The Project Gutenberg eBook, Boat-Building and Boating, by Daniel Carter Beard, Illustrated by Daniel Carter Beard

Boat-Building
and Boating

Bound for a good time

Boat-Building
and Boating

By
D. C. BEARD
With Many Illustrations
by the Author
NEW YORK
Charles Scribner's Sons
1931

Copyright, 1911, by
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
———————
Printed in the United States of America
———————
SPECIAL NOTICE

All the material in this book, both text and cuts, is original with the author and invented by him; and warning is hereby given that the unauthorized printing of any portion of the text and the reproduction of any of the illustrations or diagrams are expressly forbidden.

AFFECTIONATELY
DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF
TOM AND HI

PREFACE

This is not a book for yacht-builders, but it is intended for beginners in the art of boat-building, for boys and men who wish to make something with which they may navigate the waters of ponds, lakes, or streams. It begins with the most primitive crafts composed of slabs or logs and works up to scows, house-boats, skiffs, canoes and simple forms of sailing craft, a motor-boat, and there it stops. There are so many books and magazines devoted to the higher arts of ship-building for the graduates to use, besides the many manufacturing houses which furnish all the parts of a sail-boat, yacht, or motor-boat for the ambitious boat-builder to put together himself, that it is unnecessary for the author to invade that territory.

Many of the designs in this book have appeared in magazines to which the author contributed, or in his own books on general subjects, and all these have been successfully built by hundreds of boys and men.

Many of them are the author's own inventions, and the others are his own adaptations of well-known and long-tried models. In writing and collecting this material for boat-builders from his other works and placing them in one volume, the author feels that he is fulfilling the wishes of many of his old readers and offering a useful book to a large audience of new recruits to the army of those who believe in the good old American doctrine of: "If you want a thing done, do it yourself." And by doing it yourself you not only add to your skill and resourcefulness, but, what is even more important, you develop your own self-reliance and manhood.

No one man can think of everything connected with any one subject, and the author gratefully acknowledges his indebtedness to several sportsmen friends, especially to his camp-mate, Mr. F. K. Vreeland, and his young friend, Mr. Samuel Jackson, for suggestions of great value to both writer and reader.

Dan Beard.

Flushing, L. I., Sept., 1911.

CONTENTS

Boat-Building and Boating

Fig. 1.—The logomaran.

BOAT-BUILDING AND BOATING

CHAPTER I
HOW TO CROSS A STREAM ON A LOG

How to Build a Logomaran

There is a widespread notion that all wood will float on water, and this idea often leads to laughable errors. I know a lot of young backwoods farmers who launched a raft of green oak logs, and were as much astonished to see their craft settle quietly to the bottom of the lake as they would have been to see the leaden sinkers of their fish-lines dance lightly on the surface of the waves. The young fellows used a day's time to discover what they might have learned in a few moments by watching the chips sink when they struck the water as they flew from the skilful blows of their axes.

The stream which cuts your trail is not always provided with bridges of fallen trees. It may be a river too deep to ford and too wide to be bridged by a chance log. Of course it is a simple matter to swim, but the weather may be cold and the water still colder; besides this, you will probably be encumbered with a lot of camp equipage—your gun, rod, and camera—none of which will be improved by a plunge in the water. Or it may so happen that you are on the shores of a lake unsupplied with boats, and you have good reasons for supposing that big fish lurk in some particular spot out of reach from the shore. A thousand and one emergencies may arise when a craft of some kind will be not only a great convenience, but almost a necessity. Under these circumstances

A Logomaran

may be constructed in a very short time which can bear you and your pack safely to the desired goal ([Fig. 1]).

Fig. 2.—The notch.

Fig. 3.—Top view of logomaran.

In the Rocky, Cascade, and Selkirk Mountains, the lakes and streams have their shores plentifully supplied with "whim sticks," logs of fine dry timber, which the freshets have brought down from the mountain sides and which the rocks and surging torrents have denuded of bark. These whim sticks are of all sizes, and as sound and perfect as kiln-dried logs. Even in the mountains of Pennsylvania, where the lumberman's axe years ago laid waste the primeval forest, where the saw-mills have devoured the second growth, the tie-hunter the third growth, the excelsior-mills and birch-beer factories the saplings, I still find good sound white pine-log whim sticks strewn along the shores of the lakes and streams, timber which is suitable for temporary rafts and logomarans.

In the North Woods, where in many localities the original forest is untouched by the devouring pulp-mills, suitable timber is not difficult to find; so let the green wood stand and select a log of dry wood from the shore where the floods or ice have deposited it. Cut it into a convenient length, and with a lever made of a good stout sapling, and a fulcrum of a stone or chunk of wood, pry the log from its resting-place and roll it into the shallow water. Notch the log on the upper side, as shown by [Fig. 2], making a notch near each end for the cross-pieces.

Fig. 4.—Flattened joint.	Fig. 5.	Fig. 6.
	Matched joints.

The two side floats may be made of pieces split, by the aid of wooden wedges, from a large log, or composed of small whim sticks, as shown by [Fig. 3].

The floats, as may be seen by reference to [Figs. 1] and [3], are shorter than the middle log.

It is impracticable to give dimensions, for the reason that they are relative; the length of the middle log depends, to some extent, upon its diameter, it being evident that a thick log will support more than a thin one of the same length; consequently if your log is of small diameter, it must be longer, in order to support your weight, than will be necessary for a thicker piece of timber. The point to remember is to select a log which will support you and your pack, and then attach two side floats to balance your craft and prevent it from rolling over and dumping its load in the water.

An ordinary single shell-boat without a passenger will upset, but when the oarsman takes his seat and grasps his long spoon oars, the sweeps, resting on the water, balance the cranky craft, and it cannot upset as long as the oars are kept there. This is the principle of the logomaran, as well as that of the common catamaran. The cross-pieces should be only thick enough to be secure and long enough to prevent the log from wabbling and wetting your feet more than is necessary.

Fig. 7.—The saw-buck crib.

Fig. 8.—The staked crib.

If You Have an Auger and No Nails

the craft may be fastened together with wooden pegs cut somewhat larger than the holes bored to receive them, and driven in with blows from your axe.

If you have long nails or spikes the problem is a simple one; but if you have neither auger, nails, nor spikes you must bind the joints with rope or hempen twine.

If you have neither nails, auger, nor rope, a good substitute for the latter can be made from the long,

Fibrous Inner Bark

of a dead or partly burned tree. For experiment I took some of the inner bark of a chestnut-tree which had been killed by fire and twisted it into a rope the size of a clothes-line, then I allowed two strong men to have a tug-of-war with it, and the improvised rope was stronger than the men.

How to Make a Fibre Rope

Take one end of a long, loose strand of fibres, give the other end to another person, and let both twine the ends between the fingers until the material is well twisted throughout its entire length; then bring the two ends together, and two sides of the loop thus made will twist themselves into a cord or rope half the length of the original strand.

If you nail or peg the parts, use your axe to flatten the joints by striking off a chip, as in [Fig. 4].

If you must lash the joints together, cut them with log-cabin notches, as in [Figs. 5] and [6].

If you have baggage to transport, make

A Dunnage Crib

by driving four stakes in cuts made near the end of the centre log and binding them with rope or fibre ([Figs. 7] and [8]), or by working green twigs basket-fashion around them, or make the rack saw-buck fashion, as shown by [Fig. 7], and this will keep your things above water.

A couple of cleats nailed on each side of the log will be of great assistance and lessen the danger and insecurity of the footing.

A skilfully made logomaran will enable you to cross any stream with a moderate current and any small lake in moderate weather. It is not an especially dry craft, but it won't sink or upset, and will take one but a short time to knock it together.

CHAPTER II
HOME-MADE BOATS

Birth of the "Man-Friday" Catamaran—The Crusoe Raft and Chump Rafts

Not so very many years ago I remember visiting, in company with my cousin Tom, a small lake at the headwaters of the Miami. High and precipitous cliffs surround the little body of water. So steep were the great weather-beaten rocks that it was only where the stream came tumbling down past an old mill that an accessible path then existed. Down that path Tom and I scrambled, for we knew that large bass lurked in the deep, black holes among the rocks.

We had no jointed split-bamboo rods nor fancy tackle, but the fish there in those days were not particular and seldom hesitated to bite at an angle-worm or grasshopper though the hook upon which the bait squirmed was suspended by a coarse line from a freshly cut hickory sapling.

Even now I feel the thrill of excitement and expectancy as, in imagination, my pole is bent nearly double by the frantic struggles of those "gamy" black bass. After spending the morning fishing we built a fire upon a short stretch of sandy beach, and cleaning our fish and washing them in the spring close at hand, we put them among the embers to cook.

While the fire was getting our dinner ready for us we threw off our clothes and plunged into the cool waters of the lake. Inexpert swimmers as we were at that time, the opposite shore, though apparently only a stone's throw distant, was too far off for us to reach by swimming. Many a longing and curious glance we cast toward it, however, and strong was the temptation that beset us to try the unknown depths intervening. A pair of brown ears appeared above the ferns near the water's edge, and a fox peeped at us; squirrels ran about the fallen trunks of trees or scampered up the rocks as saucily as though they understood that we could not swim well enough to reach their side of the lake; and high up the face of the cliff was a dark spot which we almost knew to be the entrance to some mysterious cavern.

Fig. 8½.—The Man-Friday.

How we longed for a boat! But not even a raft nor a dugout could be seen anywhere upon the glassy surface of the water or along its rocky border. We nevertheless determined to explore the lake next day, even if we should have to paddle astride of a log.

The first rays of the morning sun had not reached the dark waters before my companion and I were hard at work, with axe and hatchet, chopping in twain a long log we had discovered near the mill. We had at first intended to build a raft; but gradually we evolved a sort of catamaran. The two pieces of log we sharpened at the ends for the bow; then we rolled the logs down upon the beach, and while I went into the thicket to chop down some saplings my companion borrowed an auger from the miller. We next placed the logs about three feet apart, and marking the points where we intended to put the cross-pieces, we cut notches there; then we placed the saplings across, fitting them into these notches. To hold them securely we bored holes down through the sapling cross-pieces into the logs; with the hatchet we hammered wooden pegs into these holes. For the seat we used the half of a section of log, the flat side fitting into places cut for that purpose. All that remained to be done now was to make a seat in the stern and a pair of rowlocks. At a proper distance from the oarsman's seat we bored two holes for a couple of forked sticks, which answered admirably for rowlocks; across the stern we fastened another piece of log similar to that used for the oarsman's seat ([Fig. 8½]). With the help of a man from the mill our craft was launched; and with a pair of oars made of old pine boards we rowed off, leaving the miller waving his hat.

Our catamaran was not so light as a row-boat, but it floated, and we could propel it with the oars, and, best of all, it was our own invention and made with our own hands. We called it a "Man-Friday," and by its means we explored every nook in the length and breadth of the lake; and ever afterward when we wanted a boat we knew a simple and inexpensive way to make one—and a safe one, too.

The Crusoe Raft

is another rustic craft, but it is of more ambitious dimensions than the "Man-Friday." Instead of being able to float only one or two passengers, the "Crusoe," if properly built, ought to accommodate a considerable party of raftsmen. Of course the purpose for which the raft is to be used, and the number of the crew that is expected to man it, must be taken into consideration when deciding upon the dimensions of the proposed craft.

All the tools that are necessary for the construction of a good stout raft are an axe, an auger, and a hatchet, with some strong arms to wield them.

The building material can be gathered from any driftwood heap on lake or stream.

For a moderate-sized raft collect six or seven logs, the longest not being over sixteen feet in length nor more than a foot in diameter; the logs must be tolerably straight. Pick out the longest and biggest for the centre, sharpen one end, roll the log into the water, and there secure it.

Select two logs as nearly alike as possible, to lie one at each side of the centre log. Measure the centre log, and make the point of each side log, not at its own centre, but at that side of it which will lie against the middle log, so that this side point shall terminate where the pointing of the middle log begins (see [Fig. 9]).

Fig. 9.—Plan of Crusoe raft.

After all the logs needed have been trimmed and sharpened in the manner just described, roll them into the water and arrange them in order ([Fig. 9]). Fasten them together with "cross-strips," boring holes through the strips to correspond with holes bored into the logs lying beneath, and through these holes drive wooden pegs. The pegs should be a trifle larger than the holes; the water will cause the pegs to swell, and they will hold much more firmly than iron nails.

Fig. 10.—Skeleton of Crusoe raft.

Fig. 11.—Crusoe with cabin covered.

The skeleton of the cabin can be made of saplings; such as are used for hoop-poles are the best.

These are each bent into an arch, and the ends are thrust into holes bored for that purpose. Over this hooping a piece of canvas is stretched, after the manner of old-fashioned country wagons ([Figs. 10] and [11]).

Erect a "jack-staff," to be used as a flag-pole or a mast to rig a square sail on.

A stout stick should be erected at the stern, and a similar one upon each side of the raft near the bow; these sticks, when their ends are made smaller, as shown in the illustration ([Fig. 10]), serve as rowlocks.

Fig. 12.—Sweeps.

For oars use "sweeps"—long poles, each with a piece of board for a blade fastened at one end ([Fig. 12]).

Holes must be bored through the poles of the sweeps about three feet from the handle, to slip over the pegs used as rowlocks, as described above. These pegs should be high enough to allow the oarsman to stand while using the sweeps.

A flat stone or earth box placed at the bow will serve as a fireplace.

If the cracks between the logs under the cabin are filled up to prevent the water splashing through, and the cabin is floored with cross-sticks, a most comfortable bed at night can be made of hay, by heaping it under the canvas cover in sufficient quantities.

The Crusoe raft has this great advantage over all boats: you may take a long trip down the river, allowing the current to bear you along, using the sweeps only to assist the man at the helm (rear sweep); then, after your excursion is finished you may abandon your raft and return by steam-boat or train. A very useful thing to the swimmers, when they are skylarking in the water, is

The Chump's Raft

Its construction is simple. Four boards, each about six feet long, are nailed together in the form of a square, with the ends of the boards protruding, like the figure drawn upon a school-boy's slate for the game of "Tit, tat, toe" ([Fig. 13]).

Fig. 13.—The chump's raft.

All nail-points must be knocked off and the heads hammered home, to prevent serious scratches and wounds on the bather's body when he clambers over the raft or slips off in an attempt to do so ([Fig. 14]).

Beginners get in the middle hole, and there, with a support within reach all around them, they can venture with comparative safety in deep water.

Fig. 14.—A beginner in a chump's raft.

The raft, which I built as a model fifteen years ago, is still in use at my summer camp, where scores of young people have used it with a success proved by their present skill as swimmers. But many camps are located in a section of the country where boards are as scarce as boarding-houses, but where timber, in its rough state, exists in abundance. The campers in such locations can make

A Chump's Raft of Logs

Fig. 15.—Looking down on a chump's raft in motion.

Fig. 16.—Side view of chump's log raft.

Such a float consists of two dried logs fastened together at each end by cross-slabs, so as to form a rude catamaran. These rafts can be towed through deep water by a canoe or row-boat, with the tenderfoot securely swung in a sling between the logs, where he may practice the hand-and-foot movement with a sense of security which only the certainty that he is surrounded by a wooden life-preserver will give him. [Fig. 15] shows a top view of the new chump's raft. In [Fig. 16] the two logs are connected fore and aft by cross-slabs; two more upright slabs are nailed securely to the side of the logs; notches having been cut in the top ends of these slabs, a stout cross-piece is securely nailed to them and the towel or rope sling suspended from the middle of the cross-piece. In regard to the dimensions of the raft it is only necessary to say that it should be wide and long enough to allow free movement of the arms and legs of the pupil who is suspended between the logs. In almost every wilderness stream there can be found piles of driftwood on the shore where one may select good, dried, well-seasoned pine or spruce logs from which to make rafts. If such heaps of driftwood are not within reach, look for some standing dead timber and select that which is of sufficient dimensions to support a swimmer, and be careful that it is not hollow or rotten in the core. Rotten wood will soon become water-logged and heavy. [Fig. 17] shows the position of the swimmer supported by the chump's sling. If your raft has a tendency to work so that one log pulls ahead of the other, it may be braced by cross-pieces, such as are shown at J and K in [Fig. 18]. This figure also shows supports for a suspension pole made by nailing two sticks to each side and allowing the ends to cross so as to form a crotch in which the supporting rod rests and to which it is securely fastened by nails, or by being bound there by a piece of rope, as in A, [Fig. 19]. B, [Fig. 19], shows the crotch made by resting L in a fork on the M stick and then nailing or binding it in place. C, [Fig. 19], shows the two sticks, L and M, joined by notches cut log-cabin fashion before they are nailed in place.

Fig. 17.—Learning to swim by aid of a chump sling.

Fig. 19.—Details of saw-buck supports.

Although many summers have rolled around since the author first made his advent on this beautiful earth, he still feels the call of the bathing pool, the charm of the spring-board, almost as keenly as he did when he was wont to swim in Blue Hole at Yellow Springs, Ohio, or dive from the log rafts into the Ohio River, or slide down the "slippery" made in the steep muddy banks of the Licking River, Kentucky.

Fig. 18.—Another way to rig a chump.

CHAPTER III
A RAFT THAT WILL SAIL

The Raft is Just the Thing for Camp Life—Pleasurable Occupation for a Camping Party Where Wood is Plentiful—You Will Need Axes and Hatchets and a Few Other Civilized Implements

First we will select two pine logs of equal length, and, while the water is heating for our coffee, we will sharpen the butt, or larger end, of the logs on one side with the axe, making a "chisel edge," as shown in [Fig. 20]. This gives us an appetite for breakfast and makes the big fish in the lake, as they jump above the water, cast anxious looks toward our camp.

Breakfast finished, we will cut some cross-pieces to join our two logs together, and at equal distances apart we will bore holes through the cross-pieces for peg-holes ([Figs. 21], [22], and [23]). While one of the party is fashioning a number of pegs, each with a groove in one side, like those shown in [Fig. 24], the others will roll the logs into the water and secure them in a shallow spot.

Shoes and stockings must be removed, for most of the work is now to be done in the water. Of course, it would be much easier done on land, but the raft will be very heavy and could never be launched unless under the most favorable circumstances. It is better to build the craft in the element which is to be its home.

Cut two long saplings for braces, and after separating the logs the proper distance for your cross-pieces to fit, nail your braces in position, as represented by [Fig. 20].

Parts of Man-Friday sailing-raft.
20.—Logs in place with braces. Figs. 21, 22, and 23.—Struts. Fig. 24.—Pegs. Fig. 25.—Raft with middle and stern strut in place. Fig. 26.—Springs for dry deck. Fig. 27.—Dry deck. Fig. 28.—Dry deck in place

This holds the logs steady, and we may now lay the two cross-pieces in position, and mark the points on the logs carefully where the holes are to be bored to correspond with the ones in the cross-pieces. Bore the holes in one log first; make the holes deep enough and then fill them with water, after which drive the pegs through the ends of the cross-pieces and into the log. The grooves in the pegs ([Fig. 24]) will allow the water to escape from the holes and the water will cause the peg to swell and tighten its hold on the log and cross-pieces.

Now bore holes in the other log under those in the cross-pieces and fill them with water before driving the pegs home, as you did in the first instance. [Fig. 25] is a Man-Friday raft.

The Deck

Before placing the bow in position we must go ashore and make a dry deck. Selecting for the springs two long green ash or hickory poles, trim the ends off flat on one side, as shown by [Fig. 26]. This flat side is the bottom, so roll them over, with the flat side toward the ground, and if you can find no planks or barrel staves for a deck, split in half a number of small logs and peg or nail them on the top side of the springs, as in [Fig. 27].

Now all hands must turn out and carry the deck down to the raft and place it in position, with the flattened sides of the springs resting on top of the logs at the bow. Prop it up in this position, and then bore holes through the springs into the logs and peg the springs down. Over the flat ends place the heavy bow cross-piece, bore the peg-holes, and fasten it in position ([Fig. 28]).

In the centre of the bow cross-piece bore several holes close together and chip out the wood between to make a hole, as square a one as possible, for the mast to fit or "step" in. With the wood from a packing-box or a slab from a log make the bench for the mast.

Bore a hole through the bench a trifle astern of the step, or hole, for the mast below. It will cause the mast to "rake" a little "aft." You have done a big day's work, but a couple of days ought to be sufficient time to finish the craft.

Fig. 29.—Sail for Man-Friday.

The Sail

Turn over the raw edges of the old sail-cloth and stitch them down, as in [Fig. 29]—that is, if you have the needle and thread for the purpose; if not, trim the cloth to the proper form and two inches from the luff (the side next to the mast). Cut a number of holes; these should be stitched like button-holes, if possible, but if the sail-cloth is tough and we have no needle, we shall have to let them go unstitched. A small loop of rope must be sewed or fastened in some other manner very securely to each corner of the sail.

From spruce pine or an old fishing-pole make a sprit, and of a good, straight piece of pine manufacture your mast somewhat longer than the luff of the sail ([Fig. 29]).

Through the eyelets lace the luff of the sail to the mast, so that its lower edge will clear the dry deck by about a foot.

Fig. 30.—Scudding before the wind.

Through the hole made for the purpose in the bench ([Fig. 30]) thrust the mast into the step, or socket, that we have cut in the bow cross-piece. Tie to the loop at the bottom corner of the sail a strong line about twelve feet long for a sheet with which to control the sail.

Trim the upper end of the sprit to fit in the loop at the upper outer corner of the sail, and make a notch in the lower end to fit in the loop of the line called the "snotter."

Now, as you can readily see, when the sprit is pushed diagonally upward the sail is spread; to hold it in place make a loop of line for a "snotter" and attach the loop to the mast, as in Figs. 29 and 30. Fit the loop in the notch in the lower end of the sprit, and the sail is set.

The Keelig

We need anchors, one for the bow and one for the stern. It takes little time to make them, as you only need a forked stick, a stone, and a piece of plank, or, better still, a barrel stave. Figs. 35 to 39 show how this is made. Down East the fishermen use the "keelig" in preference to any other anchor.

Make fast your lines to the "keelig" thus: Take the end of the rope in your right hand and the standing part (which is the part leading from the boat) in your left hand and form the loop (A, [Fig. 31]).

Then with the left hand curve the cable from you, bringing the end through the loop, as in B, [Fig. 32]; then lead it around and down, as in C, [Fig. 33].

Draw it tight, as in D, [Fig. 34], and you have the good, old-fashioned knot, called by sailors the "bow-line."

To make it look neat and shipshape you may take a piece of string and bind the standing part to the shaft of your anchor or keelig—keelek—killick—killeck—kelleck—kellock—killock, etc., as you may choose to spell it.

A paddle to steer with and two pegs in the stern cross-piece to rest it in complete the craft; and now the big bass had better use due caution, because our lines will reach their haunts, and we are after them!

CHAPTER IV
CANOES

The Advantages of a Canoe—How to Make the Slab Canoe and the Dugout—How to Make a Siwash and a White Man's Dugout

There are many small freak crafts invented each year, but none of them has any probabilities of being popularly used as substitutes for the old models.

Folding canoes, as a rule, are cranky, but the writer has found them most convenient when it was necessary to transport them long distances overland. They are not, however, the safest of crafts; necessarily they lack the buoyant wooden frame and lining of the ordinary canvas canoe, which enables it to float even when filled with water.

The author owes his life to the floating properties of his canvas canoe. On one occasion when it upset in a driving easterly storm the wind was off shore, and any attempt upon the canoeist's part to swim toward shore would have caused him to have been suffocated by the tops of the waves which the wind cut off, driving the water with stinging force into his face so constantly that, in order to breathe at all, he had to face the other way. He was at length rescued by a steamer, losing nothing but the sails and his shoes. Nevertheless, the same storm which capsized his little craft upset several larger boats and tore the sails from others.

The advantages of a good canoe are many for the young navigators: they can launch their own craft, pick it up when occasion demands and carry it overland. It is safe in experienced hands in any weather which is fit for out-door amusement. When you are "paddling your own canoe" you are facing to the front and can see what is ahead of you, which is much safer and more pleasant than travelling backward, like a crawfish.

Fig. 40.

The advance-guard of modern civilization is the lumberman, and following close on his heels comes the all-devouring saw-mill. This fierce creature has an abnormal appetite for logs, and it keeps an army of men, boys, and horses busy in supplying it with food. While it supplies us with lumber for the carpenter, builder, and cabinet-maker, it at the same time, in the most shameful way, fills the trout streams and rivers with great masses of sawdust, which kills and drives away the fish. But near the saw-mill there is always to be found material for a

Slab Canoe

which consists simply of one of those long slabs, the first cut from some giant log ([Fig. 43]).

These slabs are burned or thrown away by the mill-owners, and hence cost nothing; and as the saw-mill is in advance of population, you are most likely to run across one on a hunting or fishing trip.

Near one end, and on the flat side of the slab ([Fig. 40]), bore four holes, into which drive the four legs of a stool made of a section of a smaller slab ([Fig. 41]), and your boat is ready to launch. From a piece of board make a double or single paddle ([Fig. 42]), and you are equipped for a voyage. An old gentleman, who in his boyhood days on the frontier frequently used this simple style of canoe, says that the speed it makes will compare favorably with that of many a more pretentious vessel. See [Fig. 43] for furnished boat.

The Dugout

Although not quite as delicate in model or construction as the graceful birch-bark canoe, the "dugout" of the Indians is a most wonderful piece of work, when we consider that it is carved from the solid trunk of a giant tree with the crudest of tools, and is the product of savage labor.

Fig. 41.

Few people now living have enjoyed the opportunity of seeing one built by the Indians, and, as the author is not numbered among that select few, he considers it a privilege to be able to quote the following interesting account given by Mr. J. H. Mallett, of Helena.

How to Build a Siwash Canoe

"While visiting one of the small towns along Puget Sound, I was greatly interested in the way the Indians built their canoes. It is really wonderful how these aborigines can, with the crudest means and with a few days' work, convert an unwieldy log into a trim and pretty canoe.

Fig. 42.

Fig. 43.—Slab canoe.

"One Monday morning I saw a buck building a fire at the base of a large cedar-tree, and he told me that this was the first step in the construction of a canoe that he intended to use upon the following Saturday. He kept the fire burning merrily all that day and far into the night, when a wind came up and completed the downfall of the monarch of the forest. The next day the man arose betimes, and, borrowing a cross-cut saw from a logger, cut the trunk of the tree in twain at a point some fifteen feet from where it had broken off, and then with a dull hatchet he hacked away until the log had assumed the shape of the desired canoe. In this work he was helped by his squaw. The old fellow then built a fire on the upper part of the log, guiding the course of the fire with daubs of clay, and in due course of time the interior of the canoe had been burned out. Half a day's work with the hatchet rendered the inside smooth and shapely.

"The canoe was now, I thought, complete, though it appeared to be dangerously narrow of beam. This the Indian soon remedied. He filled the shell two-thirds full of water, and into the fluid he dropped half a dozen stones that had been heating in the fire for nearly a day. The water at once attained a boiling point, and so softened the wood that the buck and squaw were enabled to draw out the sides and thus supply the necessary breadth of beam. Thwarts and slats were then placed in the canoe and the water and stones thrown out. When the steamed wood began to cool and contract, the thwarts held it back, and the sides held the thwarts, and there the canoe was complete, without a nail, joint, or crevice, for it was made of one piece of wood. The Siwash did not complete it as soon as he had promised, but it only took him eight days."

Fig. 44.—The dugout.

In the North-eastern part of our country, before the advent of the canvas canoe, beautiful and light birch-bark craft were used by the Indians, the voyagers, trappers, and white woodsmen. But in the South and in the North-west, the dugout takes the place of the birch-bark. Among the North-western Indians the dugouts are made from the trunks of immense cedar-trees and built with high, ornamental bows, which are brilliantly decorated with paint. On the eastern shore of Maryland and Virginia the dugout is made into a sail-boat called the buck-eye, or bug-eye. But all through the Southern States, from the Ohio River to the Gulf of Mexico and in Mexico, the dugout is made of a hollowed log after the manner of an ordinary horse trough, and often it is as crude as the latter, but it can be made almost as beautiful and graceful as a birch-bark canoe.

How to Make a White Man's Dugout Canoe

To make one of these dugout canoes one must be big and strong enough to wield an axe, but if the readers are too young for this work, they are none too young to know how to make one, and their big brothers and father can do the work. Since the dugout occupies an important position in the history of our country, every boy scout should know how it is made.

Fig. 45.

Fig. 48.

Fig. 49.

Fig. 50.

[Fig. 44] shows one of these canoes afloat; [Fig. 45] shows a tall, straight tree suitable for our purpose, and it also shows how the tree is cut and the arrangement of the kerfs, or two notches, so that it will fall in the direction of the arrow in the diagram. You will notice along the ground are shown the ends of a number of small logs. These are the skids, or rollers, upon which the log will rest when the tree is cut and felled. The tree will fall in the direction in which the arrow is pointed if there is no wind. If you have never cut down a tree, be careful to take some lessons of a good woodsman before you attempt it.

When the log is trimmed off at both ends like [Fig. 46], flatten the upper side with the axe. This is for the bottom of the canoe; the flat part should be about a foot and a half wide to extend from end to end of the log. Now, with some poles for pryers, turn your log over so that it will rest with the flat bottom on the skids, as in [Fig. 46].

Fig. 46.

Fig. 47.

Next take a chalk-line and fasten it at the two ends of the log, as shown by the dotted line in [Figs. 46], [47], [48], [49].

Snap the line so that it will make a straight mark as shown by the dotted line; then trim off the two ends for the bow and stern, as shown in [Fig. 47]. Next cut notches down to the dotted line, as illustrated in [Fig. 48]; then cut away from the bow down to the first notch, making a curved line, as shown in [Fig. 49] (which is cut to second notch). Do the same with the stern, making duplicates of the bow and stern. The spaces between the notches amidships may now be split off by striking your axe along the chalk-line and then carefully driving in wooden wedges. When this is all done you will have [Fig. 50]. You can now turn the log over and trim off the edges of the bow and stern so that they will slope, as shown in [Fig. 44], in a rounded curve; after which roll the canoe back again upon its bottom and with an adze and axe hollow out the inside, leaving some solid wood at both bow and stern—not that you need the wood for strength, but to save labor. When you have decided upon the thickness of the sides of your canoe, take some small, pointed instrument, like an awl, for instance, and make holes with it to the required depth at intervals along the sides and bottom of the canoe. Then take some small sticks (as long as the canoe sides are to be thick), make them to fit the holes, blacken their ends, and drive them into the holes.

As soon as you see one from the inside, you will know that you have made the shell thin enough. Use a jack-plane to smooth it off inside and out; then build a big fire and heat some stones. Next fill the canoe with water and keep dumping the hot stones in the water until the latter is almost or quite to boiling point. The hot water will soften the wood so that the sides will become flexible, and you can then fit in some braces at the bow, stern, and centre of the canoe. Make the centre brace or seat some inches wider than the log, so that when it is forced in place it will spread the canoe in the middle.

CHAPTER V
CANOES AND BOATING STUNTS

How to Build a War Canoe—How to Build a Canvas Canoe—How to Build an Umbrella Canoe—How Old Shells Can be Turned into Boys' Boats—Cause of Upsets—Landing from, and Embarking in, a Shell—How to Mend Checks and Cracks

In making canoes the Indians used birch bark for the cover, rock maple for the cross-bars, and white cedar for the rest of the frame. We will substitute canvas for the birch bark and any old wood that we can for the rock maple and the white cedar. Real woodcraft is best displayed in the ability to use the material at hand.

David Abercrombie, the outfitter, some time ago presented Andrew J. Stone, the Arctic explorer and mighty hunter, with a small piece of light, water-proof cloth to use as a shelter tent in bad weather. But Stone, like the hunter that he was, slept unprotected on the mountain side in the sleet and driving storms, and used the water-proof cloth to protect the rare specimens he had shot. One day a large, rapid torrent lay in his path; there was no lumber large enough with which to build a raft, and the only wood for miles around was small willow bushes growing along the river bank. At his command, his three Indians made a canoe frame of willow sticks, tied together with bits of cloth and string. Stone set this frame in the middle of his water-proof cloth, tied the cloth over the frame with other pieces of string, and using only small clubs for paddles, he and his men crossed the raging torrent in this makeshift, which was loaded with their guns, camera, and specimens that he had shot on the trip.

After reading the above there is no doubt the reader will be able to build a war canoe with barrel-hoop ribs and lattice-work slats. In the writer's studio is a long piece of maple, one and one-half inches wide and one-quarter inch thick, which was left by the workmen when they put down a hard-wood floor. If you can get some similar strips, either of oak, maple, or birch, from the dealers in flooring material, they will not be expensive and will make splendid gunwales for your proposed canoe. There should be four such strips. The hard-wood used for flooring splits easily, and holes should be bored for the nails or screws to prevent cracking the wood when the nails or screws are driven home. [Fig. 51] shows the framework (side view) of the canoe; [Fig. 52] shows an end view of the same canoe; [Fig. 53] shows the middle section, and [Fig. 54] shows the form of the bow and stern sections. This boat may be built any length you wish, and so that you may get the proper proportions, the diagrams from one to five are marked off in equal divisions. To make patterns of the moulds, [Figs. 53] and [54], take a large piece of manila paper, divide it up into the same number of squares as the diagram, make the squares any size you may decide upon, and then trace the line, 1-H-10, as it is in the diagrams. This will give you the patterns of the two moulds ([Figs. 53] and [54]). While you are looking at these figures, it may be well to call your attention to the way bow and stern pieces are made. In [Fig. 63] the pieces Y and X are made from pieces of a packing-box, notched and nailed together with a top piece, U, and a brace, V.

[Transcriber's Note: To see a larger version of this image, click [here].]

Conventional bow, but made of barrel-heads.

The other end of the same canoe is, as you may see, strengthened and protected by having a barrel-hoop tacked over the stem-pieces, Y, X, U. In [Fig. 64] we use different material; here the stem-piece is made of a broken bicycle rim, U, braced by the pieces of packing-box, Y, V, and W. The left-hand end of [Fig. 64] is made with pieces of head of a barrel, X and U. The bottom of the stem-piece Y is made of the piece of a packing-box. The two braces V are parts of the barrel-stave. [Fig. 60] shows the common form of the bow of a canoe. The stem-pieces X, Y are made of the parts of the head of a barrel, as shown in [Fig. 62]. To make a stem from a barrel-head, nail the two pieces X and Y, [Fig. 56], together as shown in this particular diagram. Now take another piece of barrel-head, [Fig. 57], and saw off a piece, A´, D´, C´, so that it will fit neatly over A, C, D, on [Fig. 56]. Nail this securely in place, and then in the same manner cut another piece to fit over the part E, C, B, and nail that in place. Use small nails, but let them be long enough so that you may clinch them by holding an axe or an iron against the head while you hammer the protruding points down, or drive the nail a little on the bias and holding the axe or iron on the side it is to come through and let it strike the nail as it comes out and it will clinch itself. To fasten the stem-piece to the keel use two pieces of packing-box or board, cut in the form of [Fig. 58], and nail these securely to the bow-piece as in Z, in [Fig. 60]. Then from the bottom side of the keel H, nail the keel-pieces firmly to the keel as in [Fig. 61]. Also drive some nails from Z to the top down to the keel, as shown by the dotted lines in [Fig. 60]. The end view, [Fig. 59], shows how the two Z pieces hug and support the stem-piece on the keel H. [Fig. 55] shows a half of the top view of the canoe gunwales; the dimensions, marked in feet and inches, are taken from an Indian birch-bark canoe. You see by the diagram that it is eight feet from the centre of the middle cross-piece to the end of the big opening at the bow. It is also three feet from the centre of the middle cross-piece to the next cross-piece, and thirty inches from the centre of that cross-piece to the bow cross-piece, which is just thirty inches from the eight-foot mark. The middle cross-piece in a canoe of these dimensions is seven-eighths of an inch thick, and thirty inches long between the gunwales; the next cross-piece is three-quarters of an inch thick and twenty-two and one-half inches long. The next one is half an inch wide, two inches thick and twelve inches between the gunwales. These cross-pieces can be made of the staves of a barrel. Of course, this would be a canoe of sixteen feet inside measurement, not counting the flattened part of the bow and stern. Now, then, to build the canoe. First take the keel-piece, H, which is in this case a piece of board about six inches wide and only thick enough to be moderately stiff. Lay the keel on any level surface and put the stem-pieces on as already described, using packing-box for X, U, V, Y, and Z, and bracing them with a piece of packing-box on each side, marked W in diagram ([Fig. 51]). Then make three moulds, one for the centre ([Fig. 53]), and two more for the bow and stern ([Fig. 54]). Notch the bottom of these moulds to fit the keel and with wire nails make them fast to the keel, leaving the ends of the nails protruding far enough to be easily withdrawn when you wish to remove the moulds. In nailing the laths to the moulds ([Fig. 51]) leave the heads of the nails also protruding so that they may be removed. Place the moulds in position, with the middle one in the exact centre, and the two ends located like those in [Figs. 63] and [64]. Place and nail gunwale, L, on as in [Fig. 51], tacking it to the bow and stern and bending it around to fit the moulds; tack the lattice slats M, N, O, P on to the bow, stern, and moulds, as shown in [Fig. 51].

If your barrel-hoops are stiff and liable to break while bending and unbending, let them soak a couple of days in a tub of water, then before fitting them to the form of the canoe make them more pliable by pouring hot water on them. The barrel-hoop S, R, at the bow of the canoe, is nailed to the top-piece U, to the inside of the slats L, M, N, O, P, and to the outside of H. The next three ribs on each side are treated in the same manner; repeat this at the other end of the canoe and nail the intervening ribs to the top of H and to the inside of the slats, following the model of the boat. Put the ribs about four inches apart and clinch the nails as already described.

In the diagrams there is no temporary support for the canoe frame except the wooden horses, as in [Fig. 51]. These supports have been purposely omitted in the drawing, as it is desirable to keep it as simple as possible. Some temporary support will be necessary to hold the bow and stern-piece in [Fig. 51]. These supports can be nailed or screwed temporarily to the canoe frame so as to hold it rigid while you are at work on it.

After the ribs are all in place and the framework completed, turn the canoe upside down upon the wooden horses—for a canoe as large as the one in the first diagram you will need three horses, one at each end and one in the middle. For a canoe of the dimensions marked in [Fig. 55], that is, sixteen feet inside measurement, you would need about seven yards of ten-ounce cotton canvas, of sufficient width to reach up over the sides of your canoe. Take a tape-measure or a piece of ordinary tape or a long strip of manila paper and measure around the bottom of the boat at its widest part in the middle from one gunwale (top of side) to the other, and see that your cloth is fully as wide as your measurement. Fold the canvas lengthwise so as to find its exact centre and crease it. With two or three tacks fasten the cloth at its centre line (the crease) to the stem-piece of the canoe. Stretch the canvas the length of the boat with the crease of centre-line along the centre of the keel; pull it as taut as may be and again tack the centre line to the stem at this end of the craft. If this has been done carefully the cloth will hang an equal length over each side of the canoe. Now begin amidships and drive tacks about two inches apart along the gunwale, say an inch below the top surface. After having tacked it for about two feet, go to the other side of the boat, pull the cloth taut and in the same manner tack about three feet. Continue this process first one side and then the other until finished. While stretching the cloth knead it with the hand and fingers so as to thicken or "full" it where it would otherwise wrinkle; by doing this carefully it is possible to stretch the canvas over the frame without the necessity of cutting it. The cloth that extends beyond the frame may be brought over the gunwale and tacked along the inside. Use four-ounce tinned or copper tacks. The canvas is now stretched on every part except on the high, rolling bow and stern. With a pair of shears slit the canvas from the outer edge of the bow and stern within a half inch of the ends of the keel.

High bows framework made of packing-box and barrel-heads.

Fold the right-hand flap thus made at the left-hand end around the bow and stern and, drawing tight, tack it down, then fold the left-hand flap over the right-hand side and tack it in a similar manner, trimming off the remaining cloth neatly. The five braces, three of which are shown in [Fig. 55], may be nailed to the gunwales of the canoe, as the temporary moulds are removed. The braces should be so notched that the top ends of the braces will fit over the top edge of the gunwale and their lower edges will fit against the sides. Give the boat at least three good coats of paint and nail the two extra gunwale strips on the outside of the canvas for guards.

When it is dry and the boat is launched you may startle the onlookers and make the echoes ring with:

"Wo-ach! wo-ach! Ha-ha-ha-hack—wo-ach!" which is said to be the identical war cry with which the Indians greeted the landing of our Pilgrim Fathers.

The reader must not suppose that barrel-hoops are the best material for ribs; they are but a makeshift, and although good-looking, servicable canoes have been built of this material from the foregoing descriptions, better ones may be made by using better material, such, for instance, as is described in the making of the birch-bark canoe.

Old Shells

Where there are oarsmen and boat-clubs, there you will find beautiful shell boats of paper or cedar, shaped like darning-needles, so slight in structure that a child can knock a hole in them, and yet very seaworthy boats for those who understand how to handle them. The expensive material and skilled labor necessary to build a racing shell puts the price of one so high that few boys can afford to buy one; but where new shells are to be found there are also old ones, and when they are too old to sell they are thrown away. Many an old shell rots on the meadows near the boat-houses or rests among the rafters forgotten and unused, which with a little work would make a boat capable of furnishing no end of fun to a boy.

Checks or Cracks

can be pasted over with common manila wrapping-paper by first covering the crack with a coat of paint, or, better still, of varnish, then fitting the paper smoothly over the spot and varnishing the paper. Give the paper several coats of varnish, allowing it to dry after each application, and the paper will become impervious to water. The deck of a shell is made of thin muslin or paper, treated with a liberal coat of varnish, and can be patched with similar material. There are always plenty of slightly damaged oars which have been discarded by the oarsmen. The use of a saw and jack-knife in the hands of a smart boy can transform these wrecks into serviceable oars for his patched-up old shell, and if the work is neatly done, the boy will be the proud owner of a real shell boat, and the envy of his comrades.

The Cause of Upsets

A single shell that is very cranky with a man in it is comparatively steady when a small boy occupies the seat. Put on your bathing clothes when you wish to try a shell, so that you may be ready for the inevitable upset. Every one knows, when he looks at one of these long, narrow boats, that as long as the oars are held extended on the water it cannot upset. But, in spite of that knowledge, every one, when he first gets into a shell, endeavors to balance himself by lifting the oars, and, of course, goes over in a jiffy.

The Delights of a Shell

It is an error to suppose that the frail-looking, needle-like boat is only fit for racing purposes. For a day on the water, in calm weather, there is, perhaps, nothing more enjoyable than a single shell. The exertion required to send it on its way is so slight, and the speed so great, that many miles can be covered with small fatigue. Upon referring to the log-book of the Nereus Club, where the distances are all taken from the United States chart, the author finds that twenty and thirty miles are not uncommon records for single-shell rows.

During the fifteen or sixteen seasons that the author has devoted his spare time to the sport he has often planned a heavy cruising shell, but owing to the expense of having such a boat built he has used the ordinary racing boat, and found it remarkably well adapted for such purposes. Often he has been caught miles away from home in a blow, and only once does he remember of being compelled to seek assistance.

He was on a lee shore and the waves were so high that after once being swamped he was unable to launch his boat again, for it would fill before he could embark. So a heavy rowboat and a coachman were borrowed from a gentleman living on the bay, and while the author rowed, the coachman towed the little craft back to the creek where the Nereus club-house is situated.

In the creek, however, the water was calmer, and rather than stand the jeers of his comrades, the writer embarked in his shell and rowed up to the boat-house float. He was very wet and his boat was full of water, but to the inquiry of "Rough out in the bay?" he confined himself to the simple answer—"Yes." Then dumping the water from his shell and placing it upon the rack he put on his dry clothes and walked home, none the worse for the accident.

After ordinary skill and confidence are acquired it is really astonishing what feats can be accomplished in a frail racing boat.

Parts of the Umbrella Canoe.

It is not difficult to

Stand Upright In a Shell

if you first take one of your long stockings and tie the handles of your oars together where they cross each other in front of you. The ends will work slightly and the blades will keep their positions on the water, acting as two long balances. Now slide your seat as far forward as it will go, slip your feet from the straps and grasp the straps with your hand, moving the feet back to a comfortable position. When all ready raise yourself by pulling on the foot strap, and with ordinary care you can stand upright in the needle-shaped boat, an apparently impossible thing to do when you look at the narrow craft.

How to Land Where There Is No Float

When for any reason you wish to land where there is no float, row into shallow water and put one foot overboard until it touches bottom. Then follow with the other foot, rise, and you are standing astride of your boat.

How to Embark Where There Is No Float

Wade out and slide the shell between your extended legs until the seat is underneath you. Sit down, and, with the feet still in the water, grasp your oars. With these in your hands it is an easy task to balance the boat until you can lift your feet into it.