Stickleback Dory (Amberjack)

Iain Oughtred developed detailed plans for this lapstrake (plywood) Swampscott dory derivative. My good friend, Jim Reim recently built one and our mutual friend, John Kohnen teases him about going to an Australian designer living in Scotland, to get plans for a very American boat.

Iain readily acknowledges the origins of the Stickleback in his description of the design brief:

"The Amberjack has the second chine that is the indicator of the Swampscott type so favored of the corn cob pipe smoking Eggamoggin Reach types, up there in Maine. There's a few here in OZ too, people like the compromise dory style, with their handier sailing ability and still very good rowing and load carrying potential."

Jim and I have worked together on volunteer boat projects and I can attest to his focus and attention to detail. Raven shows the quality we have come to expect from this amateur builder. Jim is still a bit nervous about sailing Raven. She sports a big sail, and he's unfamiliar with the sprit rig, though the accompanying photos tell a slightly different story.

Designer: Iain Oughtred
LOA: 15' 8"
Beam: 4' 5"
Draft: (board down) - 6" (board up) - 2' 8"
Displacement: 125-150 lbs.
Materials: Wood (plywood)
Propulsion: sail, oars
Skill Level to Build: Basic to Intermediate

Jim in Raven, with his bird dog, Lucy.

Happy Skipper.
Congratulations Jim!

All photos courtesy of boat photographer extraordinaire,  John Kohnen. Thank you, John.

He who would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.
Thomas Paine

Potomac River Dory Restoration

A 1931 Potomac River Dory, built by Francis Raymond Hayden in Banks O’Dee, MD is now undergoing restoration in the boat shop of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Maryland, US.

She measures a stately 37'-0" x 12’-7” x 10-1/2".






Over the next several months museum shipwrights, apprentices and volunteers will be replacing bottom planks, fabricating a new forefoot on the stem and a section of deadwood aft with a new shaft alley. Approximately 60% of the boat will be reframed.






Please look closely at this boat. I would call this a sharpie. Often the difference between a dory, a sharpie and a skiff can be blurred. You may think this is pedantic and you would be correct. Here at DoryMan, this topic comes up often and you might be surprised to hear me say there is no clear answer.
But when, in old working boats, we find such simple, graceful beauty as this, it hardly matters what you call it.










It's art.








The Potomac River dory boat originated around the 1880s and was built almost exclusively in the area of St. Mary's County, Maryland. How the name "dory boat" came to be is not known. This unique design features a V-bottom, planked lengthwise instead of the usual cross-planking. It is believed this style derived from an earlier flat-bottomed Potomac River craft called the Black Nancy, so named because it's black hull was preserved with tar made from local pine trees.

Designed for working the Potomac River and its tributaries, the dory boat was originally built as a two-masted sailing craft used for tonging and dredging of oysters. It is estimated that 400 to 500 of these very fast and easy to handle boats were built between the 1880s and the early 1930s. Sporting traditional shear stripes of green, red and yellow, this is one of seven that have survived and are now in regional museums.
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St Pierre et Miquelon Dory

In April last year we visited George Waite, in the UK, who is building a St Pierre et Miquelon dory.

George is a semi-retired ex-Naval Architect turned bridge engineer and the boat that he is building is 21ft LOA and barely fits in his garden. A recent inquiry about his project from a faithful reader prompted me to contact George to see how he is getting along.





Of course, the UK is experiencing one of the most violent winters in memory, so when I reached George he was sitting comfortably inside,sipping arrak with a visiting Turkish friend, while force 9 winds roared outside.

Wise man.


George assures me that he has managed to get some work done despite the weather. He feels he should be finished around August. He kindly sent me a photo in aerial view (taken from the roof?!) that shows him making up quick release battery cable connectors for removing the battery for regular storage/recharge and also installing the through-hull exhaust fitting for the 30 hp Yanmar diesel inboard.

He has completed most of the hull planking since our last visit but has cleverly left out a panel for easier access while installing the engine and accompanying systems.

His front garden looks a lot like a boatyard!

We wish George luck and hope to see his creation on the water next summer.
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Splash!

The Bank Dory Project from last winter and spring hit the water yesterday.

This boat has resonance for me. It's the same design as my first build, when I was not much older than the young people who worked so hard to create this one.




Only this boat is much prettier. From simplicity and back again, each cycle renews itself, with embellishment.

My favorite details are the oars made from Douglas Fir recycled from old high school bleacher seats. We had to scrape a lot of ancient gum off those planks! (Yuck)



Later this summer, during the Toledo Wooden Boat Show in Toledo OR, the students who produced this fine vessel will get a chance to try her out. I had hoped that would happen during school, while the class was still a cohesive unit, but it seems a field trip from school is a planning nightmare these days.





But, I expect to be there when they come with their parents to sample their creation and there will be many more photos, to be sure.

Building a John Gardner Bank Dory

On Friday we finished the build of the Bank Dory. All that remains will be some minor shaping, then sanding and finishing.

The students have done a very good job of construction, so the boat will be varnished, which is an upgrade from the original syllabus. Not bad for a first build. Not bad at all - I'm very proud of these young people. Not all of them would have chosen this project, but with minimal exception, they have done their best.








Those who adopted the project learned a lot, which makes it all worthwhile. If any of them takes this experience with them, I will be rewarded.

The next post in this series will be the launch of our dory. Look for it in a couple weeks. (After four coats of varnish inside and out.)

Toledo High School Bank Dory Build from doryman on Vimeo.

Building a John Gardner Bank Dory

Week seven and we've turned the corner. The Bank Dory is off the building frame and turned over for the finish details.

Experienced small boat builders will recognize this as about the 1/3rd point. All of the intricate details remain, which take an inordinate amount of time.

But the emotional impact of seeing the the boat upright and getting that first view of it's true shape is always very immediate. The pride of accomplishment sets in and if a person is to become boat builder, this is when the seed is sown.






These young people are excited when they get to run the power tools and see big results, but bored with all the sanding and scraping, so it will be a challenge in the weeks to come to maintain interest while we fabricate small parts with little visual impact.






There is, of course, a spectrum of involvement and while some could care less, a couple of these people have a lot of pride in their accomplishment. Tyson asked me yesterday if we will be finished in a month, since he has to leave school early to accompany his family to Alaska for the summer fishing season. I told him it's up to him and it was a joy to see him set his shoulders in determination.









I hope he has an opportunity to row his boat before he leaves.







There have been several comments about how beautiful such a simple boat can be, and I agree. Every new dory I see has a powerful impact.

How can such simplicity be so powerful?
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St. Pierre Dory

George Waite is a semi-retired ex-Naval Architect turned bridge engineer and the boat that he is building is a 21ft OAL St Pierre et Miquelon dory.

He abstracted the design from old black and white photos and built a 1:17 scale model. The boat was lofted directly from the model.






The construction is marine plywood with Iroko framing, and the engine is a 30 hp Yanmar diesel inboard.

He tells me that as a boy in Australia a St Pierre dory was used as a shipyard boat where his father worked and it was there that he first became familiar with dory handling.



George now resides in the UK and the day he sent me photos, it was snowing. Very pretty, but how do you build a boat in the snow?

Since George has trouble getting into small spaces (oh, don't I know that one!), he has opted to build in all of his systems before completing the hull. The planking will be the last step in this project.

It appears that the boat project has taken over his garden and an observant person might wonder how he is going to get it out of there... We are assured that those details have already been worked out and it will be a cake walk.

I suppose one could expect no less from an engineer. Thank you George - please stay in touch, we're all looking forward to seeing the finished St. Pierre et Miquelon on the water!

St. Pierre dories have high bows and sterns and a jaunty shear. They're named for the communes of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, two islands in the rugged North Atlantic, off Newfoundland. The sturdy Basque fishermen of the area used these dories to work some of the most tempestuous waters on the planet, in the treacherous Cabot Strait.

The St. Pierre embodies seaworthy utilitarian elegance.

John Gardner documented the displacement grande dory, with detailed plans and building instructions, in his seminal "The Dory Book".
Another great resource is Mark White's "Building the St. Pierre Dory", first published in 1978.

While Gardener's plans are for traditional clinker construction, White's boats are strip planked.
John Gardner's book is still in print and George tells me that Mark White's book is available from on-line used book sellers.
Both of these fine books were instrumental in the development of my own Mistral. Great reading for boat builders and dreamers.
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Un Doris, c'est beau !

Emmanuel and Maxim, twin brothers, share pictures of the build of their
7 meter dory Micromegas IV on Picasa.

Thanks to Julian for this link. A very fine dory, indeed! And an impressive build -- artistic shots too.