82. Decks should never be flat any more than the roof of a house; they must be built to shed water. But as a pitch roof

FIG. 74

is hard to walk on, boats' decks are curved from the center line toward the sides. In this way, there is always some level spot to walk on and the deck drains off water readily. The midship part of the curved deck is known as the crown and the cabin top should always, to look well, have a little more crown than the deck. The deck and cabin beams are generally cut. from oak and all openings, such as the companionway or skylight, are framed with oak carlines as the fore-and-aft pieces are called.

83. In ships and large-sized yachts having decks 3 and 4 inches thick there is no difficulty in putting enough oakum and pitch into the seams to keep them water-tight; but, in smallersized crafts, where the deck planks are only 1 to 1 inches thick, it is not so easy. As a result most small yachts today have canvas-covered decks, canvased cabin tops, and canvas used on everything that acts as a roof. Some few do affect the bright yacht-laid deck of old. The deck planks themselves generally are narrow strips of white pine, free from knots, laid

so that the edge of the grain is up, Fig. 75 (a), or comb grained as it is called. This wears down even and not in spots, as it would if laid with the flat of the grain up, as shown in (b).

84. The waterways, covering boards, or plank sheers are generally oak or mahogany, except on racers where to save

weight and still have strength, yellow pine is sometimes used. This plank is sometimes made flush with the deck, as shown.

Covering Board Flush with Deck

(a)

Canvas Deck

(b)

in Fig. 76 (a). When the deck is covered with canvas, the cloth should be stretched across the covering board and fastened with a molding, as in (b). The covering board, however, is often made thicker than the deck itself and coved down, or beveled down, to meet the thickness of the deck at its inner edge, as shown in (c). It is evident that when the deck is to be covered by canvas wider planks may be used in constructing the deck. But it is well not to use too wide planks on account of shrinkage in the wood that may cause a ridge in the canvas. Before covering the deck with canvas all nail heads should be punched in, and the holes filled with putty. If this is not attended to nail heads will soon eat through the canvas and cause a leaky deck, or roof, as the case may be.

Coved Covering Board

(c) FIG. 76

MOTOR BOATS

(PART 2)

SELECTING A MOTOR BOAT

PRELIMINARY REMARKS

1. Purpose of Boat.-The pleasure a man derives from his motor boat depends, to a great extent, on whether he buys a boat suitable for the use to which he is going to put her. A boat that is built to ride the rough waters of the open sea and that is stoutly housed in, with every window and joint made absolutely water-tight, is a very unsatisfactory craft for a man who wishes to navigate the smooth waters of the rivers and the small lakes of our inland states. Her cabins will be uncomfortable for lack of ventilation and her navigation will be difficult in shallow water on account of the depth of water required to float her, in addition to the inconvenience caused by too high a freeboard. The lake and river motor craft have a much lower freeboard than those intended for deep sea water, and their cabins are built so that they can be opened up on a hot day to cool and ventilate the interior.

2. The difference in the two types mentioned is shown in Fig. 1 (a) and (b). The deep-sea boat has a freeboard so high as to require a pair of steps to board her, while the deck of river boats can be reached by a step from the seat of a rowboat. River boats, too, having no rise and fall of the water to contend with, such as the tides along the seaboard, can often be moored with their bow run up against the river bank and access given

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to the shore by means of a gang plank. This has lead to widening the deck on the stem head sufficient to handle a gangplank. Stern wheelers, or wheelbarrows, as they are sometimes called, are a type peculiar to and well adapted for use on the western rivers. They float in very shallow water and have nothing on the bottom to foul on submerged tree trunks or sand bars; it is surprising that more western yachtsmen do not have yachts of this kind.

Owing to the wide publicity given the good points of boats built on the dory and whale-boat models, which were primarily built for the roughest kind of sea work along the New England

Deep-sea Craft

(a)

River Boat

(b) FIG. 1

coast, many boats of these types, using propellers, are found on inland lakes and rivers. Nevertheless, navigating facilities and wind conditions generally prevailing, have had much to do in producing a type of boat best suited for each locality.

3. Advantages of Second-Hand Boats.-It is generally recognized that the first cost of a boat, like any other article, is always the greatest. As soon as a boat has been used it becomes a second-hand one and a reduction in price immediately follows, though as a rule a boat is best found and fitted in her second and third years. No matter how much planning and care were exercised in her outfit, there is always considerable time required to adjust every little thing so that it will be the

handiest. A few months' use of the boat often demonstrates that the initial planning was in some particulars at fault, while a year's use discloses any slight defects in materials; usually all these have been rectified and things that were not thought of at first have been purchased as needed. So the person who buys a boat a year or so old finds a much better fitted craft in many respects than a brand new boat. Such little fittings as shank pointers for stowing the anchors are right at hand, brass has been tacked over the rail and places where some of the gear has started to chafe, and similar improvements have been made where found needed below. It is the hobby of some men of means to build new boats merely for the delight the planning and outfitting gives them. As soon as there is nothing they can change so as to improve, they often tire of the boat, sell it, and build a new one.

4. Buying Through Yacht Brokers. This tendency on the part of many owners of motor boats is well demonstrated in the lists of yachts the yacht brokers have for sale. As soon as they hear of a new boat being built, the brokers usually approach her owner with a proposition to list the boat on their books for sale. Whether the owner is willing or not, they generally put her down anyway on the principle that every man has his price if the purchaser wants the boat badly enough to pay it.

The business of yacht brokers is in certain respects similar to that of a consulting engineer. The prospective purchaser tells them what kind of a boat he wants, where he proposes to use it, and under what conditions he expects to operate it. The brokers, having on their list boats of all sizes, shapes, and qualities, and being continually busy negotiating between the men who build and the men who buy, are in a position to give valuable advice to the customers and help them select a boat that will best meet the requirement and purse of the buyer. The builder tries to get a good profit, the designer endeavors to produce a boat that, by its appearance, will advertise his work, but the broker's stock in trade lies in giving his customer what he wants; in other words, make him a satisfied customer.