Black Damsel

Doryman has been all over the map lately, preparing Belle Starr for her first voyage under her new captain. It's been a busy season for new launchings. I'm always happy to hear about these events, though it may occasionally take a while before I get time to share them...

...Lorenz Rutz launched his Ken Basset Firefly a week ago. He built this eighteen-foot single rowing station shell, from Ken Basset's plans and sent us this photo album to enjoy:

"Today was launch day. I named her Black Damsel, and a beauty she is. Four of us took her for a row and declared her sweet, fast and stable. We rowed on the Ompompanoosuc River in Vermont, out to the Connecticut River. She ended up a bit heavier than I’d hoped, but is still an easy cartop."

Ed Cheramie is keeping his eye on that rock!

Lorenz takes the first pull.

Then his daughter, Charlotte shows us how it's done.

A Norwegian pram complements the picture.

Black Damsel

The proud owner / builder.




Congratulations, Lorenz!

Making Spoon Oars

By John Delapp

John Delapp published a great article on making efficient oars simply, in the Winter/1990 edition of the Ash Breeze, the quarterly journal of the Traditional Small Craft Assoc..
His spoon shaped design has a shaft and loom made of spruce with a paddle made of 4-5mm plywood. I was introduced to an example of this oar last fall, made for Chelcie Liu and what a beautiful, simple, lightweight work of art!






Here is Chelcie with his fine set of spoon oars. Please note the attractive protective leathers.








I was given some spruce off-cuts last week that will be perfect for a set of these oars, which will compliment the fixed seat rowing scull (above) that came out of my shop this winter.







The target weight for this set is 2 1/2 pounds, which John says coaches recommend for racing sculls, even lighter for smaller rowers. The spoon design has proven to be the most efficient and allows the blade of the oar to be made smaller and lighter than a comparable flat blade.

I've never owned a pair of spoon oars, but will very soon - as soon as I get out in the shop and get to work! John claims that it should take 6-8 hours to build this set.

The excellent Ash Breeze quarterly is another great reason to join the Traditional Small Craft Association.

Thanks to my friends Martin and Chelcie for bringing these plans to my attention.




I've spent much more time and materials to make graceful oars.






These stand close comparison with the best of them. At a fraction of the cost.



Post Script: Chelcie has published an article about building these oars and provides PDF files of the plans on the Puget Sound TSCA site.

Yaquina Guide Boat - Redux

This story is just about over. For now.

As you know the Yaquina River Guide Boat has been a design/build project with results that have been less than stellar.

Well, perhaps that is a bit harsh. It's not that the boat has performed poorly, but that the design was not up to expectations.





Following some rather dramatic design changes (after market) we see Doryman tentatively coaxing this sliver of a vessel to behave like a lady.

She has a temperament.

But this time, the skipper stayed aboard and the vessel shipped not a drop. The new outriggers are manufactured from a set of barn door hinges with a mahogany overlay, so when not in use, they hinge entirely inside the gunnel. The overall span of the oarlocks is 44 inches which proved adequate for a set of eight foot oars.




The boat now has a flat bottom, if you want to call it a bottom, a foot wide amidships, which has provided some stability. A plus is the reserve buoyancy of the extra chine. Each chine edge has a very distinct release point though - and woe to he who violates that boundary. Turning is the most difficult maneuver (well, possibly tied with disembarking from the darn thing!).




Rowing forward with one oar while sculling aft with the other is a formula for disaster, so turning is a slow, deliberate effort. It worked best to keep the pivot oar in the water and feathered slightly while pulling evenly, with no sudden motion, on the driving oar.





Next time out, I'll bring some ballast and also some pads for my knees. It would help stabilize the boat if pressure could be applied at the gunnel as the boat heels, in the fashion of guiding a horse with your legs.

Hopefully using this boat will become easier. As it is, there will be no long distance rowing. It takes every muscle in the body to keep this vessel upright and trim. A good workout in a very short time!

She pulls very easily and in fact does not like aggression in any form.
A lady with a mind of her own.





The day was brilliantly sunny and unseasonably warm for January. When that happens around here, the humidity is just about 100%, as the sponge that is our local winter environment dissipates. That is why, in some of the shots on this page, you can literally see the air.




Makes for some nice pictures, no?

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Yaquina Guide Boat

Since I find boat design / build fascinating the details never bore me. But I wonder how others might view a story that goes on for weeks, maybe even years with accompanying photos where almost nothing seems to happen.

For those unfortunate readers, my sympathies.






The pictures for today's post may not seem much different than a week or more ago. But please let me assure you that this is definitely not the case. The boat in question was merely roughed-out then and is very near completion today.

Since company has arrived for a couple days, the boat was hauled out of the sewing room once more (through the window as before) and placed on the back porch.
While I say it's nearly finished, it is in fact the finish that is not done. What we see here has been rough sanded and coated with an epoxy barrier coat and will require several applications of varnish to be actually done and ready for launch.

For those who, like me, revel in the details - there will be an inwale added and pads for the oarlock stanchions. As of today, the oarlock design is still in committee.
In fact, I'd appreciate any input you might have to offer. I've seen a video recently of a nice tubular outrigger that collapses inboard very efficiently, but can't remember where I saw it.

The rest is paint and varnish, sand and repeat - second verse same as the first.

I do have something new to add, however. The question of what to call this craft came to me in a flash. It is the first ever Yaquina River Guide Boat. Destined to be a world famous design, mark my word! You heard it first, right here on DoryMan.
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