BOATBUILDING IN AUSTRALIA.
It was the opinion of Hanlan that in the matter of boats and sculls he had never been so well served as by Donnelly and Sullivan of Sydney, a judgment as regards sculls endorsed by Beach and Searle. Chris. Nielsen, the sculler, has brought out a boat which he claims to be faster than the ordinary wager boat, with, against, or without tide, in rough water or smooth. The dimensions for an HI stone man are—length, 23 ft. ; beam, 16 ins. ; depth, 7 ins. ; for'ard, 6 ins. ; aft, 31- ins. ; full lines throughout ; height of seat from heel plates, 7 ins. ; height of work from seat, 51 ins. ; needs no fin, steers well, very light off hand ; weight without fittings, 14 lbs. Riggers are bicycle tubing fittings, ordinary Davis gate ; Colonial cedar, pine, and hickory timbers. The Australian-built boats are probably, so far as lines, general design, and work manship, quite equal to the best English craft.
For pairs, fours, and eights the Melbourne builders, Fuller, Edwards, and Greenland, are of the first class. They use a skeleton frame for the slides, built with angle pieces. This has all the rigidity of Clasper's more solid style, is lighter and stronger, and when the boat is being emptied allows the free escape of water. A Colonial eight is certainly lighter than those sent to Australia by Clasper or Rough. Probably the English builders have over estimated the weight of Australian eight-oar crews, which do not scale anything approaching a 'Varsity eight. Seating down the middle is generally pre ferred, which the present writer thinks has every thing in its favour. The great drawback from which local builders suffer is the want of seasoned cedar. From this cause their boats do not last as long as English ones.