Page:The American Boy's Handy Book edition 1.djvu/131

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98
Summer.

the crew that is expected to man it, must be taken into consideration when deciding upon the dimensions of the proposed craft.

All the tools that are necessary for the construction of a good stout raft are an axe, an auger, and a hatchet, with some strong boys to wield them.

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Fig. 69.Plan of Crusoe Raft.

The building material can be gathered upon any wooded bank of lake or stream.

For a moderate sized raft collect six or seven logs, the longest not being over sixteen feet in length, nor more than a foot in diameter; the logs must be tolerably straight. Pick out the longest and biggest for the centre; sharpen one end; roll the log into the water and there secure it.

Select two logs as nearly alike as possible, to lie one at each side of the centre log. Measure the centre log, and make the point of each side log, not at its own centre, but at that side of it which will lie against the middle log, so that this side-point shall terminate where the pointing of the middle log begins. (See Fig. 69.)

After all the logs needed have been trimmed and sharpened in the manner just described, roll them into the water and arrange them in order (Fig. 69). Fasten them together with

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