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, Epilogue

My friend Brandon came by today. You may know Brandon from reading about Ravn, the Norse faering he built recently.

I had just finished installing the inwales on the Yaquina River Guide Boat and was explaining to Brandon that I really needed to float the boat to see how it trimmed with weight in it, before completing the oarlock design.

The paint on the bottom was mostly dry, much of the glue had set and the entire boat was base-coated in epoxy. So my buddy says "lets do it!".

We hefted the guide boat out the window of the sewing room one more time and loaded it on top of the car. So far, so good. It's a short drive to the closest launch ramp and before very long we have the boat in the water for the first time.



She is very buoyant.
Well... I expected that.

So I say to Brandon "you sit on the middle thwart and I'll take the aft one".

He says "Ummm, Maybe you should try it first".

So I say "OK, you steady her and when I step in, let go and I'll just push off".




He says "Are you sure?" And I say "It'll work, I know how to do this.".







So I step in and he lets go and I push off. The Yaquina Guide Boat flips over and dumps Doryman in the drink.
Blub, blub.

Lucky for me the water was only three feet deep. But it's COLD!

Now I'm drenched, but determined. Back to the shore.
"This time, Brandon - hold onto the boat!" I say, a bit petulant.






Whew, this is one tender (that means tippy!) boat. Brandon thinks I'm testing just how tender by rocking back and forth, but in truth I am trying desperately to find the balance point before I go swimming again and the boat is rocking itself, I swear!




On the shore, Brandon keeps saying "she floats perfectly on her water line" while I try to figure out how to drive this thing. All I have is a canoe paddle when obviously I need much bigger guns.

I try sitting faced aft as I would when rowing, then paddle back to shore and turn around to try a forward position more favorable to the paddle I'm using. (You didn't think I was going to try standing up and turning around in the boat did you?!!).




We don't have any pictures of Brandon in the boat because he sat in it for one minute (with me holding the gunnel and the stern wedged firmly against a stump) and decided it wasn't his cuppa tea.

So, the verdict is: this is one light, fast boat - if you can keep it upright. There have been many helpful suggestions. Turn her into a catamaran, a proa, a trimaran... which are all very good ideas.
All of them much better than taking another swim in 38 degree water.

It seems Doryman is going back to the drawing board. Any helpful suggestions welcome. Not so helpful suggestions will be tolerated.




Progress will be documented on Doryman's Flickr site.
Pictures will be added daily as work progresses with explanations added at the bottom of the page. Flickr allows comments, so fell free to make suggestions.


Brandon brought with him some stuff for show-and-tell. Mary will tell you about all his fun toys on With Needle and Palm and; yet more fun at The Fiddle Project.

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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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