The purpose of this work is to provide a compendious guide to the design, construction, installation and operation of marine motors and to the design and construction of motor boats. It will be found useful and often invaluable, alike by the man who wishes to install a small motor in his rowboat or yacht, and his more ambitious or more fortunate brother who aspires to own a seagoing power craft. It is intended primarily for the man who is not a practical mechanic and yet mechanics may study its pages with profit.

Boat-building has ever been a favorite avocation among the people of maritime nations. In the United States and Canada, blessed as they are with countless navigable lakes and rivers as well as a splendid seaboard, the building and operation of pleasure boats is a national pastime, which has been stimulated by the development of the marine gasoline engine, so that today, while thousands of small craft are turned out annually by the professional boat-builders, amateur boat-building has vastly increased. To those who are building or who wish to build their own craft, the present work offers a valuable guide.

As far as the installation and operation of marine engines are concerned, it is estimated by manufacturers of world-wide renown that fully eighty per cent of their engines are used by people who have little or no "motor knowledge." Few persons have an opportunity to operate a motor before they own one, hence the great majority of boat engines are sold to the inexperienced. In the confident belief that most of these purchasers and users of marine engines would prefer to have at least a working knowledge of motor construction and operation, this book covers the subject thoroughly. It exploits no unproved theories, but embodies only facts and principles of construction which are recognized and accepted by the foremost builders of motor boats and marine engines. It does not profess to describe every good engine on the market, but does describe to the last detail those which are typical of the best and most advanced construction. It appeals, therefore, to all present and prospective owners of motor boats who wish to learn how to operate their craft to the best advantage.

Probably one of the most important chapters is that which treats of the elementary theory and construction of the propeller. This subject is treated as fully as possible in a book of this scope and many useful hints are given regarding the selection of a propeller. The design of a propeller is a highly technical subject, but with the data given, the amateur has at least a guide by which to work.

Hydroplanes and hydroaeroplanes, the latest development in water craft are each given a chapter. The construction of the hulls, and the principle of sustenation by reaction are fully explained in a simple manner and are clearly illustrated.

The modern era in power boating dates from the development for marine purposes of the internal combustion engine, usually employing gasoline as fuel.

For small self-propelled craft the gasoline engine furnishes ideal power. Within the brief span of the last few years its utility, reliability and endurance have been developed to a point nearing perfection as far as pleasure craft are concerned, while its use for passenger transport and other business purposes is steadily increasing, as, for example, in the towing and fishing industries of the United States and Canada. In fact, it has already measurably lessened the burdens of many of those who go down to the sea in ships, besides adding immeasurably to the delights of the amateur boatman and the yachtsman.

Among the advantages accruing from the use of the gasoline engine are the absence of smoke, soot and heat, and the minimizing of the work required in the operation of a power boat. The boat-owner can be his own engineer and therein lies the secret of the gasoline motor's success.

There is no delay in starting a boat with a gasoline motor no tiresome waiting to get up steam; no waste of fuel when the engine is standing idle; no need to don overalls for protection against grime and grease; no stoking or coaling; no absolute dependence on electric charging stations. The main essential is a continuous gasoline supply and that can be replenished almost anywhere at comparatively insignificant cost. Just as the gasoline engine has revolutionized land transport, through its universal use in the automobile, so it is having a great effect on marine transport, especially as regards the thousands who take their pleasure afloat. Even the veteran yachtsman, wedded to his ideas of sporting ethics, has been converted to the use of the motor for auxiliary power and thereby has added immensely to his comfort and to his enjoyment of his white-winged craft.

While the landsman has had a hard battle to fight, against many forms of prejudice and persecution, while awaiting public recognition of the "arrival" of the motor car, the yachtsman and motor-boatman have had no such struggle at all. The sea and all navigable waters spell freedom, and those who use them are free to adopt any form of propulsion they please. It has been well said that police officers do not lurk afloat in unsuspected places, ready to time (with watches innocent of second hands) any motor-boat passing from buoy to buoy, so that they may swear to impossible records of speed being made, and thus enable heavy fines to be imposed.

The practical utility of the gasoline motor having been recognized for several years, it has gradually dawned upon the public that its reliability and endurance have been increasing apace. At the same time the motor has come within the reach of those of moderate means, so that today not only can the sailing yachtsman with a heavy purse equip his craft with an efficient auxiliary motor, but almost any man can have a self-propelled boat, always ready at a minute's notice to take him about on the water, far cheaper to buy or to build than the smallest steam launch, and far cheaper to operate because he, though not an engineer or mechanic, can operate it himself.


Amateur Boat-Building

Amateur builders of motor-boats are abroad in the land in ever increasing numbers. The old idea was that there are many technical difficulties in the way of those who do not care, or have not the time, to make a thorough study of the subject. Such an idea is a mistake, for boat-building is well worth the amateur's attention, and is really a simple craft. Modern methods have also made it particularly easy for the amateur to construct all or part of his boat.

To be able to build a boat well and to his own ideas and plans requires that the amateur should be both a designer and a builder, which in their turn require that he should be an efficient draftsman and carpenter. No one can hope to succeed in building a boat to his own plan unless he is fully able to design and lay down the lines and body plan of the proposed craft, and added to this in many kinds of boats, such as a sailing boat or power launch, it is necessary that he should be able to calculate the displacement and the position of the center of buoyancy. With this knowledge at his command, an unlimited field is opened to the amateur boat-builder, as he will be able to build after his own ideas.

Plans and patterns can, however, now be purchased for so many different models that the amateur who does not care to attempt designing a boat has the choice of many tried and approved designs ready to his hand when he starts to build his own craft.


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