546 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[April 8, 1911. 
to, or who intends to fit out his own vessel en¬ 
tirely, or almost entirely, by himself. The man 
who does not go in for fitting out on his own 
account can be treated very simply; he only 
needs to place his boat in decently competent 
hands to have the whole series of operations 
which constitute fitting out done for him with¬ 
out more ado. Indeed, one is inclined to give 
this advice to all men who do not take a really 
keen personal interest in their craft; with all 
boats, sail as well as power, the mere running 
of them is only a part of the pleasure to be 
extracted from their ownership. The true 
yachtsman, the “husband” of his packet, finds 
a wealth of pleasure in attending to the little 
wants of his boat and applying corrective 
remedies to the ailments which afflict her from 
time to time. People are remarkably fond of 
referring to the winter season as the “off” sea¬ 
son; in reality it is one of the busiest times of 
the year for the yachtsman. There are a thou¬ 
sand and one little matters connected with 
every boat which need attention; there is little 
time available in the summer and autumn—the 
“yachting” season—so the yachtsman really can 
do more to his boat in this “off” season and 
be brought into more intimate contact with her 
than at any other time in the twelvemonth. 
To get the most out of any boat, to extract 
the fullest enjoyment from her, the owner must 
be in such sympathy with her that he becomes 
a part of his vessel when running her. This 
understanding is quite as necessary in a power 
boat as in sail yacht. The really enthusiastic 
motor boat man admits that his engine “talks” 
to him, his ear is attuned to the engine’s note, 
and the slightest change in the rhythm of her 
running lets him know exactly what she is about 
to do. A great deal is to be learnt in this di¬ 
rection while the motor is running, and a great 
deal more, almost, while the owner is taking 
care of her between runs or between seasons. 
It strikes one as a particularly healthy symp¬ 
tom that the number of men who perform all 
the operations that go to the fitting out of their 
boats is on the increase. Naturally,_ such owners 
are to be found more in connection with the 
smaller size vessels. A large motor boat or 
power yacht entails as much, if not more, work 
in fitting out than does a yacht of the same 
dimensions. If a man has not the time to spare 
—or lacks the inclination, perhaps—then the 
best thing he can do in his own interests is to 
entrust his boat to one of the numerous firms 
available and get things done for him, properly 
and thoroughly. But the man who, for any rea¬ 
son, is keen on doing things for himself, will 
find intense pleasure in getting his boat in trim 
for the next season’s running. Fitting out is 
hardly a job to be worked off in a short time, 
just before the season opem. As a matter of 
fact, it should begin when the boat is being laid 
up; paradoxical though such advice mav sound. 
Laying up and fitting out are much more 
intimately connected than many men realize, 
particularly so with motor boats. Protection 
from the winter’s weather is the chief reason 
for laying up, of course, but a great deal can be 
done at that time of year which will save time 
and trouble in the early spring following. An 
early start in fitting out brings its own reward 
very often in our climate, as the owner is'then 
in a position to take advantage of any spell of 
fine weather which may happen along while his 
more dilatory acquaintances are slaving ashore. 
Everything connected with the fitting out of 
the motor and its gear together make up the 
bulk of the work entailed in fitting out any 
motor boat. The hull is, in a way, a minor 
question, as unless the driving gear is in perfect 
form, the most resplendent of hulls is very little 
use. It is also the work which must be under¬ 
taken first of all; it can become a frightfully 
messy job under certain circumstances, and it 
is an immense convenience to be able to fit out 
without regard (comparatively) to the hull. 
There is no use at all in approaching the job in 
a namby-pamby spirit or with the tips of the 
fingers. Oil and grease are there, and the best 
and most sensible course to pursue is to get 
Tight in and (suitably clothed) not worry about 
the state of filth, one will ultimately get into. 
And. on this subject, a word of advice: wear 
aged clothes, useless for anything else, and 
don’t worry about overalls, which are a 
nuisance, always. 
If the boat has been properly laid up, a large 
proportion of the preliminary spade work will 
have been done. With most of the small mov¬ 
able accessories stripped from the boat and 
stored indoors they are available throughout 
the winter, and the prudent owner will have 
operated on some, at least, of them, finishing 
them off betimes. But the prudent owner is 
none too common, and the following actual 
experiences of the worst and foulest fitting-out 
job ever undertaken by the writer should con¬ 
vey a useful moral in addition to covering most 
every point connected with fitting out. 
The boat was a small launch, half-decked, 
with a useful 2)4 to 3-horsepower motor run¬ 
ning at a moderate speed. Both engine and 
boat were what might be called “popular 
priced” articles; not a penn’orth of decent finish 
about them, but fairly well made, especially the 
motor, and capable of affording a deal of fun. 
When the boat was delivered on the scene of 
operations—a back garden, in fact—she was a 
thing to strike terror into any man’s heart. 
Everything was in her just as it had been left 
the last run—many months before. 
A start was made by cleaning the inside of 
the hull sufficient to allow of the possibility of 
sitting down. Then the whole ignition gear 
was stripped from her; coil and battery, wires, 
switch, and contact maker; and that laid on 
one side for attention in the evenings. Every 
scrap of brasswork about the hull: cleats, fair- 
leads, tiller rope sheaves, even to the brass 
letters of her name; were all removed. The re¬ 
versing propeller, with lever and linkwork, was 
removed, together with the stern tube. Car¬ 
buretter and lubricators were taken off the en¬ 
gine. The pump, copper piping, and strainer 
of the water circulating system, were also re¬ 
moved. Lastly, the fuel tank and piping came 
out; leaving a bare hull and the stripped 
engine. 
After some consideration it was decided to 
start on the remains of the engine first; when 
that should be finished the hull could be pro¬ 
ceeded with while the accessories were being 
got ready. The cylinder head was removed and 
the cheeks of the crank case taken off to get 
inside and remove the crank shaft, after cast¬ 
ing the big-end adrift. The piston lifted out 
of the top of the cylinder; and all the com¬ 
ponent parts were get-at-able. The state of the 
cylinder wall was a proof that a motor can re¬ 
ceive remarkably little attention without being 
much the worse for neglect. Though the engine 
had never been opened up since the boat had 
been bought the inside was in a very satisfac¬ 
tory condition. Scraping with an ancient dinner 
knife, worn thin and springy, removed the 
carbon deposit; the inside was thoroughly 
wiped clean and greased. The piston rings 
were badly stuck; lengthy soaking in paraffin 
cleared them, and after thorough clensing of 
the connecting rod parts and crank shaft, these 
parts were all assembled again, after thorough 
greasing. It was remarked that we were put¬ 
ting on as much grease as would suffice for the 
launching of a liner, but it did no harm ap¬ 
parently, beyond making a frightful smoke for 
some time after she was got running again. 
The joints where the crank case ends fit are ex¬ 
tremely important in a two-cycle engine; so 
the faces were thoroughly scraped with the in¬ 
valuable table knife, and the joints remade with 
oiled brown paper, the very best thing to use 
in that part of a motor. 
The cutting of joint rings is a simple matter 
—when the method is known. They are not 
cut, as a matter of fact, but hammered out. A 
circle of brown paper is cut something larger 
than the outside diameter of the joint; this is 
laid over the “check,” then gentle tapping with 
a small mallet—the end of a hammer haft will 
do—round the inside diameter removes the use¬ 
less interior. The ring is treated in the same 
way for the outside, and for each if the bolt 
holes. It is useless to try and perform the 
operation with scissors; the result will only be 
failure and much bad language. The rings 
when cut were soaked in oil and then smeared 
with a mixture of thick cylinder oil, to which 
finely powdered blacklead had been added. The 
result was perfectly successful. 
The joint on the cylinder head was made in a 
similar manner, but asbestos millboard was 
used instead of brown paper; cut in the same 
manner, also soaked in thick oil and smeared 
with much oil and blacklead, and the cover then 
screwed down tight. 
The oil burns out after starting up, and the 
cover should be tightened up some more. The 
burnt oil and blacklead together make a per¬ 
fect joint, which appears to have the additional 
advantage of being easy to “break” when 
wanted. As the work had to be done outside, 
and the only protection available for the engine 
was the tarpaulin boat cover and some sacks, 
great care was taken throughout to prevent wet 
or moisture entering the inside of the engine. 
The cleaning of the piston, connecting rod, and 
crank shaft, was hurried through with all speed, 
and once the motor was re-assembled the cor- 
buretter orifice in the crank chamber, and the 
spark plug and priming-cock holes on the 
cylinder head, were carefully plugged with 
wooden plugs wrapped in oil-soaked cloth. 
The overhauling of the reversing propeller 
demonstrated certain facts in electro-chemistry 
very plainly. The inner rod connecting the re¬ 
verse lever with the blades was of iron, while 
the blades' themselves were bronze; as the cover 
on the after end of the boss was missing the 
steel rod was eaten right through. Happily it 
meant nothing more dreadful than obtaining a 
turned rod of certain diameter and length with 
little extra in the way of pins or screw cutting. 
But it taught a lesson in carefulness; eyery- 
thing should be of bronze in a propeller; if by 
chance there is any iron in proximity to bronze 
there should be proper protection from sea 
water. 
As the boat lay usually on mudflats, drying 
out at every tide, a certain amount of filth in 
the water circulating system was inevitable, as 
there was no gauze in the strainer on the water 
suction pipe. Happily it was a plunger pump 
with a remarkably powerful delivery, so the 
amount of silt was really less than was antici¬ 
pated. However, as a matter of precaution, the 
pipes were washed through by coupling up to 
the domestic supply, and the pump thoroughly 
cleaned and re-packed round the plunger. 
Every joint on the water circulating system was' 
looked to; they were sort of conical joints, 
which were stated to be a continual source of 
annoyance; so they were attended to with a 
little emery just to make sure. 
[to be concluded.] 
Canoeing. 
A. C. A. Membership. 
NEW MEMBERS PROPOSED. 
Central Division.—C. R. Kemp, 424 Center 
street, Wilkinsburg, Pa., by H. D. James; J. F. 
Ambrose, 7040 Frankstown avenue, Pittsburg, 
Pa., by H. D. James. 
Eastern Division.—Edward A. Scigliano, 33 
Broad street, Boston, Mass., by Sidney G. 
Barnstead; John J. Martin, 175 Gardner street, 
West Roxbury, Mass., by Sidney G. Barnstead; 
Charles A. MacDonald, 196 Whipple street, Fall 
River, Mass., by B. L. Goodwin. 
NEW MEMBERS ELECTED. 
Atlantic Division.—6192, John F. Miller, Bor- 
dentown, N. J.; 6193, Richard A. Barry, Borden- 
town, N. J.; 6194, Allen H. Robinson, 115 
Harvard avenue, Collingswood, N. J. 
Eastern Division.—6189, George H. Copeland, 
29 Elma street, Providence, R. I.; 6190, Charles 
M. Sillers, 230 Pearl street, Somerville, Mass.; 
6191, Walter E. Hewins, 61 Monument street, 
West Medford, Mass. 
MEMBER TRANSFERRED. 
5968, Merle V. Cox, 3518 Prospect avenue, 
Cleveland, O., from Atlantic Division to West¬ 
ern Division. 
