e bottom piece
is narrower than the deck piece, and broadens out so that it is wider at
the stern than the deck piece. The deck piece has a maximum width of 5
inches, while the bottom piece has a width of 4 inches at the forward
section. The deck measures 3-1/2 inches at the stern, while the bottom
piece measures 4-1/2 inches at the stern. This produces a half-inch
taper on each side of the stern. A half-inch taper is also produced on
the bow portion.

[Illustration: FIG. 90]

[Illustration: FIG. 91]

[Illustration: FIG. 89]

The hull of the boat can be made from 1/8-inch mahogany. If this is not
available, choose some other close-grained wood, free from knots and
blemishes. Paper patterns are made to correspond with the general shape
of the pieces that form the hull as given in Fig. 89. The pieces, after
being marked, are cut to shape with a keyhole-saw. After this is done
their edges should be trimmed neatly with a jack-plane.

The two sides pieces are now screwed to the bow piece by small brass
screws. After this is done the bottom piece is fastened to the side
pieces the entire length of the boat. Next the first cross-piece, as
shown in Fig. 90, is screwed in place. This cross-piece should be 4-3/4
inches in length, so that the width of the hull at this point is just 5
inches. The next cross-piece should correspond to the width of the deck
piece at the section of the hull where it is placed. The same holds true
for the third cross-piece. When the third cross-piece has been screwed
in place, the stern piece is put in position.

The joints of the hull should then be smeared with either pitch or
bath-tub enamel or a thick mixture of white lead may be used.

After having made sure that the hull is perfectly water-tight the worker
can proceed to install the power equipment. This consists of a small
battery motor driven with two dry cells. The design and installation of
such things as stern-tubes and propeller-shafts have been taken up in
detail in an earlier part of this book. The strut that holds the
propeller-shaft is shown in Fig. 91. This consists merely of a brass
bushing held in a bracket made of a strip of brass 1/2 inch wide. The
brass strip is wound around the bushing and soldered. It is held to the
bottom of the hull by means of two 8-32 brass machine screws. These
screws should be tightened to prevent leakage. It would be inadvisable
to use wood-screws for this purpose, owing to the fact that the botto