Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1895-08-15

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| .Sharpie with Centerboard.
The amateur boat builder and the
fast sailing boat are two poles rather
| far apart. But as there can be no harm
in trying an experiment which may
after several essays bring success, here
are the directions as clearly as can be
given in black and white.
The easiest and fastest boat 10 build
| is modification of the ''Skip Jack" or
sharpe. The dimensions should be:
Length over all II feet. greatest beam
(Which should be placed at II feet for
ward) feet 6 inches; the sail yard or
boom should be 10 feet long and the
mast 10 feet inches, stepped is inches
from the stem.
This boat will have mean depth
from gunwale to keel of about "a inches.
The keel should be of oak, 10 inches
wide and ~ inches thick, the side
planks being IS inches wide and "a Of
an inch thick, IS feet long.
Lay the keel on it's broad side on two
carpenters horses, and brace it by
blocks to.hold it firm, and then proceed
as if to make rowboat.
should be of oak, cut out of "knee"
and Tapped on to the keel, strength
ening it by inside braces of deadwood.
Then make three temporary frames
of 1-inch pine and nail them at the
greatest beam and other equal dis
tances toward the stern, marking on
each the middle line of the boat to cor
respond with center of keel
Hold these in place by strip of wood
nailed from the stem to the stern piece,
which latter should be of pinch oak
cut into the accepted shape for boats
stern. Then start the planl1ing process,
which is where the test of ability comes
in.
Mark off on the stem, the three molds,
and the stern, the number of planlSs
which must be used to raise the sides
the 81 inches from the keel, and then
take them one by one and grade their
width in the proportion required to fit
snug, which will leave them narrowest
at the stem, widest amidships, and
again tapering at the stem.
Take the first plank and fit it into a
groove made in the keel, then nail it to
stem and stern, following with another
plank which should be closely morticed
into the first one; then another and an
other, gradually sloping them upward
round the curve of the frame molds, so
that the curve should be gradual like
the rounded bottom of bowl
A very little practical knowledge
will be sufficient for person of ordi-
nary ability to shape the planks to fit.
Continue in this manner until the
height of the ''gunnel" is reached, and
then commence to put in the ribs.
These should be of inch-square oak,
steamed to the shape required, and
these should be placed inside the boat
and each plank carefully frightened in
the mortices and then nailed with cop
per nails to them. The shell is then
complete.
Nail narrow strip along each side
just where the upward curve of the
bottom commences, and put in the
flooring, leaving space for the center
board, the slot for which should be cut
in the keel, and the walls or trunk
built of two-inch square oak uprights
and half-inch planl1s, the trunk ris-
ing to trifle lower than the gunwale
streak.
The centerboard should be of one
and-one-half-inch or two-inch oak, with
a maximum depth of thirty inches, and
care should be taken to have the hole