Bob Smalser
12-23-2004, 12:26 AM
A barebones 19’ Chamberlain Gunning Dory as drawn by John Gardner, bought sight unseen as excess from Seattle’s Center for Wooden Boats museum at auction. Got it home for less than a grand and will put another 1500 or so in it to finish it out with a rig.
http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/6035832/77494165.jpg
Surprises mostly pleasant, it’s hardly been in the water at all. Looks professionally built locally based on accurate conformation to plans with perfectly fair lines and where corners were cut to save labor costs. Appears to have been built in 1995 with epoxied batten seam DF plywood, White Oak sawn framing and rails, Alaskan Yellow Cedar thwarts, and all bronze fasteners/hardware. Screws left unplugged, outside of hull epoxy saturated with fabric at seams and perhaps the entire hull with a second layer at the seams. Interior painted with some very, very hard paint over a white primer…exterior spray-painted with one thin coat of (acrylic?) enamel that’s flaking off. No false bottom but SS skid plates to protect the ends of the bottom and no hardware protection for oak outer stems.
http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/6035832/77494187.jpg
Inner stems are interesting….sawn oak laminated vertically instead of horizontally, the lams screwed and epoxied together. The curve on these is shallow enough for that to work acceptably and it was faster, as no mold was required for the lamination.
http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/6035832/77494223.jpg
Thwart fit fair to middling with some cheating where the frame slots were overcut on a couple…. thwarts in these economical dory designs are important structural members supporting the hull framing as spalls (crossbraces)….putty is not a substitute for thwart-to-frame contact. They are a clunky, 1” workboat thick currently, so thinning them to ¾” and beveling the undersides won’t cause problems and will allow me to refit them. The two front thwarts’ll be supported by the Center Board case and I’ll turn posts for the rear ones to compensate for thinning, and add side seats at the rear for the helmsman.
http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/6035832/77494292.jpg
Sawn oak frames were epoxy filleted to the bottom plywood…and one has cracked here. Not the best practice gluing solid stock to plywood like this, IMO. I’ll have a whole lot of unnecessary mess cutting that centerboard slot through those frames and cleating the cut frame ends to the CB case for stability.
To make a sailor out of her without wrecking her qualities, we plan to add:
1) Gardner's large Beachcomber Center Board/case and through-hull brass pipe rudder with yoke and line tiller. Lathe-turned mast step and laminated spruce thwart knees…two per side.
2) Light chain plates and lashed side stays for the mast. Hull painted gloss black. 1" synthetic manila rope bumper and matching fenders. 2 sets of oars and raised oarlock pads.
http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/6035832/77494285.jpg
3) Light canoe deck and coaming ala a Rushton canoe below. Laminated spruce knees and beams, ¼” H. Mahogany ply and laminated solid coaming finished bright. Sheet styrofoam beneath decking.
http://www.wcha.org/wcj/v20_n3/erie.gif
I want the kids to be able to carry a lot of sail/ballast, go fast with abandon and bury the rail in a puff without swamping...and also a small place to hide flotation, oars, float coat bag, etc. I can handle the oars being visible but any modern stuff evident like foam isn't to my taste.
If it capsizes before the rail buries...we'll just add more ballast. ;) It's more fun when you're the fastest thing out there. Plus I want them to be able to take it across a river bar in heavier water out on the Peninsula, too...I know it was designed for big water, but big water here and the big water it was designed for can be two different critters.
Plus I like the look.
4) Pine false bottom a half inch thick and relocate the skid plates atop….to protect the bottom from wear with sacrificial pine. Will also cover the caulked CB case joinery with it.
5) Mower Dory Alpha rig...15' solid spruce mast and boom...54.4sf main...15.3sf jib. Tanbark Sailrite kit in light 4oz. Synthetic manila lines. Bronze hardware. Spruce oars as long as will hang neatly beneath the decks as alternate propulsion.
A 50% larger rig than Gardner drew for the Gunning Dory, but decking, side stays and 100lb or so of lead shot bagged around the CB case should make it work in our light summer air.
The only question is how much sail I can get away with.
Gardner drew the 18' Gunning Dory with an admittedly-conservative 47sf total...
...the decked, 18' Mower (more frames- a stronger, heavier hull) with 70sf...
...the open 21' Beachcomber (same framing as the Gunner) with 72sf....all Alpha rigs.
Yet he also drew the open 16' Swampscott with 73sf in a sprit.
And the 19' Glen-L Alpha 2 claims to have 117sf...but the pic doesn't match the specs and I suspect a misprint.
http://www.glen-l.com/
So I’ll probably build a rig to match the 72sf Beachcomber as it's easier/cheaper to cut it down than make a new rig. The epoxied batten seam is stronger than a traditionally constructed dory and I doubt it needs the the extra framing of the mower. At the price of Sailrite kits these days, two sets of sails isn't an option.
http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/6035832/77494165.jpg
Surprises mostly pleasant, it’s hardly been in the water at all. Looks professionally built locally based on accurate conformation to plans with perfectly fair lines and where corners were cut to save labor costs. Appears to have been built in 1995 with epoxied batten seam DF plywood, White Oak sawn framing and rails, Alaskan Yellow Cedar thwarts, and all bronze fasteners/hardware. Screws left unplugged, outside of hull epoxy saturated with fabric at seams and perhaps the entire hull with a second layer at the seams. Interior painted with some very, very hard paint over a white primer…exterior spray-painted with one thin coat of (acrylic?) enamel that’s flaking off. No false bottom but SS skid plates to protect the ends of the bottom and no hardware protection for oak outer stems.
http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/6035832/77494187.jpg
Inner stems are interesting….sawn oak laminated vertically instead of horizontally, the lams screwed and epoxied together. The curve on these is shallow enough for that to work acceptably and it was faster, as no mold was required for the lamination.
http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/6035832/77494223.jpg
Thwart fit fair to middling with some cheating where the frame slots were overcut on a couple…. thwarts in these economical dory designs are important structural members supporting the hull framing as spalls (crossbraces)….putty is not a substitute for thwart-to-frame contact. They are a clunky, 1” workboat thick currently, so thinning them to ¾” and beveling the undersides won’t cause problems and will allow me to refit them. The two front thwarts’ll be supported by the Center Board case and I’ll turn posts for the rear ones to compensate for thinning, and add side seats at the rear for the helmsman.
http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/6035832/77494292.jpg
Sawn oak frames were epoxy filleted to the bottom plywood…and one has cracked here. Not the best practice gluing solid stock to plywood like this, IMO. I’ll have a whole lot of unnecessary mess cutting that centerboard slot through those frames and cleating the cut frame ends to the CB case for stability.
To make a sailor out of her without wrecking her qualities, we plan to add:
1) Gardner's large Beachcomber Center Board/case and through-hull brass pipe rudder with yoke and line tiller. Lathe-turned mast step and laminated spruce thwart knees…two per side.
2) Light chain plates and lashed side stays for the mast. Hull painted gloss black. 1" synthetic manila rope bumper and matching fenders. 2 sets of oars and raised oarlock pads.
http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/6035832/77494285.jpg
3) Light canoe deck and coaming ala a Rushton canoe below. Laminated spruce knees and beams, ¼” H. Mahogany ply and laminated solid coaming finished bright. Sheet styrofoam beneath decking.
http://www.wcha.org/wcj/v20_n3/erie.gif
I want the kids to be able to carry a lot of sail/ballast, go fast with abandon and bury the rail in a puff without swamping...and also a small place to hide flotation, oars, float coat bag, etc. I can handle the oars being visible but any modern stuff evident like foam isn't to my taste.
If it capsizes before the rail buries...we'll just add more ballast. ;) It's more fun when you're the fastest thing out there. Plus I want them to be able to take it across a river bar in heavier water out on the Peninsula, too...I know it was designed for big water, but big water here and the big water it was designed for can be two different critters.
Plus I like the look.
4) Pine false bottom a half inch thick and relocate the skid plates atop….to protect the bottom from wear with sacrificial pine. Will also cover the caulked CB case joinery with it.
5) Mower Dory Alpha rig...15' solid spruce mast and boom...54.4sf main...15.3sf jib. Tanbark Sailrite kit in light 4oz. Synthetic manila lines. Bronze hardware. Spruce oars as long as will hang neatly beneath the decks as alternate propulsion.
A 50% larger rig than Gardner drew for the Gunning Dory, but decking, side stays and 100lb or so of lead shot bagged around the CB case should make it work in our light summer air.
The only question is how much sail I can get away with.
Gardner drew the 18' Gunning Dory with an admittedly-conservative 47sf total...
...the decked, 18' Mower (more frames- a stronger, heavier hull) with 70sf...
...the open 21' Beachcomber (same framing as the Gunner) with 72sf....all Alpha rigs.
Yet he also drew the open 16' Swampscott with 73sf in a sprit.
And the 19' Glen-L Alpha 2 claims to have 117sf...but the pic doesn't match the specs and I suspect a misprint.
http://www.glen-l.com/
So I’ll probably build a rig to match the 72sf Beachcomber as it's easier/cheaper to cut it down than make a new rig. The epoxied batten seam is stronger than a traditionally constructed dory and I doubt it needs the the extra framing of the mower. At the price of Sailrite kits these days, two sets of sails isn't an option.