Vs inch thick by 3V2 inches long with 
two holes bored to admit the rod to go through. 
This will clamp up against the thwart in the 
canoe by using thumb screws to fit the rod and 
thus holds the boards down in the water. By 
a slight twist on the thumb screw, you can readi¬ 
ly loosen them and the board will come up if 
you are landing on a beach. If the brass band 
arrangement taxes your wits a bit, an ordinary 
trunk strap will 'do very well, or even a piece 
of rope. 
The writer uses a telescopic tube connection 
on the cross piece so that the lee board only 
will be down and the other one up. It has been 
proved that the boat will sail faster this way 
than if both boards were down. However, it is 
not necessary, as the boat i's really steadier when 
they are both down in the water. 
The regulation sail used on open boats under 
the American Canoe Association rules, permits 
the use of forty square feet of sail. This amount 
seems to be quite enough and best adapted to 
Three Views of the Converted Canoe. 
open canoes. The sail is generally made in the 
form of an equilateral triangle, cutting it so 
that all sides wili measure nine feet six inches. 
We then arrive at the forty square feet area. 
This you can make yourself if you are handy 
with a sewing machine, but I would suggest that 
you give the measurements to any sail or tent 
awning maker who will make it for you at a 
very low cost. 
For the spars, spruce is the best to be had. 
Buy two strips one and a half inches square 
and ten feet long. Plane them down so that 
the middle of the spar will be an inch and a 
quarter thick and gradually taper down to the 
ends where it will be about an inch thick. This 
is done so that the strain will be taken care 
of properly. The additional six inches on the 
spar over the size of the sail is allowed for the 
stretch. The mast is made out of spruce also, 
five feet long and one and three-quarters of an 
inch in diameter where it goes through the mast 
thwart on the canoe and tapered up to the top 
to an inch and three-eights. Bore a half-inch 
hole about two inches from the top of the mast 
to permit a line to pass through to haul up the 
sail. To make the mast thwart, use a piece of 
any hard wood five inches wide and the length 
of the width of the canoe where it is to be set. 
Bore a hole an inch and three-quarters in di¬ 
ameter in it and fasten to the canoe with brass 
bolts % inch, through the gunwales. Use hard 
wood for the mast step, a block six inches long 
by two wide cutting a square hole in it for the 
mast to step in. Of course, it is necessary to 
have the mast properly fit the block. 
Lash the sail to the spars using cotton twine 
through the grommets. A hank of quarter-inch 
cotton rope will furnish you with enough line for 
the hoist and sheet rope with enough left over 
to use for a good sized painter if you need one. 
There is a great knack in the proper placing 
of the sail in the canoe in order that the boat 
will sail and steer true. A little advice on this 
subject will not be amiss and may save consider¬ 
able experimenting. Place the step for the mast 
well up in the bow and fasten to the oak stem 
with brass screws, being careful not to use too 
long a screw. Bol't the mast thwart to the 
gunwales directly above the step so that the mast 
will set vertically. The jaw for the boom is 
made from a piece of half-round % brass and 
a foot long. Bend it so that one end screws 
on the boom and then forms in a S shape and 
rests around the mast. Fasten this jaw about 
a foot from the end of spar so that the boom 
will have a pitch upward. The two spars are 
fastened together with brass screw eyes. To< 
find the proper place to put the lee boards, find 
the center of the sail when raised and place the 
lee board thwart directly under this point. If 
the boat under way has a tendency to fall away 
from the wind, the boards must be moved for¬ 
ward more. If she comes up into the wind too 
strongly move them aft. By doing 'this you 
will arrive at the right point to place them. 
An outfit such a's this purchased from any 
dealer will cost from sixteen to twenty dollars, 
according to the material. The lumber, if you 
make the boards yourself and the spars, will be 
about a dollar. The sail if made by a sail maker, 
about four dollars. By doing it yourself, you 
save from ten to fifteen dollars besides having 
the fun of doing it and enjoying your own handi¬ 
work. . 
PENNSYLVANIA NOTES. 
Hazleton, Pa., July 22.—H. G. Dunham and 
Thomas Sutfliffe, two well know Scranton bank¬ 
ers who enjoy a reputation as fishermen as well, 
are on a five weeks’ trip to the streams of New¬ 
foundland. 
Paul Barry has gone on a five weeks’ trip to 
Canada where he will spend his vacation fishing. 
His father, manager of a Hazleton theatre, is en¬ 
joying deep sea fishing near Point Summit, N. J. 
The Locust Summit Gun Club, of Mt. Carmel 
has installed an automatic trap, re-arousjpg in¬ 
terest in shooting around Mt. Carmel. 
