CHAPTER IX

BUILDING SMALL BOATS

Very few men or boys are capable of planning, drafting, laying down and building a round-bottomed boat. Even if you are expert enough to do this, the finished product will not compare to a boat built by a professional and it will cost far more, especially if time and satisfaction count for anything, than a readymade craft or one built to order.

There are many reliable firms which furnish patterns for all sorts of boats, from canoes and skiffs to schooner yachts and big power-cruisers. By means of these patterns and the directions which accompany them, any person who has patience and is handy with woodworking tools can build a boat. It is only necessary to mark off the patterns on the proper lumber, work the planks and timbers to shape and put them together according to directions, but even then you’ll find some difficulties to be overcome.

These same firms also sell “knock-down” boats which have all the planks, timbers and other parts sawed and formed, and by purchasing these it is a very simple matter to build a boat. Full directions accompany these knock-down boats and even the nails, screws, rivets and other fastenings and all the hardware and fittings are furnished if desired.

If you really _must_ build a boat, the best plan is to look over the catalogs of these firms, select the model and size that suits you and then purchase the patterns or the ready-cut materials. You will no doubt obtain a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction by thus constructing your own boat, but your first attempts will not approach the boats built by men who have spent years at boat-building and have learned every little “kink” and trick of their trade.

In most places the cost of a readymade boat will be very little, if any, more than the one built at home by an amateur, but the fun of making it, the experience gained and the knowledge of using tools which you will acquire may make it worth while.

As a rule, however, it is not advisable to attempt to build a large, or even a medium-sized, boat and your first efforts at least should be confined to boats less than twenty feet in length. Even in craft of such small dimensions you will find there is plenty of hard, heavy work to be done. Planks and timbers must be steamed and bent; tough, hard oak must be cut, planed, chiselled and worked accurately and neatly. Many of the processes used in boat-building are different from those employed in any other form of carpentry and as a result a previous knowledge of woodworking may be of little value when constructing a boat.

But there are many boats which any handy man or boy can build easily and cheaply and which will prove safe, seaworthy and excellent sailing craft. These are the flat-bottomed boats, known as skiffs or sharpies, for a sharpie is really nothing more than a large skiff provided with a centerboard and with dimensions and lines designed to adapt it to sailing.

Before commencing to build any sort of a boat, however, you should have the proper tools with which to work, for without good tools it is impossible for a person to build even a simple flat-bottomed boat.

The tools required for building a boat are neither numerous nor expensive, but only tools of high grade should be purchased for a cheap or poor tool is an abomination and is almost as bad as none at all.

Of course, many people will have most of the required tools on hand, but for the benefit of those who do not the entire list is given as follows: A large ripsaw; a coarse crosscut saw; a fine crosscut or panel saw; a compass saw; a tenon saw; a hack saw.

The ripsaw should have about six teeth to the inch. The compass saw should be rather fine, about eight teeth to the inch. A miter saw and miter box will prove very useful in addition to the above.

Keep the saws bright and clean and when using them in gummy, pitchy or fibrous wood rub them with hard soap or chalk to prevent them from binding, but _do not_ use oil as it will only make matters worse. _Never_ stand a saw up so the blade bends and under no circumstances should you twist or bend the saw when sawing in order to pry or split off the wood. A saw which is out of true, bent or sprung will bind and catch and will _not_ saw straight.

You will also require several planes, such as a jack plane; a smoothing plane; a block plane; a rabbit plane. These may be of wood or iron as preferred and in addition you will find a bull-nosed plane, for planing in corners; a pair of matching planes and some beading or moulding planes very useful.

There should be several mortising chisels of 1 inch, 3/4 inch, 1/2 inch and 1/4 inch sizes, and also two or three gouges varying from 1-1/2 to 3/4 inch in size.

A good drawknife is almost essential, and a spoke-shave will prove very convenient.

A ratchet bitstock, or brace, is necessary and you should provide a good assortment of bits and augers to go with it. The best bits to use are those of twist-drill pattern, for these will not split the wood like ordinary gimlet-bits, and if you bore against a knot, a nail, a screw or any other metal object you can bore through it without injuring the bit. The bits should range in size from 1/8 inch to 1/2 inch in diameter, and the augers, which should be of the ship-auger pattern, should range from 1/2 to 1 inch in diameter.

A breast, or hand, drill with assorted twist-drills will be useful and you should have several gimlets; at least two brad-awls; a countersink; a reamer, and a bit-brace screwdriver.

Extension bits, which can be adjusted to various sizes, are exceedingly useful and convenient, but are not absolutely necessary.

A medium-sized mallet; a claw-hammer; a small hammer; two screwdrivers; a spirit level; a steel square; cutting pliers; compasses; a bevel gauge; a carpenter’s gauge; a yardstick; a folding two-foot rule; an oil stone; wood rasps; flat or bastard files; a saw file; a carpenter’s pencil; some iron carpenter’s clamps; an old flatiron; a bench vise and a caulking-iron complete the list of tools.

In addition to all these you will need some benches or horses, a good workbench, screws, rivets, nails, etc.

Copper or galvanized iron nails and brass or galvanized iron screws should be used exclusively. Round “wire” nails will serve very well. Boat nails rivetted over burrs, clout-nails which are clinched, or plain copper nails will serve equally well, according to the purpose for which they are to be used. Where a nail is used to hold two pieces of wood together and does _not_ pass entirely through, wire nails can be used to advantage, but if the nail goes entirely through both pieces, which is necessary to insure great strength, or where two thin pieces of wood are fastened together, rivets and burrs or clout-nails should be used.

Screws are to be avoided, for they require rather large holes, they often work loose and after getting them part way in they are liable to twist off or the slots may become so scarred that you cannot turn them out or in.

Next comes the question of material. If you purchase patterns or ready-cut material, the wood to be used will be determined by the directions furnished; but if you expect to plan and build a boat by yourself you will have to select and buy the lumber which is best adapted to your boat and which can be most readily obtained.

For planking, white cedar, white pine, mahogany, yellow pine, basswood or cypress may be used. For frames, knees, stems and sternposts, transoms and ribs there is nothing better than good, clear white oak.

For making a flat-bottomed boat or sharpie, clear white pine or cypress is the best material for the planks; cypress or white cedar should be used for the bottom, and all the timbers, frames, transom and stem should be of oak.

The size and thickness of the various pieces of lumber will vary according to the dimensions of your boat, but for boats up to twenty feet in length, 3/4 inch planking, 1 inch bottom boards and ribs, gunwales, deck timbers, etc., of oak 1 inch square will be strong enough. The transom should be of 1 inch oak, the deadwood may be of 1-1/2 or 2 inch oak or two 1 inch pieces bolted together; the keel should be of 1-1/2 inch oak, and the centerboard should be of 1 inch oak or yellow pine.

These are the extremes and the dimensions of timbers, ribs, centerboard and such parts may be reduced for smaller boats. Side planks 5/8 or even 1/2 inch thick will be very strong if more numerous ribs are used, and for small skiffs the bottom can be made of 3/4 inch stuff and the ribs may be reduced to 1/2 inch square.

It is a mistake, however, to make a boat too light, if it is to be used for sailing, for a reasonably heavy boat will have more headway, will handle better and will be more stable and seaworthy than a very light craft.

Before commencing your boat you should determine the exact dimensions. Until you are familiar with the principles of boat designing and have learned to figure out displacements, load-water lines, centers of efforts and resistance and many other technical details your best plan is to find some other boat that suits your ideas and copy her measurements.

Once you have determined on the measurements you should mark them full, or at least half, size on a smooth, flat floor or some similar surface, as you will find it far more convenient to get out the various parts from such large plans than to work from small scale drawings.

As soon as you have these rough outlines and measurements ready you must make forms or molds. These may be sawed from planks or may be formed by nailing several pieces together, but in either case they must conform perfectly to the shape of the boat you have planned and both sides must be absolutely alike, for a very slight variation may ruin the sailing qualities of the boat.

These forms represent the section of the boat at amidships, near the bow and half-way between stern and amidships and their shape can easily be determined from your plans.

1-2—Boat fastenings. 3, 4, 5—Molds. 6—Transom. 7—Stem. 8—Stem and throat knee. 9—Stern fastened to keel. 10—Transom fastened to keel. 11—Lining up sides. 12—Molds in position. 13—Ribs. 14—Mast thwart. 15—Section showing construction. 16—Centerboard. 17—Rudder and post.

The transom or sternpiece should then be gotten out and the next work is to make the stem.

This will require care and time, for the sides must be cut away by chisel and plane until they will just receive the ends of the side planks neatly, and the angle of these depressions, or rabbits, must be determined by the angle at which the sides meet at the bow on the plan you have drawn.

When the stem, transom and molds are ready, take the piece to be used as a keel, cut the slit for the centerboard in it, and fasten the deadwood or “skeg” in place by means of bolts, screws and nails driven in from the upper side of the keel. Place the keel on the horses, with blocks beneath it to hold it at the proper curve, tacking them lightly to both keel and horses.

Fasten the keel in place by clamps and by tacking it lightly and secure the stem in position by means of a block or a knee. Fasten the transom at the opposite, or stern, end and set your molds at the points where they belong with the lower edges flush with the bottom of the keel.

Line up the center of the stem, molds and transom by a line stretched along them, arrange all the molds and the transom so they are parallel and exactly at right angles to the keel and secure them rigidly by means of light strips, or battens, tacked along their tops and brace them very securely by pieces running to the benches and keel.

Then take one of the side planks, clamp one end fast to the stem, so it fits snugly in the rabbit, and bend it slowly around the various molds to the transom and clamp it to each mold and to the transom. If you have someone to help you while doing this it will be far easier, for while one person holds or bends the board the other can secure it by the clamps.

Here, too, you will find why it was necessary to fasten stem, molds and transom firmly, for the entire strain of the bending plank will come against them, and unless they are absolutely rigid the stem will swing to one side and throw the boat out of true. To prevent this it is a good plan to fasten braces from the top of the stem to the sides of the building where you are working, so that the stem cannot by any possibility be moved. When the plank is in position take a thin, straight strip, or batten, of wood, lay it along the upper edge of the plank—tacking it in position at the stem, at each mold and at the transom and mark along this to give the sheer curve at the top of the plank. Remove the batten and use it in the same way at the bottom of the molds.

Then take off the side plank, saw carefully along the marks made by the batten, cut the other plank exactly like it and replace it, securing it first by clamps, and then by boat nails driven through it into stem and transom and tack it lightly to each mold. In driving the nails be sure to drill holes through the plank first, as otherwise it may be split.

When both planks are in place, lay a straight stick across from side to side and plane down the upper edges of the planks until the stick rests squarely upon the edges of both planks, instead of on one corner of each, as it will do at first. When both sides are bevelled place the various frame or rib pieces on the insides of the planks, spacing them about 1 foot apart, measuring along the curve of the sides, and being sure to keep them parallel and leaving a space of 1-1/2 inches between their lower ends and the bottom edges of the planks. Secure them by means of rivets and burrs, with the burrs on the inside, or by means of clout-nails clinched over on the inside and use the old flatiron, held against the head of each nail or rivet as you burr or clinch them with the hammer.

Saw each rib off at the top, just even with the planks, and then fit a good stout piece of oak or _throat knee_ between the planks and stem at the bow and fit two other knees at the corners of the planks where they join the transom.

At the spot where the mast is to be stepped secure a strong, oak crosspiece, or thwart, with the mast hole cut in it, across from one plank to the other by nailing, or bolting, pieces across the ribs just the thickness of the mast thwart _below_ the upper edges of the planks. Bolt or screw the mast thwarts to these and then secure a block, with a hole in it, to the keel directly under the mast hole in the thwart.

If the boat is to be open you can place another thwart across the stern, but if it is to be decked, or partly decked, the other thwarts can be put in just as well later on. The next step is to make the centerboard and its case and place the latter in position.

The centerboard case is made by securing two pieces, known as _trunk-logs_, to the keel, using white lead and strips of canton flannel or thin felt under them and drawing them tight to the keel by means of long screws run up from below. Of course, it will be necessary to curve the lower edges of these pieces to fit the keel snugly before putting them in place.

Then rivet the ends of these to the upright posts at the ends, which should also be set in white lead and screwed to the keel, and then build up the case by other boards to a height well above the water line. The board itself may be made either of several pieces of wood or a single piece. In the former case the strips should be dowelled together and a transverse strip should be placed at each end to prevent the pieces from separating, while if one piece is used, end pieces should be fastened on to prevent the plank from warping or splitting. The board should be pivotted by running a brass bolt through the two sides of the case and the board with a piece of pipe, an old rowlock socket, or some similar “bushing” in the board to prevent the hole in the wood from wearing.

The board should be hung so it can be raised and lowered easily. In order to do this, the pivot should be near the lower front corner, and the upper rear end of the board must be rounded or slanted off so it will swing up into the case.

The top of the case may be left open or a piece of board may be fitted over it with a hole for the rope or chain which is used to control the board to pass through. Be careful to adjust this chain, or rope, so the board cannot drop too far as it should not fall beyond the perpendicular.

The next step is to place light, diagonal braces across from side to side and from molds to side planks, tacking them lightly in position, and then remove the braces and clamps from the keel. Lift the boat from the benches, turn it upside down and plane off the lower edges of the planks until square as you did the upper edges.

Then fit a piece of oak along the lower edge of each side plank, cutting little notches in it to fit around the end of each rib. Rivet these to the sides, plane off the bevel to bring these pieces true with the edges of the planks and you are ready to put on the bottom planking.

The bottom may be run either lengthwise, or crosswise, on a flat-bottomed boat, but if run lengthwise cross timbers are required, which are a nuisance, and the crosswise planking does just as well and is far easier to make.

Place a piece of the bottom planking across the bow, covering the stem and extending a short distance on either side of the side planks. Smear the lower end of the stem, the keel and the side planks with thick white lead and nail the piece securely into the stem, the keel and the two oak pieces along the sides and to the side planks also. In driving these nails be sure and set them at an angle to correspond with the slope of the sides, or else they will split out and cause your boat to leak.

Fit another cross plank behind this with plenty of white lead between the edges and secure it in place. Continue in this way until the slot for the centerboard is reached. Here the planks must be run from each side of the slots to the side planks, and where the deadwood, or skeg, is fastened the same method must be followed.

When the bottom is fully planked saw off the projecting ends close to the sides, being careful to keep the same angle and not to scar or cut the side planks, and then, with the block plane, smooth the ends evenly with the side planks.

When this is done fit a false keel, or rubbing-strake, along the center of the bottom with a slot cut in it to correspond with the centerboard slot and taper it at the rear to fit the lower surface of the deadwood. Smear the under surface of this, as well as the bottom where it rests, with thick copper paint and nail firmly in place. And _don’t_ forget to paint _all_ the inside portions and joints of the centerboard case, as well as the board itself and the inside edges and slot in the keel, with copper paint before putting them together.

You can now turn your boat over, knock out the molds and finish with the decking or other interior arrangements, but before taking out the molds you should put the deck beams in place, if a deck is to be used, or should place thwarts across from side to side, if the boat is to be left open.

For a small, simple boat the deck beams may be run straight across from side to side and the cockpit may be made rectangular, with the forward end pointed or V-shaped. The deck may be made by nailing narrow strips along the timbers and following the curve of the sides, or wider planks may be nailed lengthwise and trimmed off to make a smooth, even edge with the sides, after which a covering board should be nailed over the joint and a strip of half-round molding should then be run along to protect the edges from being injured, as well as to give a good finish to the boat.

The edges of the cockpit should be finished by oak combing nailed to the deck and timbers, and a quarter-round molding should then be run around the outside where the combing and the decks join.

If the deck is carefully made and laid in white lead, it will be tight, but if desired it may be covered with canvas laid in paint and with the edges folded down over the sides, trimmed closely and concealed by the molding.

The rudder should be made of either wood or metal. For a small boat, brass or galvanized iron is the best. It should be hung _under_ the stern by means of a post run up through the keel and after deck. To prevent water from entering, a piece of brass tube, or pipe, threaded at both ends, is run through the hole, and set up closely by means of “waste-nuts,” after which the ends of the pipe should be filed off smoothly and slightly rivetted or burred over to prevent the nuts from coming loose.

If you succeed in building a sharpie, as directed, you can attempt a V-bottomed, or skipjack, boat or a dory, for the principles involved are the same in all, but space will not permit a full description of how to construct these. You can obtain a far better idea of how they are built by examining a boat and studying its various parts than by reading many pages of text.

Finally let me warn you not to attempt to build any boat, not even a small, flat-bottomed skiff, unless you possess patience and perseverance and are willing to take plenty of time and painstaking care. No boat that is worth building can be made by slap-bang, careless, slack methods. Boat-building is something which cannot be hurried, for the finished result depends very largely upon little things and attention to details. To watch a boat-builder, one would think that he did his work by guess and took little care, but in reality he does everything in a certain order and a certain way. His apparent carelessness is really expertness, for he has done exactly the same thing so many times that it becomes second nature and is almost involuntary.

If there is a boat-builder in your vicinity visit his shop, watch him by the hour, note the way he handles his tools and the order in which he shapes the parts and puts them together and your time will be well spent. It’s the best possible way to learn the details of boat-building.