Eagle River Democrat. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1893-1896, 1895-06-17
To Make a Yacht.

| Of it and stretching piece Of cloth across.
This boat will sail before the wind all
right if properly balanced, but will not
sail against the wind. It bears the same
relation to the model yacht, which it is
proposed to describe, that the ancient
boats which you see in old pictures do
to the modern ship.
The first real yacht which you build
will perhaps involve a somewhat tedious
task, but having finished it you will find
| fun and instruction enough in It to we'll
repay the trouble and time expended.
The first thing to do is to get block of
| wood feet 6 inches long, inches deep
and 10 inches wide. It must be entirely
| free from knots. Pine, perhaps, is the
best wood for you to use, first because it
| is soft and easily worked, and secondly be-
| cause it is very light, and that is one of
| the qualities you want your boat to pos
sess. Smooth off all four sides with a
plane, and then carefully make on the
top, with pencil, a drawing of your deck
| plan, as shown in figure 1. On the side
of the block the outline of the fore and
aft, or sheer plan of the boat, as shown in
| figure 2. Then, on the ends of the block,
| mark the largest cross section of the boat,
| as shown in figure 3, and with a plane
smooth off the corners of the block until
/ you get down to the marks shown by the
| QOCl6Q lilies. WILL Il StlW cut OIL all the
| corners shown by dotted lines in figures
l and 2, and you have a rough outline of
| your boat. Then, with a chiSel, knife or
| drawshave (the latter is best). trim down
/ the bottom of your boat, giving to all the
! lines a symmetrical and evenly running
| curve. 1t will not be necessary to hol-
/ low out the bow at all, as this kind of
| boat sails much better with a bluff bow
| than with the followed bow To test
whether the two sides are just the same
| size at the different points, take q piece
| of paper and cut it until it just fits over
| the side of the boats bottom. Then turn
it around and fit it over the other side
'of the bottom. and keep on whiting
until both sides of the bottom fit exactly
in the cut paper. You should test the
bottom of your boat in this way every
| two inches from the bow to the stern.
| AS soon as the bottom of the boat is fin
ished to your satisfaction you should
start to hollow it out. For this work,
which will be the most difficult in the con-
struction, a gouging tool is best When
you get the rough part of the work done
you should be very careful not to cut
| through the bottom of the boat.
| The thinner you can get the sides with
out breaking through the better. When
| the scooping out is finished the really
hard part Of the work is done-the rest
is careful work. Now get a piece of
smooth pine, such as you will find on the
! back of common looking glasses, pictures,
etc., one-eighth of an inch thick. Lay this
over the top of your boat and mark the
shape of the deck on it. Cut it out exact
~ the size of the deck and glue it down
| for the deck of the boat. Take strip of
| pine three-eighths of an inch thick and
tack it down on the deck, all around the
edge of the boat, as its bulwarks, and the
upper body of your boat is complete. To
make the fin keel, take a piece Of board,
| quarter of an inch thick, seven inches
long and six inches deep. Cut the top
| "a in figure ~, so that it exactly fits the
center of the keel of the bottom of the
| boat. Cut the end b. as shown in the cut
| Both the ends b and should be sharp
ened like a knife blade, so that they will
cut through the water easily. To the top
| of the board at a rivet two strips of wood
(e), three-eighths of an inch in thickness
one on each side. Get two strips of lead,
eight inches long, each weighing five
pounds, with a hammer pound each so
| that it will be round on one side and
| come to point at each end (as shown
| in figure a.; put one of them on either
side of the board, at f, the fiat side toward
the board, and rivet them fast. They
should form round bulb as shown in the
| cut (d). Place the fiat piece (e) on the
keel of the boat, running fore and aft,
| exactly in the center, and screw it tight
" on so that the fin keel will extend
| straight down into the water.
| To "step' the mast, get piece of light
brass pipe, fve-eighths of an inch in di-
| ameter and long enough to reach from the
| deck of the boat TO the bottom. Bore
! hole just large enough for the tube to go
! through in the deck, 1921 inches from the
| bow of the boat, and exactly in the mid
die of the deck, and fit the piece of the
pipe firmly in. so that it will stand ex-
actly perpendicular (see b in figure y.
Your boat is ready for its first coat of
paint, after it has been we'll sandpapered.
When this is dry set her in a bath tub
| full of water and mark the spot where
| the stern touches the water. Just at
| this spot directly in the center of the bot
| tom of the boat bore quarter of an inch
| hole. and directly above it in the center
of the deck, another hole the same size.
! Through these two holes put light brass
| pipe, cementing it firmly in place, so that
no water can get in around it. (See
| in figure p.
| And now you may leave the hull and
| turn your attention to the spars. Get
| stick of pine thirty-three inches long and
| an inch square; plane off the corners and
| white it down with draw shave until
| it is round and fve-eighths of an inch
across the bottom. Taper it slightly un-
| til it is three-e ighths Of an inch across the
| top. This fit firmly into your mast tube
| (b, figure p. running it clear down to the
| bottom, so that it rests firmly. To make
! the tOpmaSt take square stick thirteen
inches long and half an inch square; work
this down until it is three-eights of an
inch across the lower end and taper up
to quarter of an inch at the top. The
| manner of stepping the topmaSt will be
explained when rigging is spoken Of.
The bowsprit should be made Of piece
of pine, ten inches long, fve-eighth of an
inch across the butt end, and tapering to
a quarter of an inch at the end, in the
same manner as the other spars. This
should extend straight out over the bow
of the boat, two inches being on the deck
to fasten. and eight inches being out
board or extending over the bow. A
piece of light brass should be bent over
! the bowsprit (see G, figure - and tackled
to the deck. At b, figure 1, there should
be another piece Of brass bent to fit the
butt Of the bowsprit. but it should be
| fitted like hasp, over a small staple,
end fastened with plug. so that when
necessity requires, the plug can be re-
moved, hasp thrown open and bowsprit
lnshipped.
The main boom should also be round,