Our next task was to rig up the runners. For these we used skates, which were so arranged that we could remove them whenever we wanted to. Three blocks of wood were used for the runner shoes. Two of them were cut from a 2 by 4 scantling and measured a foot in length. The third block was only 1 inch thick, but was otherwise of the same dimensions. The skates were laid face downward on the blocks with the clamping levers open; then we marked the places where the clamping jaws touched the wood and drilled holes at these points. The forward end of each block was also tapered off to fit flat against the face of the skate. Then by inserting the jaws in the holes and closing the levers, the skate was clamped to the block, just as it would be to a shoe. The two 2-inch blocks were bolted to the ends of the crosspiece, but the third block needed further attention, as it was to be used for the rudder or steering runner.
[Illustration: Fig. 168. Drilling the Mast Step.]
The rudder post was shaped from a block of hardwood 3 inches square and 10 inches long. Two inches from the lower end saw cuts were made in the side of the block to a depth of 3/4 inch. Then with a chisel the sides were split off, forming a large pin with a square shank 8 inches long. Next the corners of the shank were cut off, rounding it to a diameter of 1-1/2 inches. The runner block was fastened securely to the head of the rudder post with screws. A 1-1/2-inch hole was now drilled into the backbone at the stern end to receive the rudder post. A tiller was next cut out of a 1-inch board to the shape shown in Fig. 167. A slot was cut in the end of the tiller, and the latter fitted snugly over the top of the post, where it was held in place by screws threaded in through the sides.
The mast of our boat was a pole 8 feet long, tapering from a diameter 2 inches at the base to 1-1/2 inches at the top. A step for the mast was cut from a 2 by 4 block 8 inches long. A 2-inch hole was drilled into the face of this block. We had no drill large enough to bore this hole, but accomplished the same result by drilling eight 1/2-inch holes inside of a 2-inch circle (Fig. 168), and then used a chisel to cut off the projecting pieces. The mast step was firmly bolted to the backbone at its thickest part, that is, just four feet from the forward end. The mast was braced with stay ropes stretched from the top to the forward end of the backbone and to the ends of the crosspiece. A 9-foot pole, tapering from 1-1/2 inches to 1 inch in diameter, was used for the boom of the mainsail, and for the gaff we used a 6-foot pole of the same diameter.