any chamberlain dory-skiff fans?

[jtb]

I'm thinking of starting a new build and realized I have the plans for the cds. Anyone built one lately? Looks like a good build, maybe glued lap since help on riveting help would be scarce.How is it sailing? Thanks ,John.

[Jamie Orr]

I'm part way through building a chamberlain dory skiff, but I've been stalled for a while due to non-boatbuilding issues. These are now resolved and I'll be getting back to the boat (it's terrible when reality gets in the way!) I'm building with solid wood and rivets, I've got the garboards fastened but not the next plank so I haven't done much riveting on the planking yet. I backed up the glue on the sawn frames with rivets but that was a bench job. It's a handsome design and I'm looking forward to doing some serious rowing in her.

I'm working from the page in the dory book - when you say you have plans is that what you mean?

Jamie

[James McMullen]

I built one out of Gardner. A nice little rowboat. Only a moderately decent sailboat. It's definitely on the oar side of sail and oar compared to what I drive these days. What are your requirements and expectations? That boat might or might not be ideal for you depending on what you plan to use her for.

[David G]

Jamie,

Did you know that Andyrew is considering building one S.O.F. down at Toledo? Thoughts?

[James McMullen]

It can be hard to keep the sheer in a SOF version. The sheerstrake in a CDF doesn't have enough flare to lock it in with a simple gunwale. Andyrew may well want to laminate the gunwales and maybe even the chinelog analogue stringers to lock in that shape so it won't flatten out too much, because I doubt he will be able to get enough pre-bend into it to overcome the inevitable hogging forces that will tend to flatten her out.

Sawn frames or steamed?

[robert666]

I built one Glued Lap Plywood three years ago, 3/8'' for all strakes, bottom doubled to 3/4''. Scraps of 2x2 and 2x4 for stem and frames, transom 3/8'' ply with 1/2" pine inner surface. It is rough as hell but I was 16 at the time and it only cost £250. I used it a lot all year round, beaching on rocks most days to gather shelfish, handlining, creel fishing. It was a good boat, not to heavy to drag up the beach with a fence post for a roller. it handled large waves very well and would often surf a wave for a few hundred yards which made rowing home when the wind blew up easy. Not the most stable boat and not really up to creel fishing, but I laid and recovered small boat moorings with her and she never put a gunwale under despite the pull. Build her strong and she'll last a long time and stand up to any abuse, The weight doesn't matter because she needs ballast anyway, when I'm by myself I carry two or three football sized lumps of granite to ballast and trim her with, with two people I carry one boulder and with three people she's just a bit overloaded for the waves round here. She sat nicely on her drying mooring unless the waves and rain filled her before she had a chance to float off, this happened occasionally but did her no harm.

I was going to sail her but I thought she was too narrow and light to stand up to sails but other people sail them.

I would say go for it, she's only cheap to build and you can always sell her and build something bigger.

Robert

[jtb]

I bought plans from Mystic years ago (19) just before my son was born. They include a sail plan.I boat on a lake and would want to sail more than row overall.

[BrianY]

If you're interested in sailing as well as rowing, you might want to consider the 14' Marblehead Skiff (plans from Mystic Seaport). John Gardner modified the Chamberlain Dory to produce a design better suited for sailing. The plans are very complete and the constructionis the same as the Chamberlain dory in his book. There's a description and drawing of the boat in the book "87 Boat Designs" by Benjamin A.G. Fuller

I found some construction photos here: http://www.boatbuildingacademy.com/s...ie-snowdon.htm and picts of the completed boat here: http://www.apolloduck.com/feature.phtml?id=202871

[sailoar]

If you're thinking of a glue-lap dory-skiff of that size, you might consider Joel White's Pooduck Skiff, available from our sponsors. It was designed from the start for that method, and so its proportions are worked out for that weight. A Chamberlain in glue-lap, as Robert above and others have found, will need some ballast to hold her down.

[jtb]

Thanks for the info, I'll look around. Would like to do a build 12-16'.

[James McMullen]

Do the 16' then. You'll be able to do everything a smaller boat can do better, with more room, more safety, and more versatility.

[jtb]

Thanks I'll look at bigger designs also.................oh no does that include Coquinna!

[Daniel Noyes]

Huge Fan! I have been rowing and sailing a fiberglass hull Chamberlain skiff for 25+ yrs and comercial shellfished out of it for several seasons.
excelent little boat under sail or oar the hull is the prefect size and shape and weight to be handled by one man.
Gardner's lines are off a excelent model Chamberlain boat but similar skiffs were imensely popular along the coast and built with slight variations by hundreds of small boat shops.

The dory skiff is small enough to be rowed by one man against a fairly strong breeze. The transom is wide and helps the boat stand up to a good amount of sail for such a small skiff, top speed under sail is somewhere close to 6 mph dragging a massive wake, but she is a very speedy and efficient little sailing hull in moderate breezes where faster hulls are not yet up to planeing speeds.

You mention "help rivetting" , does this mean you need someone to show you how to peen a rivet? the actual rivetting of the planks is a one man job, and quite easy and enjoyable, I did tens of thousands while at Pert Lowell and Lowells Boat Shop, if you do 20-30 practice rivets on two pices of board you will have a professional looking job once you start on the boat.

Feel free to stop by and take a look at my fiberglass hull if interested, I'm in Newbury, 3rd town south of the NH boarder on the coast

[jtb]

Thanks for the offer. I was thinking that you would want the help of someone on backing the nail on the outside when peening inside. Maybe built right side up would help.

[Daniel Noyes]

very true, it would be considerably more difficult to rivet it if building upside down, I dont see a reason the Chamberlain would need to be built upside down.

We are in one of the few parts of the country where it is quite simple for us average Joes to source good quality boat lumber and build a traditional boat, most of the rest of the country is limited to speciality lumber orders or buying ply from a retailer.
happy building

[James McMullen]

jtb, you couldn't find a better deal to help you decide if a CDS is right for you than to be able to try one out in person. By all means take advantage of Dan Noyes' generous offer and go visit him. I sure wish I'd had that opportunity for dozens of boats I shouldn't have and wouldn't have built if there had an opportunity to check 'em out beforehand.