With the above amount of ballast the
draft is a little less than 26 inches. In cruising the
crew and stores would bring her to her load line. The
center of effort of reefed mainsail and whole staysail
is shown at CE2, and of the two headsails at CE3. Many
will object to the double rig, but in practice it is
found to work excellently, being very easily handled.
The three small sails are easily set by a boy and the
headsail sheets, leading to the rail as shown, may be
reached from the tiller. In tacking they are readily
got down with one hand without leaving the stick.
The jib is set flying, the outhaul being an endless
line, with a snap hook spliced in. The hook is snapped
to the jib tack, the sail partly hoisted and hauled
out. When not in use it is stowed in a bag instead of
being furled on the bowsprit. No jibstay being needed
the bowsprit is fitted with a tackle on the bobstay
and is easily housed entirely, which is sometimes a
great convenience in running into odd places as such
small boats constantly do. The convenience of the
device on the boat in question was practically shown
this summer, where, starting from beside a float in a
very strong tideway, a lull in the light breeze
stopped all steerageway, and before an oar could be
got out, threw the boat between two piles. She held
for a moment, jammed by the tide, but before she had
slipped so far astern as to strike the bowsprit, in
which case it must inevitably have carried away, the
jib tack and bobstay fall were cast off, bowsprit run
in, the boat swung clear, the stick went out, and fall
and tack were made fast, a pull on the jib halyards,
and all was right again.
The fittings are very simple, a gammon iron bolted
to port side of stemhead, a sampson post of 2 x 6 inch
oak plank with a 3-1/4 inch hole bored through for the
heel of the round bowsprit, a fid of 1/2 inch round
iron, and two small iron blocks for the bobstay
tackle, one hooking into a wire rope bobstay.
In some cases a tabernacle and lowering mast are
desirable, and with a forestay both are easily fitted.
The tabernacle is made of two pieces, B-B, of
oak 1-1/4 x 4in stepped in the keel D and
coming to the coaming I-I.
The mast is stepped in the block C under the
floor K, and is held by the forestay and two
shrouds, all fitted with turnbuckles.
A bar F of 1-1/4 x 1/4 inch iron is bolted
to the tabernacle's sides, one bolt G being
fitted with a thumb [wing] nut, while the bar
is slotted on the starboard side to slip over the neck
of the bolt, turning on the port bolt.
When G is loosened the bar may be turned
over out of the way, and the mast lowered.
To avoid cutting away the floor for a distance aft
of the mast, a block of oak E is bolted to the
heel of the latter, on the after side. When the mast
is lowered the block turns on the edge L
lifting the mast out of the step as it falls aft.
In lowering, the halyards are stopped to the mast
out of the way, the jib halyard is carried forward and
hooked to stem head, the bar F is swung back and the
mast is lowered by the jib halyard. The shrouds and
also the parrel on the gaff must both be slackened.
One man can readily lower and hoist the mast for
bridges, etc.
The leads of the various lines are as follows:
jib on cleat a,
throat halyards to cleat d on starboard
side, peak to cleat b on same side so that
both can be reached at the same time;
staysail halyards on cleat c,
topping lift on cleat e on mast,
staysail downhaul knotted in hole in coaming at
f.
The mainsail is thus set from the starboard and the
head sails from the port side of boom, and the
downhaul is handy to the staysail halyard. All are
easily reached by leaving the tiller for only a
moment, and one man can manage all lines.
The boat has air tanks in each end, a large cuddy
forward, and seats in the cockpit. For cruising the
seats would fold out, making a bed for two or even
three (4 x 7ft.), while a tent would be pitched over
the boom.
The yawl rig would answer well for such a boat, but
the present one has proved very satisfactory for
singlehanded sailing and cruising. Apropos of these
boats it may be mentioned that Mr. MacWhirter,
formerly of Erith, who built both of Mr. Speed's
boats, is now settled at West Brighton, Staten Island,
where he is engaged in yacht building.
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