alfway up in this
bulkhead gave easy access to the foredeck. In the 1880's that part of
the bulkhead above the step was made of vertical staving that curved
athwartships, but this feature was later eliminated. In the upper
portion of the bulkhead there was often a small rectangular opening for
ventilation.

The decking of the sharpie was made of white pine planks 1-1/4 inches
thick and 7 to 10 inches wide. The stem was a triangular-sectioned piece
of oak measuring 6 by 9 inches before it was finished. The side plank
ran past the forward edge of the stem and was mitered to form a sharp
cutwater. The miter was covered by a brass bar stemband to which was
brazed two side plates 3/32 or 1/4 inch thick. This stemband, which was
tacked to the side plank, usually measured 1/2 or 5/8 inch by 3/4 inch
and it turned under the stem, running under the bottom for a foot or
two. The band also passed over a stemhead and ran to the deck, having
been shaped over the head of the stem by heating and molding over a
pattern.

The sharpie's stern was composed of two horizontal oak frames, one at
chine and one at sheer; each was about 1-1/2 inches thick. The outer
faces of these frames were beveled. The planking around the stern on
these frames was vertical staving that had been tapered, hollowed, and
shaped to fit the flare of the stern. This vertical staving was usually
1-3/4 inches thick before it was finished. The raw edges of the deck
plank were covered by a false wale 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick and 3 or 4
inches deep, and by an oak guard strip that was half-oval in section and
tapered toward the ends. Vertical staving was used to carry the wale
around the stern. The guard around the stern was usually of stemmed oak.

The cockpit ran from the bulkhead at the centerboard case to within 4 or
5 feet of the stern, where there was a light joiner bulkhead. A low
coaming was fitted around the cockpit and a finger rail ran along the
sides of the deck. The boat had a small square hatch in the foredeck and
two mast holes, one at the stem and one at the forward bulkhead. A tie
rod, 3/8 inch in diameter, passed through the hull athwartships, just
forward of the forward bulkhead; the ends of the tie rod were "up-set"
or headed over clench rings on the outside of the wale. The hull was
usually painted white or gray, and the interior color usually buff or
gray.

[Illustration: FIGURE 5.--Chesapeake Bay sharpie with daggerboard, about
1885. (Photo court