smith, The front ones are 30 inches long, curved up at the. front, as shown at A in Fig. 19, an beveled at the bottom so as to form a gripping or cutting edge, and when mounted the lower edge is at the outside of the boat. Shanks with belt-tops and collars pass through the holes made in the shoe-blocks FF, and are securely held with nuts screwed down on washers so as not to cut the wood.
Fig. 19. Shoe, tiller, and rudder of an ice-boat.
The rudder (B in Fig, 19) is a chisel-edged piece of steel, 12 inches long, turned up at both ends and mounted at the foot of a shank (C), which is provided with a collar, a square shoulder for the tiller (1D) to fit on, and a threaded top so that a nut will hold the tiller in place. The shoes can be made only of steel or iron, as wooden ones are useless.
The mast is 12 feet high and 3½ or 4 inches in diameter, slightly tapered near the top. The gaff is 6 feet long, and the boom 12 feet.
The mainsail measures 8 feet on the mast, 5 on the gaff, 11 on the boom, and the leech is 13 feet long (see Fig. 14). The jib is 10 by 6 by 8. This sail area will present a good surface to the wind, and under an ordinary breeze the boat should make from eight to twelve miles an hour with two or three boys on the deck. The rigging is done in the same manner in which boats are fitted up. The spars should be varnished, and the boat may be painted or, if preferred, simply varnished.
The twin-mast ice-boat shown in Fig. 18 is the same size as the other one, and built in the same manner, except that timbers DD in Fig. 16 are omitted and a smaller deck is laid at the stem. One foot back from the comers, 3-inch masts are stepped in holes made in the timbers BB to receive half-inch iron pins driven in the foot of the masts. The sticks are 11 feet long and lashed together at the top, or bolted with several long, thin bolts, as shown in the illustration. They pitch forward at a slight angle, making the forestay 11 feet long. The gaff is 16 feet long, the boom 18, and the leech of the sail is 14.
The gaff is hauled up into the crotch formed by the masts, and a sel of blocks and tackle at the bottom of the sail on the boom and the deck will haul the sail in the proper position, so that the back will not drop down. It then swings free between the masts, and the jib and mainsail form one large sheet, so that when the main-sheet foes to one side or the other, the jib always takes the opposite position, and the wind is playing on the entire sail at all times.
This is a very easy rig to handle, as it relieves the steersman from the bother of the jib-sheets, which are annoying in a stiff breeze.
Fig. 20. A Wind-runner.
A Wind-runner.
From the detailed description of the ice-boat and a careful study of Fig. 20, the boy will be able easily to make the simpler wind- runner. Its length is 12 feet and the front board of the triangle is 6 feet long. The mast is 8 feet high and the yard-arm 7 feet. The sail may be made of unbleached muslin. This boat cannot run very close to the wind, being intended for running before the wind, or nearly so. A good safe boat for the younger boys.
