Vessels of the racing sort, of 40 tons and under, are now built with keels out of all proportion to the sizes of their other scantling : thus the Lily has a keel sided (by " sided " is meant its transverse thickness) amidships 10in., or as large as the keel of a vessel of 100 tons. This enormously thick keel of course tapers fore and aft, and is only so thick amidships in order that a heavy weight of lead or iron might be carried underneath. A similar weight could only be carried on a smaller wood keel by greatly increasing the draught, and then the strength and thick ness of the keel might be unequal to the weight of the lead and to the boring for the necessary bolts. Sometimes a lead keel, or keelson, is worked inside, fore and aft, between the heels of the timbers and on top of the keel proper, and this plan will be fully described further on ; in the accompanying drawing, Fig. 18, a a are the timbers, the heels of which meet on the middle line of the wood keel b; c is a wrought iron knee, bolted to the sides of the timbers, and meeting the keel at d in the form of a plate, through which a bolt passes to the under-side of the wood keel at ts. Across the heels of the timbers the transverse wrought-iron plate f is bolted, the same through-bolts serving for knee and plate ; the knees are alternately placed the fore side and aft side of the timbers. Fig. 19 shows a broadside view of the construction, a being the double timbers, b the wood keel, c the iron knees, d the plate for the keel fastenings e; f the iron transverse plate, g the lead or iron keel, and h the bolts for the same. In Fig. 18 g g are very deep gar boards, fastened, as shown, with long yellow metal or copper spikes ; but one bolt might be made to go through garboard and keel.
This mode of construction has recently received a fourteen years' class at Lloyd's for a 25-ton cruising craft, and no doubt it is well adapted for small vessels, for which grown floors cannot be obtained, nor suitable iron floors cast. The iron knees and plates should have two coats of Stockholm tar or black varnish before fixing, and another coat or two before the lead ballast is stowed (the ballast will, of course, be cent to fit between the timbers). The ballast should be removed every season, and the iron knees and plates re-tarred or varnished ; and if attention be paid to them in this respect, they will not much suffer from the deleterious action of the lead.
Perhaps the most approved way of constructing the floor and keel of a yacht, where grown floors are dispensed with, is according to a plan adopted by Mr. Ratsey. We are unaware who has the honour of introducing the plan, but so long ago as 1858 it was used. Fig. 20 is an illustration of this plan, as pursued in the Formosa cutter, built by Mr. Ratsey. It will be seen that the heels of the timbers a a abut on to an inside keel c, which is generally termed a hogging piece ; whilst the actual heels of the timbers are joggled into the main keel d. The
heels of the timbers are bolted through keel and hogging piece. The frames or timbers are further secured to the hogging piece and keel by the iron knee floors n n, and the throat of the knee floor carries a long bolt through hogging piece, keel, and lead keel e. The garboard strakes, b, are bolted through the main keel, and altogether the structure is made as solid and immovable as if it were one whole piece. In building according to this plan great care is necessary in fitting the heels of the timbers into the joggles in the keel and hogging piece, and equal care is necessary in placing the bolts. Sometimes the heels of the timbers are not joggled to the side of the keel or hogging piece at all, but simply spiked or through bolted to one or the other, or both. Occasionally the siding of the hogging piece is a little less than that of the main keel, and in such case the heels of the timbers are made to rest on the edges of the top of the keel, which form the stepping line carried fore and aft into the dead wood. Yet another plan of constructing the floors of the vessel is sometimes met with : no hogging piece is used, but the heels of the timbers are so cut or joggled that half rests on the top of the keel and half on the side ; the heels are spiked through the keel and secured by iron knee floors, which may be either fitted to the sides of the timbers, as shown in Figs. 18 and 19, or to their inner surfaces, as shown in Fig. 20. (This plan will be illustrated further on in describing Lake Windermere yachts.) Mr. Dan Hatcher, of Northam, on the Itchen, has for many years used a plan for fixing floors which can be recommended for small yachts. In Fig. 21 b is the keel, about 8 inches sided amidships for a 10 Conner. A stepping channel, about 4 inches deep, is cut out along its entire length for the heels of the timbers 8 8 to rest on, and a bolt f passes through the heel of each timber and the keel. Besides this an L angle iron knee, a, holds the timbers together. The through bolt d e passes through the knee floor, keel and lead keel. Occasionally a through bolt is driven through garboard and keel, and through garboard and every frame.
Messrs. Waterman, yacht builders, of Devonport, have recently adopted another plan of securing the floors by angle iron, as illustrated by the annexed sketches, Figs. 22 and 23.
Each floor is formed of two angle irons, one flange looking forward, the other aft, worked over on oak frame (See Fig. 22).
The angle irons and oak frames are bolted together with iron tie bolts, and the oak frame is fastened to plank with copper bolts passing through the middle at p (see Fig. 23), and clenched on washers inside ; and besides these fastenings, metal dump nails are driven through each plank near its edges. By this plan iron does not come in contact with copper.