Doryman's Boatyard

You can feel the season changing, though the evidence is slim. I have reports of sailors in the Northern Hemisphere testing the waters for the first sail of the season. But here on the Oregon coast, where seasons bleed slowly into each other, spring is still in the offing.

Boat repair, renovation and even new construction has been lively this winter, which we hope is a harbinger of better economic times. The Oregon coast could use an uplift.

Tiding things over, this installment of Doryman's Boatyard is essentially a sales pitch. To start things off, I'm selling the quintessential sail-and-oar boat, Saga, the William Atkins Valgerada. What can I add to all I've said before? She is a wonderful, capable and beautiful craft. A lot of love has gone into her refurbishing, both of my own and many friends who have contributed. It's not easy when one has to part with a good friend and I hope she finds someone to love her as I do.

As you might suppose, the boats in Doryman's boatyard are currently among the favorites in a long life of boat ownership. It has taken many years of gleaning the best of the best and hours of hard work to bring them all to a state of perfection. A case in point is the Culler "Good Little Skiff" Paku. What a wonder of simple beauty! The perfect combination of mahogany framing and cedar planking, trimmed in mahogany just as the Good Captain intended. We've spent many happy hours rowing this skiff in tandem, an accent to the beauty of nature.

Perhaps the closest to my heart is the cruising dory, Mistral. She is the embodiment of my soul and represents years of personal design and sweat. Please indulge me if I insist she is the best sailing dory on the planet. Thirty-six feet of pure comfort and efficiency. I once imagined her living free on the Salish Sea and even as far north as Alaska. My sincere wish is that someone will realize that dream for me.

If you've dreamed of owning an Enterprise racing dinghy, I have just the one for you. This boat is forty years young and has been in the same family nearly all it's life. Anyone who has ever sailed an Enterprise from England will tell you, they are hard to beat. Contact me and we'll make the deal of the century.

Before I forget, I might mention the Doryman mellonseed. This boat is not yet for sale, since she is not finished. But I thought you might appreciate an update. Since we last saw her, the decks have been installed, the rudder hung and a tiller manufactured. Currently I'm installing her cockpit coamings and still trying to decide whether to build a foredeck hatch. Please note the hand-carved wood cleats. I can think of few more meditative recreations than making an attractive cleat. A great use of all the scrap hardwood that seems to accumulate around a boat building shop.

A major focus this winter has been the Stone Horse, Belle Starr. She is tightly wrapped in tarps, under a temporary lean-to, and photos are difficult, so you'll have to take my word for her improved condition. Hopefully she will hit the water this spring and I promise you'll hear all about it.

For now, I'd like to point out to my friend Webb Chiles, who is considering installing oarlocks to his new boat, that it's easy. He had some concern about how long his oars need to be. For a rowing vessel, I like to double the beam, but for a larger boat, one must consider the distance to the waterline from the shear, so an oar might be a bit longer. Longer is better, since the sailor will likely be rowing with one oar alone and steering with the rudder. I know there has been a lot of discussion lately about sculling oars and Chinese yulohs but I've tried both and nothing is simpler and more effective than the ancient oar. Even the five ton Mistral can be propelled at two knots with a single oar.
For Belle Starr, which has a beam of just over six feet in the cockpit, the oars will be thirteen feet long. You will note the oarlock is larger than you might find in your neighborhood chandlery, since the loom of such a long oar will be thick. An old, cast-off competitive scull works well.


If you see something here that sounds intriguing, please drop me a line: mbogoger(at)gmail.com

Cheers!
Michael Bogoger (Doryman)

Doryman's Boatyard

The weather has shifted in the last few days to the winter rains. It's been a dramatic transition this year and it was a very fine October for sewing up last minute details. It's rare, so close to the northeast Pacific Ocean, to have good weather this late in the year. I'm so grateful.

When the monsoon season arrives, it's futile to do much boat building. The temperatures are warm by inland standards, but the dew point is nominally only one or two degrees below the temperature. If you've ever put paint on wood on a promising day, only to immediately feel the dew condensing, you know what I mean. If it's forty degrees with 98% humidity, forget it.

While putting projects to bed for the winter, I've taken stock of the changes in Doryman's boatyard. Apparently the last time I did this was almost two years ago.

A few boats have come and gone since then.








Last summer the Culler Good Little Skiff Paku went to a new home not far from here, so hopefully we'll see her from time to time. She may well be my favorite boat of all time.








The rowing shell, Pintail also sold, so you can see that in the rowboat category, there is a nagging need. And big shoes to fill.
Some hot new developments in the offing.
(Offing: The more distant sea, as seen from the shore).









The Sam Devlin Egret that has languished here for two years has gone home with my friend Lou to finish. He was working out a rigging plan within moments of taking possession.
We'll hear more about that soon, I hope.





So what's new, Doryman?







Mark and his brother, Pope brought over a Sam Rabl Titmouse that needs a lot of attention. I have high hopes for this little boat. She's not a high performance vessel by any means, but has beautiful lines. At the moment, this project will have to wait until the weather warms up and dries out.






Of course there is the fabulous faering, Saga, which has proven to be a wonderful gunkholing boat. There are plans in the works to improve her livability because she and I are going to have a lot of fun together.
Here, we're catching the front of a wave, heading downwind in 20-25 knots. (Play that sheet, Doryman!)






Shipwright extraordinaire, Rick Johnson and I began a little lapstrake pram at the Depoe Bay Wooden Boat Show and Crab Feed in April of 2010, as a demonstration of how to lay-up clinker planks on a round bottom. The following year at the same show we demonstrated how to steam bend and rivet oak frames using this same boat.
This fall I found some time to finish the detailing and what a cute little tender she is!

















Though most of the summer was spent maintainancing the dory Mistral, the lingering fall gave me a chance to work on the Star class racing sailboat in the 'yard. This boat will be offered for sale next spring, after I've had a chance to refurbish her masts and rigging. More about this racing machine soon...

















Mary spent quite a bit of time this year sprucing up the Culler Wherry Yawlboat, Lamb Chop, which is a real head-turner.

You've seen Doryman rowing this lovely sprit-rigged schooner's tender on the header of this blog.


There are more changes afoot, so please stay tuned.

Doryman's Boatyard

Technically, we are talking about the back porch. As inclement weather gears up, so does the annual winter project.

This year, it's a kayak. Or is it a canoe?

Last August, at the Toledo Wooden Boat Show, the family boatbuilding event centered around a kayak designed by Leo Newberg and Rick Johnson. Prior to the show, Rick and Leo set up a prototype to use for making patterns. A test model was roughed out to insure everything would fit.

Ever on the lookout for an interesting challenge, Doryman pounced on the prototype, with the intention of (yes, you guessed it...) improving the design. (I say that tongue-in-cheek. Leo and Rick did a great job. There will be some modifications, however.)

The hull made it back to the shop in one piece, though it was barely tacked together with epoxy. To-date, the watertight bulkheads have been secured and templates made for the decks. The shear has been shaved down, to limit windage. This will be a very burdensome boat, even though it has less freeboard .

One objection I have with traditional kayaks is the small cockpit opening. So now the question is - with a more open cockpit, is it a canoe?



To further complicate matters, this boat will have oarlocks for rowing, in addition to a double paddle, kayak style. The open cockpit is a necessity, or I'd never be able to get in the boat. The rowing station, likewise, is an ergonomic detail - from years of hard work, my old shoulders do not stand up to forward paddling very long.

A friend dropped by the other day to check on progress in the Doryman Boatyard and declared the kayak/canoe almost finished. Those of you who have built boats of your own know better.

Here is a photo of the original kayak from the boatshow, built by Jim Reim and his daughter, Amy. Nice job, you two!

The finished Doryman vessel will be fifteen feet long and sheathed in 4mm Meranti plywood, with a 3mm deck. It has a hard-chined bottom, with a slight "V" shape.

The Hardangersjekte in Doryman's boatyard

The Valgerda by William Atkin that recently found it's way into Doryman's boatyard is getting a make-over.

This boat was built in 1966 for the Weyerhaeuser family by Keeler Boat Building in Portland, Oregon and through a series of owners, subsequently spent three decades on the Puget Sound.








As anyone who has restored a boat of this vintage knows, the years spent in harsh salt water climates take a toll. In fact, it is a testament to the builder when a wood boat approaches it's fiftieth year.

Here we find Doryman uncovering years of layers and layers of paint to assess the Valgerda's condition. He must be a sick man, to find this type of work rewarding!




The long term goal is to re-rig this boat as Atkin specified, but the immediate goal is to have her in the water for the upcoming Toledo Wooden Boat Show this August. Toledo, Oregon is home port for Doryman and it's not unusual to see four boats from the fleet in attendance. For those who live locally, please look him up. He'll be the one with the glassy-eyed, exhausted visage and a patina of bottom paint dust in his collar.

Doryman's Boatyard

The end of January brought temperate weather to the Salish Sea, enough to tempt a groundhog out early. Which means activity in the Doryman boatyard. Some of you who have been around for a while may remember the Doryman Melonseed. Aria has been in the wings waiting for a sail rig. The plans call for a sprit rig but since I'm the designer, an easy administrative decision was made to substitute a balanced lug sail.
Why not simply make the sprit sail I sewed last winter into a lug sail? I think it will work. But not as easy as one might imagine.

Redesign in the works, on rainy days. Stay tuned.

Dryer days mean repairs on the Sam Crocker Stone Horse, Belle Starr. I met an interesting boatbuilder a few weeks back - a fellow older than me with a more traditional training - who insisted a Stone Horse has no chine. I said it's a Stone Horse redrawn from Sam's plans to accommodate plywood construction. He insisted the chine made it some other boat. Very interesting proposition.........

Belle Starr as she looked last September. A Hulk.
Sailing season over early. Not much chine left.

Demolition left very little of the starboard side. Paul looks despondent but he's really enjoying himself.

  

About a month later the "A" team closed up that gap and once again, a chine emerged.

Plywood construction methods show quick progress toward healing wounds, physical and psychological.

A couple very wet months suspended that initial push but just recently the clouds miraculously parted. The freshly faired Belle Starr emerges whole again. Gotta love that beautiful chine. I think Sam would approve.



These shots are from two days ago, after some intense sanding and fairing.

She's not finished by a long shot.
 But it's a great relief to have gotten this far.

I believe this is one of Sam Crocker's drawings, but I'm not sure which boat. Looks suspiciously familiar though, doesn't it?

Doryman's Melonseed

You thought I'd forgotten the melonseed?

We've had a very mild fall with little rain, which is a bonus if your livelihood is maintaining and building wood boats. Recently, however, the weather has not been so nice and Doryman wishes he'd spent more time on his woodpile.

When weather threatens around here, we retreat to the back porch for boat work, which is at least dry, if not heated. Then, each day is gauged by the barometer and the dewpoint. It's a little known fact that epoxy is not nearly as sensitive to temperature, as moisture. I don't mean to be confusing here, epoxy does not give a fig about moisture. But wood does. It's this simple - if the wood is saturated with moisture, it will not accept epoxy. But if there are ten degrees (F) of separation between the current temperature and the dewpoint, and your wood is not actually wet or green, the epoxy will penetrate and adhere to the wood. The shop-vac is useful for "air-drying" wood surfaces, though a hair-dryer works wonders. If last night was cold and today it will rain, try blowing your wood surfaces with a fan or a shop-vac exhaust before applying epoxy.




If the conditions are wetter still, which might seem extreme, though we spend four to five months a year around here with 100% humidity - so we understand - a very good substitute for epoxy is a polyurethane glue that is formulated to cure in the presence of moisture. Which is why you see a black adhesive in some applications, in the construction photos. Another excuse for using polyurethane glue is probable movement. Epoxy has much more tensile strength than wood, so will fracture and de-laminate where wood flexes, swells or shrinks. In those cases, a more flexible bond is required. I bond all my plank laps with polyurethane glue, because my boats are built to be outside, in use, all year-round.

To date, the Doryman melonseed has been planked and framed for decking. The most recent step has been the installation of anti-skid strips milled from Oregon white oak. Aside from helping to keep traction, they act as stringers which add stiffness to the wide garboard plank.

Photos of this build can be found on Doryman's Flickr site.

One day we may take some time to talk about the design process. This particular design is informed by Howard Chapelle, William Atkins and Uffa Fox.

In other Doryman Boatyard news, the mast for the Teak Lady, Che Hon is being repaired. This 73-year-old old Douglas fir mast was cut off at one time, just above deck level, with the intention of installing a tabernacle, but we've decided to restore the boat to as-built condition. A foot above the old cut, the mast was hollow so in order to scarph three feet onto the existing mast, a plug was fashioned to fill the void.

The mast is 3 1/2" in diameter and the scarph is 12/1.

As a result, the mast will be much stiffer, higher up from the deck, which will affect it's bending characteristics. This might promote failure, if the boat were sailed to it's potential, but it's not likely Che Hon will ever campaign another race, she's retired.

Sounds a lot like the tired old sailor typing this missive...

CHANGE

 Where would be without it? Impossible to imagine. 

In the last year we've seen a lot. The global pandemic has been the biggest spotlight of all, highlighting the cracks and crevasses of human society.

Personally, for now, the worst has passed. Ignoring the pitfalls of aging... A topic for another day.

Today, lets do a doryman boatyard update, a virtual photo tradition.

First of all, we recently moved from here:

To here:

Doesn't look like a boat, does it? The bonus will, at last, be a venue for you-know-what. Let the boat mania begin!

The first news is the acquisition of Ralph Merriman's Pearl, Fleckerl.

Fleckerl is a Tom Campion design, the "Pearl". Ralph's build history is an interesting one. The boat is complete now, but has never been sailed, or even rigged. We plan to rectify that soon. 

Next up is a 1969 Ericson 23, Amber Rose, a vintage class of  the once popular entry level race/cruise family designs. Perfect for an aging sailor. I had her hauled out right away to remove several years of heavy marine growth. She's now cleaned of a few layers of mold and ready for cruising. She's berthed in the water, where fine tuning of rigging and systems is on-going. I've had her out for a few day-sails and, with a new set of sails, she'll do just fine.  

New topside and ablative bottom paint and she's ready to fly.

                 

Her name came with the boat and for now I feel no need to change.

This is what a mussel farm looks like....

My very good friend, Bob Mitsch passed over the bar at the end of last year, a victim of the Covid monster. Weeks before, I had purchased an Iain Oughtred Whilly Boat from him. This is a dory Bob and his brother built and I feel honored to own it. It has a full rig that has never been tried. Can't let that challenge go unmet.

 RIP Robert, see you on the other side.

Then there is the Chesapeake Crabbing skiff from the esteemed board of Howard Chappelle.

As you can see, this vessel is very much on the docket. An older boat, getting a make-over.

Had enough? There are more, but I think the work schedule is full for now.

All the very best, from the Doryman Boatyard. Cheers!