IF any ambitious would-be
mariner, old or young, hailing from anywhere were to
ask me what sort of a boat I would recommend him to
build or buy, I would answer him frankly that an able
catboat, with a centerboard and stationary ballast
would, in my judgment, be best. I would advise him to
shun the "sandbaggers" not that one cannot enjoy an
immense amount of exciting sport in one of them, but
because they seem to me to be only fit for racing, and
I will tell you why. A man when he goes on a quiet
cruise doesn't want to be bothered by having to shift
heavy bags of sand every time the boat goes about. It
is too much like hard work, and by the time your day's
fun is finished you feel stiff in the joints. I have
other arguments against the use of shifting ballast,
but do not think any other save the one mentioned is
necessary.
This point disposed of let us confer. Of what shall
the stationary ballast for our able catboat consist?
Outside lead is of course the best, but its first cost
is a serious matter. A cast-iron false keel or shoe
answers admirably, and is moderate in price. Some
persons object to it, claiming that it rusts and
corrodes, that its fastenings decay the wooden keel to
which it is bolted, and that its weight strains a boat
and soon causes her to become leaky. There is of
course some truth in these charges; but if the boat is
built by a mechanic and not an impostor, none of these
disadvantages will exist, and the cast-iron keel will
prove to be both efficient and economical.
But if, by straining a point, lead can be afforded,
procure it by all means and have it bolted on outside.
It neither tarnishes nor corrodes, and as it does not
deteriorate, its marketable value is always the same.
Racing yachts have, however, been known to sell for
less than their lead ballast cost, but such instances
are rare. It should be borne in mind that the lower
down the lead is placed the less the quantity
required, and the greater its efficiency.
There are always a number of secondhand catboats in
the market for sale at a reasonable rate, and an
advertisement will bring plenty of replies. But for a
tyro to purchase a boat haphazard is a mistake on
general principles. It is like a sailor buying a
horse. Get some honest shipwright or boat builder to
examine, say, some half-dozen boats whose dimensions
suit you, and whose prices are about what you think
you can afford. There are certain portions of a
catboat that are subject to violent strains when the
craft is under way. The step of the mast and the
centerboard trunk are parts that require the vigilant
eye of an expert.
Human nature is prone to temptation, and paint and
putty are used quite often to conceal many important
defects in a craft advertised for sale. The keen eye
of a mechanic who has served his time to a boatbuilder
will soon detect all deficiencies of this kind, will
ferret out rotten timbers, and under his advice and
counsel you may succeed in picking up at a bargain
some sound, seaworthy and serviceable craft in which
you can enjoy yourself to your heart's content.
But if some rotten hull is foisted on you by an
unscrupulous person you will be apt to "kick yourself
round the block," for she will be always in need of
repairs, and in the end, when she is finally
condemned, you will find on figuring up the cost that
it would have been money in your pocket if you had
built a new boat.
The principal boatbuilders of New York, New Jersey,
Connecticut and Massachusetts are men of high
character, who take a pride in their work (which is
thoroughly first-class), and whose prices are strictly
moderate. Any one of these will construct a capital
boat of good model and fair speed. I am an old crank
and a bigot in many things appertaining to boats and
the sea, but I hope that any reader of this who is
going to build a pleasure craft will follow my advice
at least in this instance: Let her be copper-fastened
above and below the waterline. Don't use a single
galvanized nail or bolt in her construction. See that
the fastenings are clenched on a roove -- not simply
turned down. Don't spoil the ship for a paltry
ha'porth of tar. Many builders, for the sake of
economy, use galvanized iron throughout, and will take
a solemn affidavit that it is quite as good as copper.
But in the innermost cockles of their hearts they know
they are wrong. Others more conscientious use copper
fastenings below the waterline and galvanized iron
above; but copper throughout is my cry, and so will I
ever maintain while I am on this side of the Styx.
Sometimes one may pick up a good serviceable boat
at a Navy Yard sale. Uncle Sam's boats are of fair
design and well built. They are often condemned
because they are what is called "nail sick," a defect
which can be easily remedied. Occasionally a
steamship's lifeboat can be bought for a trifle, and
if it be fitted with a false keel with an iron shoe on
it, will prove thoroughly seaworthy and a moderately
good sailer.
Mr. E.F. Knight, the English barrister and author
of the "Cruise of the Falcon," tells how he bought a
lifeboat condemned by the Peninsular and Oriental
Company. She was thirty feet long with a beam of eight
feet, very strong, being built of double skins of
teak, and, like all the lifeboats used by that
company, an excellent sea boat. This craft he timbered
and decked, rigged her as a ketch, and crossed the
North Sea in her, going as far as Copenhagen and back,
and encountering plenty of bad weather during the
adventurous voyage. Mr. Knight is a believer in the
pointed or lifeboat stern for a small vessel. He was
caught in a northwest gale, in the Gulf of Heligoland,
in the above-mentioned craft, and had to sail sixty
miles before a high and dangerous sea. His boat showed
no tendency to broach to, "but rushed straight ahead
across the steep sea in a fashion that gave us
confidence and astonished us. Had she had the ordinary
yacht's stern to present to those following masses of
water, instead of a graceful wedge offering little
resistance, we should have had a very uncomfortable
time of it. Many men dislike a pointed stern and
consider it ugly. However that may be it behaves
handsomely, and we should certainly recommend any
amateur building a sailing boat for coasting purposes
to give her the lifeboat stern."
Mr. Knight fitted his boat with leeboards, which no
doubt served their purpose admirably. I should,
however, favor a false keel and an iron shoe as being
more efficient and less unsightly. I should not advise
the purchaser of a condemned lifeboat to have her
fitted with a centerboard. The cost would be high, and
unless the job was done in a first-class manner by a
man experienced at this sort of work it would be very
unsatisfactory.
A "nail-sick," clencher-built boat should be hauled
up on the beach and filled with water. Every leak
should be marked on the outside with chalk or white
paint. After all the leaks have been discovered, run
the water out of her and dry her thoroughly. Next
examine every nail and try the lands or joinings of
the planks with the blade of a very thin knife. Any
rivets which have worked loose must be taken out and
replaced with nails and rooves of a larger size.
Through the chief parts of the bottom it may be
necessary to put an additional nail between every two
originally driven. Many of the old nails which are
only a little slack should be hardened at their clench
by a few taps from inside, one hand holding a "dollie"
against the head of the nail on the outside. Melt a
pound of pitch in a gallon of boiling North Carolina
tar and give her bottom a good coat inside, filling
the lands or ledges well. The garboard strake
fastenings and also those of the hooded ends should be
carefully caulked. So should the seams. The seams of
the planking should also be caulked.
There are various methods of making a boat
unsinkable. Cork is sometimes used, but it takes up
too much room and is not so buoyant as air. Copper or
zinc cases, made to fit under the thwarts and in
various odd corners, have been fitted in boats, but
their cost is high. Amateurs have used powder flasks
and cracker cans, with their covers soldered on, cigar
boxes, covered with duck and painted, bladders
inflated with air, etc., etc. A boat displacing one
ton will take about forty cubic feet of air to make
her unsinkable.
LL
of us remember the old sailor's retort to the man who
reproached him for soaking his clay in bad rum. "There
ain't such a thing under heaven as bad rum," he sagely
remarked. "Of course some rum is better than another,
but I have been knocking about the world for more than
fifty years and never did I drink a glass of rum that
deserved to be called bad, and I got outside of some
pretty fiery tipple in my time." The same is true in a
general way of boats. There are many types of boat and
each has some peculiar attribute to recommend it. No
two craft, for instance, could be more widely
different in every way than a Gloucester fishing dory
and a Cape Cod catboat, yet each when properly handled
has safely ridden out an Atlantic gale. Of course if
their movements had been directed by farm hands both
would have foundered.