Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/962

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��Popular Science MontJily

���All sorts of vegetables and meats can be baked in this camp oven without burning

about to come aboard over the bow, lufif quickly into it and meet the wave bow on.

When running before a strong wind and heavy sea — "scudding" as the sailor knows it — the man at the tiller must be on the alert to keep his craft from broaching to, that is from flying up in the wind, on the one hand, and being "brought by the lee" on the other, which means running off so that the wind is on the other quarter.

The boom should be well topped up to keep it high above the water. As most small craft are not often rigged with a topping lift, the sail should be hoisted well up on the mast to afford more clearance for the boom above the water.

Should you happen to be caught out in a gale or squall, it may be possible to run to port under bare poles, or ride out the gale. Even a small boat will weather a heavy blow by rigging up a sea anchor. Of course a regular sea anchor is best, but a fairly good sub- stitute may be fashioned by tying together a raft made of oars, boathook, seats, sails, cushions, etc., and let it drag from the bow, paying out some fifty feet of rope.

No sport is more exhilarating than sailing, and the fun is greatly enhanced if one can sail a boat which he has him- self constructed.

��A Camper's Dutch Oven

WHEN you go camping in the sum- mer, either for a short or pro- longed outing, the old-fashioned Dutch oven, which at one time was very com- monly used, cannot be excelled as a cooking arrangement. It is a sort of fireless cooker, which can be built and set up anywhere by means of a few bricks or stones. It will cook meat, biscuit, bread, potatoes or anything else. The beauty of it is that it cooks by indi- rect heat or by reflection.

It is constructed of any kind of bright tin. To make a large one with an open- ing of about two feet, take a piece of bright sheet tin about 6 ft. long, and 3 or 4 ft. wide. Lay this out, and cut in the shape shown. Then roll it up, and fasten the edges by riveting. Cut a cir- cular piece of tin to fit the back. Then directly through the center fit a thin piece of sheet iron from the open front to the apex. This is to hold the bread, biscuits and other articles. A smaller size may have an opening of about 21 ins.

This funnel-shaped piece of tin is set up on the ground, with bricks or stones supporting it on either side directly in front of your camp fire of blazing wood. The food is cooked en- tirely by reflection. The heat from the fire is reflected from the bright tin sides to the food. In a short time the heat inside the funnel is sufficient to cook a steak or fry a fish. Nothing will burn, for the heat is not direct, and there will be no cinders or ashes in the food.

The heat can be regulated by the distance from the fire, but the oven should not be placed close enough for the smoke and cinders to enter the funnel. The articles of food can be placed in the oven, and the open fire built. All that is required then is an occasional replenishing of the fuel. The Dutch used this oven in the house by placing it in front of the open grate fire. It can be used to good purpose in this way in the winter.

This camp oven is so cheap and so easily constructed, that it can be discarded when the bright surface of the tin has worn off, and a new one made. An oven of this sort affords a reliable and simple means of cooking outdoors.

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