The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-07-28
YACHTSMAN HAS HIS OWN TROUBLES They Begin When the craft is THEY HAVE NO END Builders Delays Harass Owner of Racing 6oat-6lls Out of All
 Proportion to Size
 of Yacht.

of Yacht.
 From the New York Sun.
 The troubles of a yachtsman are many.
 They begin when the yacht is ordered and
 me designer starts to make his drawings
 LOT the new craft and increase and mnl-
 tlply as the yacht grows and become ont
 or all proportion to her size. These troubles do not disappear when the yacht IS hnlshed, but go on and on and end for her owner only when she is finally broken up or disposed of to some other yachts 1 man.
 rirst or all yachtman Is worried about ms plans. He will consult with some de- sisher about the yacht he wants and alter considering what he can afford to spend for his fun and what his annual expenses will be in maintaining q racing yacht If he wants to race or a cruiser if he merely wants to enjoy life aloat he VIII select the size yacht he wants. This IS quite an important consideration too because if he is not well advised he will ma that the new yacht costs considerably more after she is ahoat than she did ', Mnile building and racing yacht partIc- l uIarly can eat up money very last if | Kept in condition to win prizes. Having decided on the size of the vacbt the model has to be passed upon and after | the lines are drawn he must be able tn | study them intellgently and figure ont now she might be improved in model and | now IL is possible to get an inch or two 1 more accommodation without crowdira the interior too much and without spoli. I Ing the yacht for speed
 l The contract is next placed for inc con- l stfuctlon Of the craft and the man who is | 10 do this work will promise almost any, | thing to secure the contract The builder | will make all the promises in good faith and will state fin his contract that the 1 vessel is to be ready for delivery on 1 certain date, but these builders cannot ] figure on all contingencies that may arise 1 lie may not be able to get the material ne requires delivered on time The weather may be bad for outside work. | and particularly when the vessel is being 1 hnlshed, painted and vanished fine 1 weather IS necessary. His Workmen may l go on strike or trade may be so good l that it is hard to get good workmen and l so there are delays, and the more delays | there are the more the owner will worry. He will sign contract agreeing to pay l a certain amount of money when the Keel Is laid, q second payment will be | made when the yacht is in frame a third | payment Is required when the yacht is | planked and final payment is to be made | when the yacht is ready for delivery. Up l to that time he will have paid three | quarters of the contract price on the | yacht and then comes the delay. He has | kept his part, but the builder has failed | in his, and when the time for delivery has come the yacht is not finished. He l can do one of two things throw the yacht i back on the builders hands and seek to recover what he has paid or he can smother his disappointment and wait, and usually he waits and the seas<~ opens and races are called before his yacht is in commission Others are get ting their boats in racing trim and when his gets out he is at a disadvantage, and the season will be well advanced before he can get much pleasure out of his craft.
 In time the yacht is finished and tho owner Is notified that he can take 1t away. He Is jublant If he is a novice he thinks now that he has new boat fresh from the builders yard she will be in the pink of condition and fit to race. The yacht is taken away, the sails are bent on and he goes out sailing. He may be so anxious to race that he will start his boat after one short preliminary spin and then trouble begins.
 The sails when hoisted will not come within several inches of the end of the boom or gaff. The sallmaker knows that the weight of the wind in the canvas will stretch the sails, so that if they fitted perfectly when first bent on they would soon stretch out of all shape and be big bags so he has allowed for thls stretching, and 1t will take several days of sailing to get them in proper shape. It is the same with the riggings. The steel wire. too, will stretch, and after one afternoons good sailing everything will be slack. The hull, too, that was so nice and smooth when the yacht was launched has roughened. The water made the planling swell and 1t squeezed the calking out from between the seams. The wooden plugs that are doweled in the holes through which the fastenings are put have swollen and the huh is as rough a piece of stucco.
 The yacht has to go to the yard again. A dozen little things that have been over looked by the builders have to be put in shape The rigging has to be set up. Sometimes it has to be removed and new rigging set because the pennants are too long, Changes have to be made in the leads of the sheets the boat has to be hauled out to clean, and when once the owner Is in the hands of a repair shop he will get a bill as long the overall length of his yacht.
 A small boat not more than 26 feet long on deck was hauled out two weeks ago. She was not more than two weeks out of the builders shops, but she was a racer and had to have smooth underbody She was to be cleaned, smoothed down and painted. The owner had his own ideas about the best paint for an under body and selected a bronze that was rec commended for It's anti-foulng qualities They did not have this paint at the yard where the work was to be done so he purchased 1t and sent 1t down. The hull was cleaned and painted and it took two days to do the work. He got a bill for s37. 70, and ne Is wondering now what was done for the money.
 Another owner had to have several little jobs done on his yacht, another small one and was told that one man could do 1t all in about two hours. He had noted down the several items and the bill came in, mentioning each item and charging for the material used. and on each item was from two to five hours charged for labor. He figured out that as the yacht was only In the basin tree days that seven men must have been at work all the time, according to the statement rem dered.
 Not many years ago there were several yards around New York where yachts could be hauled out for cleaning and