CARL H. CLARK

The keel is a straight piece of oak 3 in. thick, 5 in. wide and 17 ft. long. It should have a slight upward bend forward, to conform to the shape of the mould already made. The deadwood and stern post are built up in the manner shown, and the horn-timber forming the overhanging stern is fitted on the top and fastened down through. The deadwood is swelled slightly around the shaft hole. The stern-post should be mortised into keel and horn-timber to hold it firmly in place. The hole for the shaft is 1 1/4 in. in diameter.

It had better be bored before the keel is set up, as it is more accessible then. It should be located as follows: Measure up on the after side of the stern post 12 in. and at section No. 6 measure up 15 in.; a line drawn between these two points locates the center of the hole. This line is then drawn on the deadwood and used as a guide in boring. Care is to be taken that the hole is in the center of the deadwood, and it may be well to bore a small hole before putting the large one through. A ship carpenter's bit should be used for this work, as it is longer and bores straighter than the ordinary ones; it is not expensive.

The stem is a natural crook knee which is fitted and scarphed to the forward end of the keel. It is 3 in. thick and has a rabbet cut in it to agree with the line marked on the mould for that purpose. The rabbet should be at least roughed out before fastening to keel, and the forward edge bevelled off from the rabbet to about 3/4 in. thick. It is fastened to the keel by several 3/8 in. galvanized iron rivets. The form of scarph should be noted, as it prevents the drawing apart of the two pieces.

The after end of the keel and stern post should be thinned down to about 2 in., and the corner slightly rounded except at the shaft hole, where it is left full thickness and square, to give fastening for the stern bearing. In every joint of the frame stop-waters should be fitted, as has been before explained, to prevent the water running along the joint and into the boat.

When the foundation is complete the mould should be laid on and checked up to make sure that it is cer-rectly put together. The water line and mould positions are also marked across stem, sternpost and keel. The rabbet in the keel and deadwood can be cut approximately now; as will be noted, there is a back rabbet above the plank of about 1/2 in; this is to give a solid backing for the calking to bed against and makes the boat more durable. It can be roughed out now and trimmed out fully after the moulds are set in place.

The keel may now be set up on blocks with the water line horizontal; the blocks must be well braced and the keel have a good bearing on all so as to remain straight. The stem must also be plumb when looked at from forward. Bracing beams are run from the top of the stem to the beams overhead.

The stern-board is gotten out next from a piece of 1 1/4 in. oak plank, not forgetting to deduct from the outline the thickness of the plank. It is to be noted that the form given is for the after side of the stern-board and, owing to the sloping sides, the forward face of the stern-board is larger than the after face; for this reason the edges of the stern-board must be left with a considerable amount of bevel, to be trimmed down to the correct angle after the ribbands are in place.

The sternboard is now to be fastened to the end of the horn-timber and at the correct angle, as shown by the template. It is set into the end of the horn-timber, as shown in the sketch, being set down to within £ in. of the rabbet. This is necessary, as the rabbet represents the outside of the plank, while the stern-board goes inside. A knee is fitted in the angle between stern-board and horn-timber and well fastened to both. Care must be used in setting the stern-board to place it square with the keel and with its center line vertical. A line should be stretched from its center line vertical. A line should be stretched from the center-line of the stern-board and that of the stem, and care taken that it is directly above the center line of the keel. These two govern the fairness of the hull and must be correctly adjusted.

As before directed, the moulds are made of any rough stock, but must be strong. They are now to be set up in their proper places on the keel, the foot being cutout to allow the lower corner to come to such a point that when the plank is laid on, the lower edge will come to the rabbet line. The moulds are to be very carefully set, vertically and square with the keel, and fastened to it securely. When the moulds are correctly set the L. W. L. as marked on every mould should be in the same level line. Ths line between the stern-board and stem will aid in setting the moulds the centre line of each mould being brought directly under it.

When the moulds are all set they must be securely braced in each direction. There is considerable strain on the moulds during the process of timbering and they must be strongly braced in order not to be forced out of position. Ribbands about l 1/4 x2 in. are now bent around the moulds from stem to stern and fastened to each mould with screws. These ribbands should bear fairly-across all the moulds, and if they do not there may be either some error in laying off the moulds or in setting them up, and the error should be looked up and carefully rectified before going further.

The frames are of oak about 1 1/4 x 1 1/4 in. and are spaced 10 in. in the boat. Stock for this purpose must not be too dry, or it will break when bent, even though it is steamed. The frames should be sawed out to size and long enough to reach from keep to gunwale. They will, of course, require steaming before bending, and a steam box will be necessary. It should be a fairly tight box about 6x 12 in. and long enough to accommodate the longest pieces. It will be well to make it about 12 ft. long as there will be some long pieces to steam later in the work. It is connected to some source of steam, a small boiler, of course, being the best, but for want of this a teakettle and oil stove will answer. A considerable amount of steam is, however, required, and it must be as hot as possible, to be effective. The frames are notched out to fit the keel at the heel, which should be done before steaming. As many as possible should be placed in the steam box, which is closed tightly and steam turned on. They are steamed until thoroughly limber. The frame points should be marked on keel and ribbands, being so spaced that each mould will come in between two frames. As the frames are taken from the steam box they are first bent over a form to a greater curvature than desired, and are then put into place and clamped to the ribbands ; the two corresponding frames should be put in at the same time, thus keeping the strain equal. It is •well to fasten the tops of the opposite frames together with a piece of rope to overcome any tendency to spring outward.

The frames should be allowed to set and thoroughly dry out in place before any of the fastenings are disturbed. If the frames have been well steamed there should be no tendency to spring after a day or two. The clamps may then be taken off and the ribbands fastened to the frames with screws, as the clamps will be needed for other purposes.

The rabbet should now be trimmed out to the proper angle, that the planks may lie on the frames and bed fairly. It is then ready for planking, which will be the subject of the next article.

Note

In the laying off table published in the last issue the following corrections should be made:

In ht. of sheer above base line read 4' 4 1/4" for 4' 4 "

" " rabbet " " " " 0' 11 1/4" " 1' 11 1/4"

" " keel " " " " 2' 54" " 2' 5 "

" half breadth. L. W. L. " " 1' 8 7/8" " 1' 8 1/2"