Tuesday, November 4, 2008

The bottom takes shape


The dory is characterized by it's flat bottom, which creates a shallow draft boat. This thirty six foot boat, without ballast, draws slightly less than two feet. The finished boat, with two tons of ballast, draws less than three feet. The dory has an enormous amount of reserve buoyancy - this boat could carry something like twenty thousand pounds! Even with such a payload, it would be one of the most efficient designs on the water, requiring very little horsepower to make hull speed.
Note the keel, which is laminated of 2x6 fir.

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