A V-Bottom Auxiliary Schooner

For any boat owner there is particular joy in his having a hand in the construction of his own boat. Here is value which cannot be measured in money; furthermore there is a pleasant feeling in knowing that after its launching there will not be twenty-five boats exactly like it swinging on the yacht club's moorings. Folks in dinghies will row by and say, "There is an interesting little ship; just look at the stanchioned rail around the after deck; and those trail boards, the mark of character; how well they fit the clipper bow; and she is schooner rigged! Think of it, a little one and fit to cruise the Grand Banks. These days we see too few two-masted vessels like her. And her name, Little Maid of Kent. How nice."

The sail plan shows a jib with a boom on its foot, and, one will notice, lazy Jacks. The area is 102 square feet, very easy to handle with a double purchase. The jib sheets are self-tending and when the schooner comes about take care of themselves. The foresail has an area of 115 square feet and is gaff-headed. It carries lazy jacks, and a very simple arrangement of halyards. The mainsail spreads 221 square feet of canvas and is jib-headed. It is hoisted by a double purchase, ample power with one man on the halyards and enough to lift the boom jaws from their saddles. It also carries lazy jacks. All three sails have topping lifts, and the fore and main sheets are rove with a view to comfortable hand power and convenient trimming. The total sail area is 438 square feet and if Little Maid of Kent was built for my own use and pleasure all the sails would have cloths running with their leaches. The standing rigging is ample for a hard chance and I would certainly carry the runners as shown.

Below decks, our little vessel provides comfortable accommodations for a party of four. Stepping down the/companion ladder one finds himself in the galley and will be greatly surprised to find 6 feet of headroom beneath the companionway slide and 5 feet 9 inches beneath the cabin top beams.

Now let us look more closely at Little Maid of Kent. Her plans show a clipper-bowed V-bottom schooner having an over all length of 30 feet (this dimension does not include the billet-head), a waterline length of 24 feet, a breadth of 10 feet, and a draft of 5 feet. The freeboard at the bow is 3 feet 11 inches; the least freeboard is 2 feet 4 1/2 inches, and at the stern, 3 feet. She is designed to carry 2,900 pounds of iron on her keel with 1,500 pounds of ballast inside; the latter should be distributed after the schooner is in the water. Like very many successful old-time yachts her rudder post is vertical, a practice that in the past was entirely satisfactory. The bottom of the keel from station 5 to the heel of the rudder post is a straight line, a worthwhile feature in the matter of grounding or hauling out on a railway. It will be noticed that the forward and after sections above the waterline are molded; that the forward sections of the bottom are straight; and that the after sections from the chine to the first buttock are straight, thence curved to fair into the rabbet line.

The motor is installed beneath the cockpit floor and is reached through double hinged doors which separate the galley from the motor compartment. A 6 hp. Baby Huskie Palmer single-cylinder motor rests on beds which are nearly parallel to the waterline; because of the latter the motor will operate very efficiently, and deliver its maximum power. A motor which sits level will not, after it has had a few years of use, drip oil from its after bearing.

PHOTOS OF LITTLE MAID OF KENT