Good straight-grained pine wood is, without doubt, the best "all-around" wood for general use. It is easily whittled with a pocket-knife; it works smoothly under a plane; can be sawed without fatiguing the amateur carpenter; it is elastic and pliable; therefore use pine lumber to build your boat.

Examine the lumber pile carefully and select four boards nearly alike. Do not allow the dealer or his men to talk you into taking lumber with blemishes. The side pieces should be of straight-grained wood, with no large knots and no "checks" (cracks) in them, and must not be "wind shaken."

Measure the wood and see that it is over twenty-two feet long by one foot four or five inches wide and one inch thick. Trim two of the side-pieces until they are exact duplicates (Fig. 206). The stem-piece (or bow-piece) should be made from a triangular piece of oak (Fig. 212), and it is wise to make it a few inches longer than will be necessary, so that there may be no danger of finding, after all your labor, that the stick is too short; much better too long, for it is a simple matter to saw it off. Make a second stem-piece (Fig. 213) of oak about one inch thick and the same length as the first, and two or three inches wide, or twice as wide as the thickness of the side-boards.

The Stern-piece

The stern-piece can be fashioned out of two-inch pine boards, and may be made as wide or narrow as you choose. A narrow stern makes a trim-looking craft. With your saw cut off the corner of the tail-piece, so that it will be in the form of a blunted triangle (Fig. 214), measuring three feet ten and one-half inches across the base, three feet four inches on each side, and nine and one-half inches at the apex. The base of the triangle will be the top and the apex will be the bottom of the stern-board of your boat.

Now make a brace on which to model your boat. Let it be of two-inch pine wood, two and one-half feet wide and seven and one-half feet long (Fig. 207). Measure twelve inches on one edge of this board from each end toward the centre and mark the points; then rule lines from these points diagonally across the width of the board (A, B and C, D—Fig. 207), and saw off the corners, as shown by the dotted line in Fig. 207.

Lay the boards selected for the lower side-boards on a level floor and measure off one and one-half foot on the bottom edge, then in a line with the end of the board mark a point on the floor that would be the top edge of the board if the board were two and one-half feet wide; rule a line from the point on the floor to the point marked on the board and saw off the corner as marked; make the other side-piece correspond exactly with the first (Fig. 206).

Use Rope for Binding

Set the side-pieces upon their bottoms or shorter edges and place the brace between the sides. Now bind the stern ends with a rope and bring the bow-pieces together until they touch; rope them in this position, and when all is fast push the brace up until it rests at a point nine feet from the bow; fasten it here with a couple of nails driven in, but leaving their heads far enough from the wood to render it easy to draw them out. Now adjust the bow-piece, and use the greatest of care in making the sides exactly alike, otherwise you will wonder how you happened to have such an unaccountable twist in your craft. When the stem is properly adjusted fasten on the side-boards with screws. Do not try to hammer the screws in place, but bore holes first and use a screwdriver.

Take your stern-piece and measure the exact width of the stern end of the bottom-boards and mark it at the bottom of the stern-piece; or, better still, since the stern-board will set at an angle, put it temporarily in place, bind it fast with the ropes, and mark with a pencil just where the side-boards cross the ends of the stern-board. Remove the stern-board and saw out a piece one inch wide, the thickness of the bottom-board, from the place marked to the bottom of the stern-board. Because the top side-board overlaps the bottom one at the stern, there must be either a large crack left there or the stern-board notched to fit the side-boards (Fig. 214). Replace the stern-board and nail side-boards fast to it; now loosen the ropes which have held your boat in shape, and fit on the upper side-boards so that at the stern they will overlap the lower side-boards an inch. Hold in place with your rope, then bring the bow end up against the stern-piece over the top of the lower side-board and fasten it in place with a rope. With your carpenter's pencil mark the overlap, and with a plane made for that purpose, called a rabbet, trim down your board so that it will have a shoulder and an overlap to rest on the bottom-board, running out to nothing at the bow. When the boards fit all right over the lower ones bind them in place and then nail them there (Fig. 208). If you can obtain two good boards of the requisite size, you need have but one board for each side of your boat; this will obviate the necessity of using the rabbet, and be very much easier; but with single boards of the required dimensions there is great danger of splitting or cracking while bending the boards.

Planing the Bottom

Turn the boat upside down and you will see that there is a decided arch extending from stem to stern. This would cause the boat to sink too deep amidship, and must be remedied to some extent by cutting away the middle of the arch, so that the sides in the exact centre will measure at least four inches less in width than at the bow and stern, and reducing the convex or curved form to a straight line in the middle, which will give a sheer to the bow and stern. A good plane is the best tool to use for this purpose, as with it there is no danger of cutting too deep or of splitting the side-boards. Saw off the projecting ends of the side-boards at the stern.

Make the bottom of three-quarter-inch boards, they may be bevelled like Fig. 231. Lay the boards crosswise, nail them in place, leaving the irregular ends projecting on each side. The reason for this is obvious. When you look at the bottom of the boat you will at once see that on account of the form no two boards can be the same shape, and the easiest way is to treat the boat bottom as if it were a square-sided scow. Fit the planks closely together, nail them on securely, and then neatly saw off the projecting ends (Fig. 210).

The Deck

The brace may now be removed by carefully drawing the nails, so that a bottom plank trimmed to fit the bow and the stern can be securely nailed in place (Fig. 216). Cut a notch in your brace to fit tightly over the bottom plank just laid. Plane off the top of the brace so that when in the boat the top of the brace will be four inches below the top of the side-boards. Replace the brace and securely nail it. Next cut two small cross-pieces (F, G, Fig. 209) and place them near the bow, four inches below the top of the sides of the boat. Drive the nails from the outside through the side-boards into the end of F and G, the cross-brace. Cut out a bow-piece to fit from the middle of G to the bow and nail it in place, driving the nails from the outside into the edge of the bow-piece. Fasten a small cleat along the boat from the solid board brace to F on each side and deck the space over with light lumber.

Of the same material make a trap door to fit in between the braces F and G. This door should be big enough for a boy to reach through, for this compartment is intended as a safe place to store cooking utensils, foods, etc., as well as a water-tight compartment. At a point five feet from the stern put another cross-brace, similar to the ones in the bow, four inches below the top of the sides. At the same level nail a cleat on the stern-piece and make a stern seat by boarding over between the cross-piece and the cleat. When your boat is resting securely on the floor or level ground rig a temporary seat, then take an oar and by experiment find just where the rowlock will be most convenient and mark the spot. Also mark the spot best suited for the seat. On each side of the spot marked for the rowlock cut two notches in the side-boards two inches deep, one and a half inch wide, and three inches apart. Saw two more notches exactly like these upon the opposite side of your boat. These will make the rowlocks when the side-strips are nailed on (Fig. 216).

The side-strips should each be made of one-inch plank three inches wide and a few inches longer than the side-boards. Nail the strips on the outside of the boat flush with the top of the side-boards. Make your thole-pins of some hard wood, and make two sets of them while you are about it, "one set to use and one set to lose." Screw a hard-wood cleat on the inside of your boat over each pair of rowlocks, as shown in Fig. 216.

Ready for the Water

Fasten the remaining bow-piece securely over the ends of your side-boards, and the nose of your craft is finished.

Put a good, heavy keel on your boat by screwing it tightly in the stern to the hard-wood rudder-post that is fastened to the centre of the stern; bolt your keel with four iron bolts (Fig. 211) to the bottom of the boat, and the ship is ready to launch, after which she can be equipped with sails and oars.

Of course, you understand that all nail-holes and crevices should be puttied up, and if paint is used, it must be applied before wetting the boat. But if you have done your work well, there will be little need of paint or putty to make it tight after the wood has swelled in the water. Fasten your rudder on with hooks and screw-eyes, and make it as shown in the diagram (Fig. 211). Step your mainmast in the bow through a round hole in the deck and a square hole in the step, which must, of course, be screwed tightly to the bottom before the bow is decked over.

Step your jigger or dandy mast in the stern after the same manner. These masts should neither of them be very large, and are intended to be removed at pleasure by unstepping them, that is, simply pulling them out of their sockets. An outrigger will be found necessary for your dandy-sail, and since the deck aft is below the sides of the boat, a block of wood will have to be nailed to the deck to the starboard, or right-hand, side of the rudder-post. If the builder chooses, he can make the decks flush with the sides of the boat and thus avoid blocks. A couple of staples for the out-rigger to slip through are next in order. They must be fastened firmly in the block or stick of wood just nailed to the deck. A similar arrangement can be made for the bowsprit, but as it is a movable bowsprit, and the stem of the boat is in the way, put it to the port, or left-hand, side of the stem of the craft (Fig. 216).

How to Make the Sail

Secure for a sail material as strong as you can find, but it need not be heavy. Unbleached muslin is cheap and will make good sails. Turn over the edges and sew or hem them, as in the diagram. Make eyelets like button-holes in the luff of the sail—that is, the edge of the sail nearest the mast. Sew a small loop of rope in each corner of the sail. Through the eyelets lace the luff of the sail to the mast.

From spruce or pine make a sprit two inches in diameter. For a "sheet"—that is, the rope or line that you manage the sail with—tie a good stout line about a dozen feet long to the loop in the loose corner of the sail. Trim the upper end of the sprit to fit the loop in the top of the sail and make a simple notch in the other end to hold the line called the "snotter."

Now, as you can readily see by referring to Fig. 211, when the sprit is pushed into the loop at the top of the sail the sail is spread. To hold it in place make a cleat like the one in the diagram and bind it firmly with a cord to the sprit; pass the snotter, or line, fastened to the mast through the notch in the sprit up to the cleat and make fast, and the sail is set. The jigger, or dandy, is exactly like the mainsail except in size, and the sheet rope is run through a block or pulley at the end of the outrigger and then made fast to a cleat near the man at the rudder or helm. The jib is a simple affair hooked on a screw-eye in the end of the bowsprit. The jib halyard, or line for hoisting the jib, runs from the top of the jib through a screw-eye in the top of the mast, down the port side of the mast to a cleat, where it is made fast. When the jib is set the jib-sheets are fastened to a loop sewed in the jib at the lower or loose end. There are two jib-sheets, one for each side of the boat, so that one may be made fast and the other loosened, according to the wind. The remaining details you must study out from the diagrams or learn by experiment.

How to Reef Her

When the wind is high reef your sails by letting go the snotter and pulling out the sprit. This will drop your peak and leave you with a simple leg-of-mutton sail. Only use the jib in light weather.

In this boat, with a little knowledge of sailing, you may cruise for weeks, lowering your sails at night and making a tent over the cock-pit for a sleeping-room. Sails with boom and gaffs may be used if desired.