This 19-foot day sailer is also a fine racing sloop.

"There are darn few popular smallboats," said Editor Leonardi, "with enough room to take Aunt Agatha out sailing." And so we have Triton, designed as a safe wholesome day sailer with a moderate sail plan, suitable either for family use or as a one-design racing class. It is inevitable, of course, that hardy youth will cruise overnight in a boat 19 feet 6 inches long, and for this reason a cuddy has been incorporated in the design for protection from the weather.
Beam and freeboard have been made generous for stability and dryness and her arc bottom will not be hard to drive under sail, although Triton has not been designed as a lightweight racing machine. The hull, properly built, will stand much abuse and the choice of materials is wide, permitting the boat to be built anywhere.

Because of the simple hull form, Triton is one of the easiest to lay down. Inasmuch as the bottom frames between keel and chine are an arc of a circle, the bottom of the transom is not a true arch because of the rake of the transom, but is actually so close to an arch that the scale development on the drawing board using four bottom but­tocks resulted in a series of points through which an arc could be passed without trou­ble. Accordingly, the dimensions for the bottom of the transom shown on the plans may not be exactly correct and should be used with caution. To be sure of bottom, develop it with buttocks drawn from the full size after sections, including station A.

One of the principal objects of full-sized lines, besides obtaining the shape and bevels of stem, stem rabbet, etc., is to have a drawing of the sections from which to make the frames located on the numbered stations. Deduct the thickness of the planking from the sections before making the frames. The hull is best built upside down, and when setting up be sure to consult the construction plan to see whether a frame is set to the forward or after side of its station. When correctly located there will be ample material on the frame edges to bevel off for the planking.

Carefully set up and brace the frames, then add the stem, transom and knee, keel, chines and clamps. Deck beams the full width of the boat may be attached to the frames at the time they are made or left out until the hull is turned over. The in­termediate frames, which stiffen the plank­ing and eliminate prefabricating a greater number of frames, may be either installed after the planking is on or added to the pri­mary frame with temporary fastenings, and 80 held in place by planking fastenings alone. No connections are necessary between in­termediate frames and the chines.

The materials shown on the plans are but a guide, and local boat building materials of equal value may be substituted. Frames and chines may be of white oak or mahog­any, or spruce may be used where mini­mum hull weight is desired. Keel, stem and centerboard beds are best of material not lighter than mahogany and may be of white oak. Deck beams may be spruce, fir, Ore­gon pine, Port Orford cedax or similar wood, while half-inch white pine or cedar may be substituted for plywood decking and would be best if strip built with edge fastenings between the beams, and canvas covered.

White cedar, Port Orford cedar or ma­hogany are all satisfactory woods for planking. In some parts of the country cypress planking is favored, but it will soak up a large quantity of water that will be carried around as unnecessary weight.

If the plank edges are tightly fitted the seams may be caulked with cotton wick-ing rolled in with a caulking wheel. Other­wise caulk in the conventional manner. The edges may also be shiplapped, with the laps fastened together with screws from the in­side. Or the planking may be double, if you want a really fancy job; an inner skin of quarter-inch white cedar is suggested.

Fastenings are an important part of any boat regardless of size, and are best of bronze throughout. Most parts of Triton will be screw fastened except where bolts are a must, such as in joining parts of the stem to each other, stem to keel, etc. At other places it would seem that there is a choice of fastening, such as in joining a side frame to a bottom frame and fas­tening the floors to the keel, but bolts are preferable where through fastenings in main structural members are possible.

The sloop rig in Triton is simple, yet modern enough that tuning-up lessons will prove of value when the skipper graduates to a larger boat. Make the spars of clear Sitka spruce if possible, or clear Douglas fir as a second choice. Rig­ging tangs may be purchased from hard­ware manufacturers or made from the detail plans. They are not complicated, being almost 100 per cent of one width and thickness strip bronze. Making the tangs consists mostly of drilling holes in the right places, a little sawing, bending and filing.

The standing rigging should be either stainless steel or marine galvanized im­proved plow steel.

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