Fisher Swampscott 16'....Need Advice!

[scottychop]

Hello all,

I have finally decided to bite the bullet and start my first boat build. I really like sailing dories, faerings and have been looking at the Selway-Fisher Swampscott 16'. When I do a search on here I get about 300 results for "other" swampscott's but not he Fisher version. Does anyone have any experience with this craft? I am not opposed to building another dory if the resources and support don't exist for this one, so suggestions are appreciated.

If you do in fact have large photos of the SF version I'd love to see them!

Scott

[JimD]

Welcome, Scottychop. Of course the resources and support exist! You have all of us and you have Paul Fisher who is a wonderfully helpful designer. Go for it. And don't be deterred by the little inbred community that dominates this forum and get talked into one of the same old other designs they always talk about if this is the one you're really drawn to.

[Thorne]

No, no, NO! You MUST build one exactly like mine!!

(grin)

Seriously, try asking Paul directly, and also see if you can find any forums or mailing lists for his boats and builders. And perhaps someone here has either built or sailed/rowed one...?

[scottychop]

Thanks Guys,

I just emailed Paul, and within 20 minutes he had sent a few more pictures! Great service.

Scott

[scottychop]

I am also interested in Joe Dobler's Nootka Sound camp cruiser. These two boats epitomize the kind of sailing I wish to take on. If anyone has any info on this boat that's not on the duckworks site, I would love to see it.

Scott

[AnalogKid]

Hi Scott,

I recommend that you join the Selway Fisher Builders and Sailors Yahoo Group.

On there I saw a guy link to his photos of a really nice (outdoor) build of the SF Swampscott. There's all the photos you could want here.

Cheers,
Andy.

[scottychop]

Awesome. Thanks alot! That is exactly what I was looking for.

Scott

[Thorne]

From my experience sailing and rowing a very similar design, the Chamberlain dory skiff, there are a few things about the Fisher design I'm not sure I like:

Not sure the mast on a boat that size really needs to be stayed. It adds a lot of time to setup & takedown, and may make moving around in the boat harder. Stays do allow you to use a lighter stick, which is nice if you plan on racing or sailing hard.

I like being able to have an adult sit forward, just aft of the mast, which balances the boat well if you have two or three adults onboard. This design has a fordeck but I don't think you could sit there while under sail -- forcing all the crew to sit on or aft of the center thwart. This puts too much weight aft in my view.


Here's one of John Kohnen's photos of my dory skiff (basically a Swampscott with the back end removed) under similar light wind conditions with Mik Storer on the forward thwart, myself on the floorboards in front of the sternsheets. You can see she does balance bow up, but not to the same degree as the Fisher dory -


I'm also less than fond of the large lever-type CB -- they stick up when not in use, make getting around the boat harder even when down, and allow water to sploosh up around the board when sailing or under tow. Picture yourself having to straddle that board while sailing in rough water to get to the main or jib -- lots of "ouch!" potential...

But those are just quibbles. If you like the design, go for it!