Stich and glue saltwater dory

[Paul H]

Maybe I'm looking for too much in one boat, but are there any 15-17' dory's that could take 2 adults, 3 small children, and be stable in relatively calm saltwater conditions? I'd be looking at rowing or a small sail as primary propulsion, and a small 2-5 hp when the arms and wind fail.

While I love traditonal lap srake construction, I simply don't have the time for such construction, and have done enough glass work to be comfortable with stich and glue.

TIA

[ErikH]

Sounds like my childhood smile.gif so yes, there are. I"ll try to find a name over the weekend.

[Keith Wilson]

Phil Bolger has a larger version of his lovely Gloucester Gull designed for taped-seam construction. Here's a picture,
http://www.common-sense-boats.com/boats/BoatsIMAGES/dory.jpg
and a link to Common Sense Boats (http://www.common-sense-boats.com/boats/Multi_Purpose_Boats/dory.htm), who sell the plans. I'm sure you could get them from the man himself, as well. I've never seen one of the big ones, but if it's half as nice as the Gull, it's a very nice boat indeed.

[Nicholas Carey]

Originally posted by Keith Wilson:
Phil Bolger has a larger version of his lovely Gloucester Gull designed for taped-seam construction.But, as the Commonsense Designs people themselves note:
Because of their good looks, dories get into trouble as many try to adapt them to uses they are not suited. In the bottom of one of the plans sheets is Bolger's usual admonishment on dories: </font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />It's possible to rig this boat to sail, and to mount an outboard motor. She will be a poor performer under sail, worse under power, and will be more or less degraded for rowing in each case. Designer won't cooperate in the process.This is that rare exercise in COMMON SENSE, a boat designed to do only one thing, and it does it better than anything else.</font>[/QUOTE]Probably not the boat PaulH is looking for.

[Paul H]

Thanks for the feedback. I'd be looking for a boat to primarily be rowed. I think the sail would be more trouble then it's worth, but think the small outboard would be useful.

My main concern is seaworthiness.

[siberianswampdonkey]

Looks like a nice boat but but ah so many boats so little time.

[ 06-06-2003, 09:42 PM: Message edited by: siberianswampdonkey ]

[ishmael]

Um, I think your imagining a little small for two adults and three children. Not that the dorys mentioned wouldn't carry you, if eveyone sat really still. What are you thinking of using the boat for?

How 'bout Atkin's Pemaquid dory? I can't find a picture on line, but it was featured in one of the Atkin articles in WB from the last half year.

Not much of a rower, Banks, twenty one foot, with a small inboard and a lug sail. Rowing possible. A really neat little boat, that has never been built, as near as I know. Could be easily adapted to googe and ply, though it's drawn for traditional construction.

Edit: You mention stable in your original post. Sorry, but no traditional dory in the 15-17 foot range is going to be 'stable', if you are talking about kids jumping 'round. Dorys are very capable, but initial stability is not one of their virtues. This lack contributes hugely to their ultimate ability to ride seas, BTW. They move in the water as no other simple boat. "If you get into trouble in a dory, lay down in the bottom and let the boat take care of itself", an old aphorism, is true. The shape, for a variety of reasons, is difficult to overwhelm. A testament to a shape moving in the water. 'Course, all bets are off if there's no sea room.

A slightly larger ballasted dory, ala 'Pemaquid', will do better re stability, but if everyone goes to one rail to see something interesting it too will be tender.

Are you sure you want a dory?

[ 06-07-2003, 01:12 AM: Message edited by: ishmael ]

[Dave Wright]

Since it's all a compromise anyway, and it's your first boat, why not go for something a little smaller and real quick and easy to build? Everything looks too big in the workshop the first time, even if it sometimes seem too small on the water.

How about the 14' - 6 ' Silver Gull dory? See:

http://www.macnaughtongroup.com/silver14.htm

MacNaughton claims 16 hours to build it, and room for two adults, one child, and lot's of gear. You didn't say how big the children were. It might work for you. I seem to remember a website of a homebuilder doing one of these if you have further interest.
Best wishes on your project.

Dave Wright

[Paul H]

Thanks for the comments. The common sense design boat looks a bit narrow for it's length from what I've seen, at least compared to other dory's. As far as everyone leaning to one side and rocking the boat, I don't think that will be a problem as all of us are used to canoeing, I'd think a dory would feel alot more stable.

Basically what we are looking for is a row boat that is seaworthy, and we could take out fishing for rockfish, and perhaps the odd halibut that strays close to shore.

I think the Silver gull if streched a couple of feet would likely work well for us.

[ishmael]

Two adults, plus three GROWING children. I think we need (as Roy Scheider pronounced in 'Jaws') a bigger boat.

Just a thought. smile.gif

[ 06-07-2003, 02:30 AM: Message edited by: ishmael ]

[Steve Paskey]

Okay, I've got a different idea. Stay with me for a minute, because you might think I'm going in the wrong direction.

One of the nicest small boats I've ever seen is the 16-foot swampscott dory in John Gardner's MORE BUILDING CLASSIC SMALL CRAFT. She's wider than most dories but will still row well, and Gardner says she'd carry six men or an equivalent load. I saw one at the Mystic small craft meet a few years ago, with a very happy family of four as crew.

The drawback? Like other swampscott dories, she's round-sided with multiple chines, and is designed for lapstrake construction.

Nice boat, but too much work? Not necessarily. Paul Fisher has a swampscott dory of similar proportions (16' long, 5' beam) that is designed for stitch-and-glue construction.

www.selway-fisher.com/OtherDB.htm#FISH (http://www.selway-fisher.com/OtherDB.htm#FISH)

I've seen the plans for the smaller (12') version -- Paul gives you the dimensions for the planks. Measure, cut, stitch it together, glue, add the seats and gunwales, etc.

You could build it without the sailing rig, and add a small motor well. Paul might be happy to supply details for a well, or you could use the dimensions shown on Gardner's Chamberlain gunning dory.

[ 06-07-2003, 07:42 AM: Message edited by: Steve Paskey ]

[Bob P]

Did you see the article in the latest WB on Lapstitch boat building?

Old Bob

[Paul H]

Steve,

Thanks for the link to the swampscott, it looks like exactly what I'm looking for.

[Gavin Atkin]

'Lapstitch' sounds interesting... I've been considering building a little canoe using a techniqueI've been thinking of that could easily be called 'lapstitch'.

What's the technique here please? Cut out the strakes and then stitch? Build over a set of moulds and ribands but stitch them together rather than use clamps?

I'm sorry to have to ask these rather basic questions but I'm in the UK and don't get to see WB very often.

Thanks, Gavin

[Steve Paskey]

Gav: No molds or ribands. Basically, it involves cutting a shallow rabbet (by router or plane) along the bottom edge of each plank (other than the garboard), with a tapered gain at the stem. The rabbets go on the inside when the boat is assembled. Planks are stitched together with the top edge of one plank fitting into the rabbet on the plank above. Epoxy is then injected into the joint with a syringe. The inside of the seams can be strengthened with glass tape; but no tape on the outside.

As with any multi-chine stitch and glue design (like the fisher swampscott dory above), the process requires computer-generated dimensions for laying out the planks, with the added wrinkle that the dimensions need to take the rabbet into account.

Here's a photo that illustrates the results: the Annapolis Wherry (http://www.clcboats.com/boats/wherry_lph3.php/cart_id=4549733da1b31735c0b15f66b6774319/) from Chesapeake Light Craft.

[ 06-19-2003, 11:48 AM: Message edited by: Steve Paskey ]

[Gavin Atkin]

Thanks Steve. I'm thinking that the gains are important, but why the strake-long rabbet? I'm thinking that if the strakes were stitched the cable ties could be aligned in such a way that everything would be held in place.

If it could be made to work, it would be particularly useful for someone (like me!) who was considering working in 3 or 4mm ply.

Gavin

[Keith Wilson]

"Lapstitch" doesn't use glass tape at the plank seams. The point of the rabbet is to make the joint wider and distribute the stresses on the glue line, and to make the planks easier to position when stitching them together. The rabbet replaces the rolling bevel in conventional or glued-plywood lapstrake construction; epoxy fills the gaps.

Lapstitch (patented, BTW) was developed by Chris Kulczycki of Chesapeake Light Craft as a way to make kit boats using a CNC router. Accurate plank shapes must be generated before the hull is assembled, which pretty much has to be done on a a computer. It's a clever idea, but doesn't seem to me very practical for one-off home building.

[Ken Hall]

Maybe a semi-dory would be more what you're looking for, Paul? A well-designed sem-dory would seem to have much of the seaworthiness combined with more carrying capacity and stability, being broader abaft the beam. I'm taking a good long look at Gardner's 14' semi-dory.

[Stephen Hutchins]

I'm building a 17 foot dory type skiff right now. The stem is stitch-n-glue and the stern is screw and glue the whole boat is covered in six oz. glass, with a chine log and fillets inside. The floor is cross planked western red ceder. recessed deck beams are of pressure treated yellow pine. Funny, that stuff is alot cheaper than untreated pine. -Must be due to the volume of it sold. The deck, bench seats, seat risers, chine, inwales are douglass fir. The entire boat is built from lumber yard stock with no jointer/planer needed. The boat is big, with a water line beam about 4 1/2 feet and max beam about 6 feet 4 inches. It was designed as a fishing skiff and can sail with either a smaller rig or with my original rig design which is a sprit and jib of about 125 sq-ft. If I ever get to the rig I think I,m gonna go big and add beach stones for ballast. For now I'm just gonna try and finish it for use with my friends 5 horse outboard. Cost in materials- about $1500 without the rig or motor. Build time about 90 hours.