By H. I. Chapelle Here's a small, shallow-drafi sailing craft which combines sea-worthi- ness with economy and, with power, will make moderate speeds. worthy, small sailing boat of very shal~ low draft. The “Southwind” was designed to fill this need at relatively low cost and with little labor. The old round-sided sail- ing dories of New England, and the Sea~ bright Skiffs of New Jersey prove that the flat-bottom may be combined with rounded topsides to make a seaworthy small boat. However, these are usually rather nar- row on the bottom and thus can carry only small area of sail, so to make “Southwind” faster in summer weather her bottom was made wider and approaches the sharpie in proportion. She ean be built with or with- 3out a cuddy, as indicated in the plans. In so small a boat a cuddy must be very cramped and provides overnight accom- modations of pup-tent standards. The double-ender form of hull is not farticularly suited to the use of an out board engine. Yet power can be used if desired by fitting some kind of a metal side-bracket on which a small outboard engine can be hung. The disadvantage of this is that the motor must be unshipped when sailing in a fresh breeze and so the engine ought to be quite light. This in turn limits the power available to less than Lig hp. which would. produce a maximum speed in a calm of about 4% mph. per- haps. To enable more power to be utilized Thave given details for an outboard engine well between frames 16 and 18. This plan, if employed, will allow a heavier and more powerful engine to be used. It is suggested that the bottom of the well be closed by a non-watertight door when under sail to re~ duce the drag of the well. Fig. 1 shows the lines of “Southwind,” with the offsets and a typical section show- ing general construction. In shaping this hull, a very old idea has been utilized to reduce the work in lofting. In ancient times it was usual to shape all of the frames with bul three molds which could be fitted to- gether to form each of the frames; this method was called “whole molding.” In “Southwind” the same principle has been applied so that all the frames and the stem and stern knees are formed by one curve mold, This mold is shown in the lines drawing with its offsets, and is called the “Master Curve Mold” there. The lines and the typical construction section should be carefully studied before the boat is laid down in the loft. First, it will be noted that the boat is built dory- fashion, without a keel. The bottom, then, will be shaped and put together to form the “keel” and then the rest of the hull will be built upon it. The lines show every other frame and so the half-breadth plan will have to be faired in, though the di- agonals shown will not be required in loft- ing. The first step, then, is to draw the profile and half-breadth plans full-size in building paper or plywood, from the off- sets given, and then to draw the perpen- diculars that will represent the frames not given in the offsets, You will have a frame at every foot mark between the perpen- diculars, Next, make the Master Curve Mold as shown on either plywood, heavy cardboard, pattern lumber or other suit- able material. The body plan is now to be made—lift the heights and half-breadths of each frame from the profile and half- 4 breadth plans just completed. When you have a row of spots on the body-plan water lines, sheer and chine, fit the Master Curve Mold to them and sweep in the curve. It will be noticed that the mold will have to be shifted upward or downward from frame to frame. The spots for the stem and stern liners, in the profile, are likewise taken from the offsets and swept in by use of the Master Curve Mold. Probably the offsets will not be accurate enough for the curve to hit every spot but the mold curve should pass through all but one or two, at least. When the thicknesses of the plank- ing of sides and bottom are laid off, the mold will also be used to sweep in the sides represented by the outboard or mold- ing edge of the frames. It can also be used to lay off the inside edge of each frame and so it will not be necessary to lay off all of these frame curves with a batten. ‘The bottom must be laid off and ex- panded for length; the molded lengths of the floor frames ascertained, and the shape of the brackets holding bottom and side frames together obtained. All this wil] re- quire accurate lofting to obtain the neces- bevels. Check the Construction Plan, Fig. 2, for the necessary information for lofting the structural parts of the hull. and the Specifications and Building Instruc- tions for sizes. It should be observed that a short “Chine Log” or batten is shown; this is only desirable if the lowest strake, the “chine strake,” will have to be butted amidships. This will be necessary if wide plank is not available for the sides. If you cannot get the plank in sufficient length, ina width up to 14 in., it will be well to use the chine log or batten as shown and to butt the two lengths of each chine strake on this batten, In most localities wide plank of such length as is required for single length chine strakes is not now available or is very expensive. If there is any doubt about the matter, the chine battens should be utilized as in any case they will strengthen the hull at a place where it will receive much punishment in service. It should be mentioned that the offsets show the height of cither cuddy sides, or coaming if cuddy is not employed, in a double line of ofiscts in the offset tables. In the half-breadth offsets there is a Z. mark between stations 10 and 12—this means the sweep is not continuous as there will be a breaks or offset in the coaming and trunk line; this is noted in the half- breadth plan by offsets there. The top of the coaming, when the cuddy is not em- ployed, is shown by dotted lines on the pro- file and when these are followed the deck box is omitted, The dimensions of the centerbuard and its ease will be found in the details accompanying the construction plan, Fig. 2. The rudder post is perpen- dicular to the base line and, as shown, is 8 in, afore station 20, The dimensions for the rake of the masts will give the locations of the centers of partners and steps, but the actual rake will be established as a re- sult of trials under sail and so the stepping of masis is to be done to allow rake altera~ tion without carpentry. ‘The construction to be followed in “Southwind” is fully shown in Fig. 2. The boat is to be built right-side-up with the bottom sprung, on top of a series of forms. These forms should be laid down in the loft work. They are merely a series of hurdles made of two uprights and a crosspiece and well braced. Their height will be deter- mined so as to properly camber the bottom, fore-and-aft and place the work at a con- venient building height. A form should be located at every even station—those for which offsets are given in the lines and single supports at the bow and stern. The forms should be made of 2-in. x 4-in, com- mon lumber, well braced with cross-mem- bers and struts of 1-in. plank. If possible, there should be some provision for bracing the bottom, when sprung to camber on the forms, from overhead. If this cannot be done the bottom will have to be secured to the forms by nailing it to cleats on the sides of the forms’ crosspieces, clear of the floor timbers and in such case great care is necessary to secure the forms so they cannot lift and leave the base line. When the bottom has been formed and secured by the floor timbers, the whole is set on the forms and sprung to the required fore-and-aft camber. This must be done accurately or there will be much trouble later. Strike the centerline along the bot- tom and then run a centerline chalk-line or a wire above the work, sufficiently high to clear the stem and stern liners when in place. The upper line can be stretched be- tween two uprights set clear of the work, Now the stem and stern liners can be made up. These are made dory-fashion, without a vabbet for the side plank and are formed of knees bolted to the bottom. Once these are in place the centerboard case should be partly made up and fitted. The case can be assembled up to one plank above the logs. The centerboard case logs will have to be cut to fit the camber of the bot- tom and it would be an excellent plan to blue-chalk them to get a very accurate fitting. The blocking for the rudder-post {or catn nog sty goon OFFSETS ere en mains ne sua crn Lp | ee SSUES ectersten levalese asec Besloes Per eansaleS BODY PLAN eforatrra eesti leserees stein |revtesitooa| [at GISTANCE SETWEEN AP AND FP «S 2-0" ALL = pisieselerslereies. so tt Lal ‘ant "o Q°Btce crown is 4° mm got 15