CHAPTER

FIFTEEN

At the time of writing, I have yet to build this craft. I include it here becausePhil Bolger tells me that several have already been built to his plans and have proved themselves both as suitable projects for the home builder and as satisfyingly able sailors. "No bugs, no snags,no vices," he says. I have built three of the 31-foot Folding Schooners featured in Instant BoatS, and on studying these plans, I can seethat this smaller nonfoldingschooner will offer no problems to the backyard builder. So, with Phil's certification and blessing, I welcomed her as a worthy addition to the fleet of Instant Boats.His own name for her is simply "Scooner," without the usual "h." Here's more of what he has to say about her.
Bob Wainwright commissioned this design, and it incorporates a number of his ideas.l proposeda simpler version, with jibheaded sails and no deck-but he insisted, and I've since concluded he was right. He wanted speed,enough speedto spice up the quaintness of the rig. SoI piled on sail, 266 square feet counting the main staysail. The traditional schooner rig is about the best for carrying lots of area without going high. Reaching in a fresh breezeand not too much sea,with four or five people on the rail to hold her up, she can pass almost anything short of a C-cat.l flinch at the phrase 'planing hull,' becauseI think it's misused and overused.Almost

anything will plane if there's power enough, but it's true that this little schooner will skitter like bobsled. In stronger winds, or with a light crew, she shorten down, like my other foresail and reefed mainsail, still of thrust vectors than I or anybody has!
effort," ~ ---

nominal center of lateral plane. side thrust on the rudder, which, to windward. The two cockpits are long enough to sleep

--- - --- ~--

there won't be spilled outboard mix underfoot.

-

apertureof the motor well. Probably

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well-established designer's gambit and works.

I haveextractedthesecomments, with from Bolger's recentbook, by International Marine PublishingCompany.

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130

NEW BOATSTO JOIN THE ORIGINAL FLEET

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to form a 2V2-inch square at the heel, or lower end, where they are stepped.Above this, both are rounded to a 3V2-inchdiameter up to a point 4 feet below the truck, where they begin to taper to the 2-inch diameter of the truck itself. I would draw and cut the taper, and then repeat on eachfreshly cut face.Now you have a tapered mast, still square in cross section. The next step is to eight-side it, removing wood from the corners so that it becomes octagonal in cross section. Follow up by sixteen-siding it, which brings it close enough to round that you can finish it off with a small plane and some sandpaper. In this eight-siding process,do not make the mistake of taking the sameamount of wood off the corners the whole length of the mast right through the taper. If you do, you will end up with a slightly blunted over-sized pencil that is too small at the truck. I've done this job mostly by the eyeball method, but the end result of this by-guess-and-by-Godapproach has never really satisfied me. There is a device that greatly simplifies the process, which I just recently cameacrosswhile looking through Small Boat Building by Dave Gannaway, published by Nautical Publishing Company, an English firm, in 1976. He casually mentions what he calls the spar gauge.

The accompanying drawing shows how you can make a spar gaugein a size suitable for the small spars we're concerned with. It has two setsof sharply pointed nails-a long outer pair and a shorter inner pair-and two angled,inward-facing cuts, one at each end. Push it along a square spar, and the long nails automatically scribe the lines for eight-siding. Repeat the process after you've eight-sided your spar, and the two shorter nails will scribe it for sixteen-siding. I've never seennor heard of this spar gaugefrom any other source.Its great advantageis that it is self-adjusting to any square stick that's not too large, which means that you can ride it right through the taper, drawing the cut lines as you go. The Light Schooner's fore and main gaffs are made of 1Vl-inch square spruce cut from slices of 2 x 4s; her booms are cut from *-inch-by-3Vl-inch spruce or fir boards,and their sidesare stiffened by a piece of *-inch square stock; the club for her jib is the same. A number of books devote some spaceto making the various types of spars-square, rectangular, and round, hollow and solid, with all the in-betweens, but I don't know of anyone book exclusively devoted to the subject. I do know that whenever a master practitioner of the art, like the late Herbert Newbert of the Newbert and Wallace shipyard in Thomaston, was kind enough to discuss the fine points with me, I soon got lost in the explaining and dared not press my luck for further elaboration. Even though you may not know a peak halyard from a topping lift, rigging this craft won't be difficult if you follow the plans. The numbers in the boxed section in the upper right-hand part of the spar plan sheet relate to the numbers on the sail plan drawing. By the time you've built and rigged her, you will know what all the parts are and what they are for.