Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/943

 open Canoe Cruising

III. — The construction of the lee boards, their location for handling the canoe under sail. Stowing outfit, making a landing and the canoe as a fishing craft

By E. T. Keyser

��IN order to sail to windward, lee boards will be needed. Square up two pieces of ?4-in. mahogany, oak or cherry, each 30 in. long by 12 in. wide. On the lower left edge, make a mark 1^2 in. from the lower left corner. Lay a line from this point to the lower right corner and saw along this line. With a marking gage, run a line 3-^^ in. distant from the right edge at the top. On the right edge.

���The lee boards as they are fitted to the canoe gunwales for sailing to the windward

mark a point 10 J ^ in. from lower right corner and, with this point as a center, describe an arc with a 12-in. radius from the bottom of board to the line which runs parallel with right edge. Cut out this arc with a compass saw and rip along the parallel line from the top of the board to the arc.

From the waste, cut out two pieces each 3^ in. square and screw them to the head of the lee boards as indicated in the cross section view. Through center of this square, bore a hole 1^2 in. diameter through both lee board and reinforcement and round off the tops of lee boards as shown in Fig. 15. Work down the front edge of the lee board as shown in the cross section; apply a couple of coats of linseed oil with a soft cloth, allowing the oil to soak well into wood between coats, and finish with three coats of varnish well rubbed down be- tween each coat. The lee boards are fastened, one to each end of a 1^'2-in. axle, by means of sash pins for which

��holes are bored through both tops of lee boards and axle and are held to the canoe by two straps passing around the ends of the axle and thwart, as shown in illustration. A brass tube long enough to reach from gunwale to gunwale and encasing the axle would allow the lee boards to lower and rise more freely, with tighter buckling of the straps.

A halliard, leading from one of the sash pins to a small cleat fastened to the in- wale, on being pulled in will lower the boards for going to the windward while their buoyancy will cause them to rise when the halliard is cast off from the cleat. Pulling out the sash pins allows the removal of boards from the axle and the whole outfit stows compactly when the canoe is under paddle.

The proper location of the lee boards, the position in which they al- '^ low the canqe | to do the best i windward work, is best found by ex- periment. Should the best location lie between the thwarts, a pair of large brass screw- eyes may be set into inwale to take the holding straps.

The princi- ples of sailing a double rig canoe may be studying Fig. 16

���Fig 15

Details of a lee board for use in canoe cruising

��easily understood by In A is shown the tendency of the wind pressure on the mainsail to make the canoe pivot on her stern and throw her bow away from the wind, increasing the tendency to capsize. In B is shown how the pres- sure of the wind on the dandy tends to cause the canoe to pivot on her bow and

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