Small Boat Forum

Welcome! Need support, you got it. Or share you ideas and experiences.

Use this form to submit comments directly to the Asylum moderators for this forum. We're particularly interested in truly outstanding posts that might be added to our FAQs.
You may also use this form to provide feedback or to call attention to messages that may be in violation of our content rules.

You must login to use this feature.

Inmate Login

By default, logging in will set a session cookie that disappears when you close your browser. Clicking on the 'Remember my Moniker & Password' below will cause a permanent 'Login Cookie' to be set.

Moniker/Username: The Name that you picked or by default, your email. Forgot Moniker?	Examples "Rapper", "Bob W", "joe@aol.com".
Password:	Forgot Password?
	Remember my Moniker & Password ( What's this?)

If you don't have an Asylum Account, you can create one by clicking Here.

Our privacy policy can be reviewed by clicking Here.

Inmate Comments

From:
Your Email:
Subject:

Message Comments

Original Message

Re: Dory Advice

Posted by ThomV on October 8, 2004 at 16:24:49:
Hello Mr. Bill
Rowing dories, so many -- so little timeâ€¦ Of course you have John Gardnerâ€™s The Dory Book a definitive on the history, building and designs of dories.
What first comes to mind is Paul Butlerâ€™s â€˜Alaska Doryâ€™ designed in the 80â€™s or 90â€™s for "Outdoor Life". She is a big double ender almost 20 feet in length with a 5â€™ 7â€ beam, weighing in at about 325 lbs. Based on an expanded version of John Gardnerâ€™s Gunning Dory she can carry an immense load, is built of plywood, but is not a speedy rower.
Next is the Hammond 16-foot Swampscott Dory from John Gardnerâ€™s Book. This design has a lot of the â€˜right stuffâ€™ and is an excellent rower. A couple of dories based on this design have rowed from Seattle to Alaska (look for the book "Row to Alaska by Wind and Oar" by Pete & Nancy Ashenfelter) One could expand the stations by a few inches each and stretch the length to about 18â€™ and actually gain some boat speed.
The Surf Dory type may not be the best choice for a rowing vessel. Though it has the looks and can carry a large load, it does not have enough carry between strokes especially into a breeze with those high endsâ€¦ Itâ€™s a burdensome boat, not as svelte as needed for a rowing vessel.
A compromise to all this might be the design above â€œYoukou-Liliâ€ from the French designer Francois Vivier. Here is a sweet small boat inspired by the double ended faerings of Norway and the American Swampscott dory. Her narrow bottom and rounded sides giving a fine sea boat for rowing. I would build it with the centerboard and the rudder saving the mast and sail for last. With the rudder, a person can captain the boat while a pair row. If a breeze springs up pushing one off course the centerboard can be dropped a bit to help keep the boat from drifting to much to leeward. She is built of plywood. Her Specs: LOA 18â€™ 5â€, Beam at Sheer 4â€™ 8â€. More info: www.francois.vivier.info
Anybody know of any Dory Kits out there?
Thom V