Canoes and Canoeing (1894) Part 3
by C. Bowyer Vaux
Courtesy: Dragonfly Canoe Works
The Centreboard This is a brass plate working in a trunk, hoisted and lowered by a rod or line. The nearer it is placed to the centre of the canoe the better from a purely sailing point of view. It can be so placed without inconveniencing the canoeman, if he gives up all idea of sleeping in his boat. This was thought to be a necessary qualification of any canoe formerly, and very pretty and convenient tents were made to put up at night over the cockpit as a shelter, the canoe, of course, being drawn up on the shore.  There are two makes of folding boards, fan-shaped, in limited use to-day, which, when hoisted, occupy a small, watertight box in the keel of the canoe and leave the cockpit clear for sleeping room. They are somewhat prone to get out of order and check the speed considerably when lowered, and are, consequently, not popular. If a small and compact shore tent is carried in the hold of the canoe, all camping requirements are provided without in any way lessening the speed and handiness of the canoe.
The centreboard is dropped when sailing on all points of the wind, except just before it, and may he left down then as ballast without any appreciable loss of speed. It is hauled up when paddling, cruising in shallow water, and when the canoe is housed or drawn up on shore. It can even be lifted out of the trunk and clear of the canoe to lessen the weight to be carried if so desired.
The Rudder The drop rudder is now almost universally used. It is brass, and the plate that is in the water can be raised when it is down by means of a line leading to the cockpit; when up drops of its own weight, if the line is released. The drop rudder, when down, reaches far below the keel, and rarely if ever jumps out of the water when the stern goes up in the air as the canoe rides over a high wave. It is thus always partly in the water at least, and will steer the canoe at any time. It is raised up just as the centreboard is when the canoe is run into shallow water or on shore. Lines run from the rudder crosshead to a tiller within easy reach of the canoeman's hand. This tiller is a movable stick pivoted on the deck, which can be reached from either side of the canoe on which the skipper happens to he sitting. If a sliding deck seat is used on which the sailor sits well out over the side or the canoe, the tiller is made to slide also, so as always to be within reach. The sliding seat is a racing device, as is also the athwart ship tiller, but both have been found so comfortable for cruising purposes that they are now generally used on all sailing canoes, but not, of course, made to the extreme racing sizes. The cut of a crack racing canoe on the preceding page shows to what lengths the sliding seat has been carried. A smart squall has just struck the sails and the skipper has gone out to the extreme length of his seat to keep the canoe from capsizing, thus getting his entire body out to the windward of the boat. It requires strength and skill to go to such exercises, as the slightest let up in the force of the wind, without a quick shift of position, would upset the canoe to windward. Next issue: Sails |
