Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-03-12

The Chesapeake Bay Yacht Club of Ok
ford, Md, is represented locally by the
Mamie G.. a ~ by 8 #. auxiliary canoe
the property of John Emory Of this city
Before the installation Of a twenty-horse
| power Emerson engine the Mamie wa!
the champion dugout of Eastern bay, ant
| twice won the long-distance race from
Norfolk to Oxford, a distance of abou
200 miles. Mr. Emory employed racing
skipper at such times, as he is not quite
active enough to lay aloft or reef leacl
caring when the occasion requires it, bu
nevertheless is a good sailor of the ole
| school, and can always be found in har
Dor when the Chesapeake gets boisterous
One trip the craft made. and one he1
owner will never forget, was during thu
summer of 1906 when all hands gn
caught off the coast Of Maryland in &
nor easter. The Capes Of the Chesapeake
were made without mishap. but for foul
days no cooking could be done below
and the old skipper near starved to death
| So many boatists ruin their craft by re
calking them too often, and generally
too hard, that few hints on the subjec
might be of some help to the first
| timer"
After the old paint has either been en-
| tirely burned off Smoothed down to g
good, clean surface, examine the seams
| from bow to stern, and mark every sof'
] spot, that might need recalking or fresf
putty. with a bit Of black chalk. A putty
knife is a handy thing with which to test
| a seam, and where the old cotton shows
| signs of rot or hangs out In places SO that
| the blade sinks we'll into the spot. 1t is
time to recalk. but if the cotton has any
| life left in it, it is only necessary to work
a little putty into the seam and go over
| it with fiat knife, as the seams will swell
when the boat goes overheard.
But it is usually unnecessary to recalh
| boat every spring, and if the wood has
not dried out too much, most of the seams
will be hard and a little putty will suf-
flee.
To recalk thoroughly it is best to get
all the old cotton out, cleaning the seams
we'll with a knife.
If you find that the seams are too
tight to receive the blade Of the knife.
the old cotton may either be pushed
through with an iron and mallet or a
calkers' wheel be pressed into service.
For any craft under thirty-five feet,
with planking averaging one-ha1f to
three-eighths of an inch in thickness.
latter is too coarse.
To do the ca1king. you must have
nallet and two calk irons or small
calking wheel made OF brass or steel
set in the end of an oak handle. Better
results will be obtained with the old
fashioned iron. as the more modern
wheel is apt to do Indifferent work
Drive the cotton in well at the start
and keep twisting 1t as you work along
the seam. For small boats cotton calk-
ing can be bought in ball form and
is handler to use than the ordinary
twist. If the seams are small and uni
form. a small thread of cotton may be
twisted and laid along them with a
wheel until it is about a quarter Of
an inch below the surface of the plank
ing. But if the seams are large in
places, a thin iron must be used, and
the cotton, instead Of lying in a
straight line, should be drawn back at
intervals to form little loops so that
more Of it may be forced into the seam
Drive it in at several places two or
three inches apart along the seam and
finish up by driving it all along.
Last of all, put plenty of thin paint
on the cotton to keep the water from
1t and then either pay all seams with
white lead putty or with a good quail
ity of marine glue. The latter has been
used with remarkable success on sew
eral local yachts.