Framed Boats
Fiberglass Inner Chine
Glass Bottoms
Lofting
Bolted Gunwales
Cast Finish Washers
Breastplates
Slotted Screws
HDPE Oarblocks
Adjustable Foot Brace
Carved Minicel Seats
Neoprene Outer Chines
Proportional Stripes
Hatch Gutters & Lid Lips
Umbrella Holder
Oar Leathers
Details
It’s all about the details…
Framed Boats
While many modern dory builders use the stitch-and-glue method, glueing plywood together with epoxy seams, we still believe in the tradtional Port Orford cedar framing. The ribs give tremendous strength to a boat, transfering stress between floor, sidepanels, and gunwales. And the deck framing adds yet another level of strength and redundancy to the build. It smells heavenly and it just looks right.
Fiberglass Inner Chine
We emplace saturated 2″ and 4″ strips of 24-ounce biaxial fiberglass-with-matte alond the inner chine joint. We add a bead of thickened epoxy, then attach the bottom with screws and/or clamps. The glass is then smoothed to make a strong fillet joint, and covered with 6-ounce glass cloth for a smooth finish. It’s one of our few concessions to the stitch-and-glue technique.
Glass bottoms
Most of our boats are built as whitewater battleships and get a fiberglass bottom–one layer of 25-ounce biaxial with mat, lapping about two inches up the sidewall, covered with a layer of 6- or 8-ounce plain glass for a smooth finish, lapping about an inch beyond the biax. We glass right over the masking, then cut and peel off after the flow coat, leaving a clean finish. We do not do the popular graphite flowcoat, as you are then unable to see through to the wood and determine if you are getting rot damage.
Bolted Gunwales
We never glue on gunwales for the simple reason that they often get damaged and need to be removed. Getting glued-on gunwales off is murder. Reversability. We use 1/4″ x 20 machine screws with a finish washer on the inner face (either cast or store-bought) and a sex nut on the outer face. This gives a clamping action on both faces, and firmly transfers strength from the ribs, transom, and bowpost to the gunwales. Bomber.
Custom Cast Finish Washers
We believe in clamping the gunwales to the ribs for strength by using a solid bronzed finish washer to compress the gunwale rather than countersinking into the wood. We also make a custom brace to connect the gunwales to the transom–we call those Wombats.
Breastplates
The breastplate is more than a decoration–it firmly holds the gunwales to each other and the bowpost. We make our patterns our of tooled leather, then cast them in bronze, shape them to fit, and bolt them in.
Slotted Screws
WHY??? People always ask us why not square or torx or even Phillips head? A couple reasons: We are the repairmen that have to take them back out after they’re covered in fairing, epoxy, or other goop. They’re always easy to remove. Reversability. You also have something like four times the torque and control over a center-driven screw. And lastly, they look right.
HDPE Oarblocks
We make oarblocks from High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) with a few extra oarlock placements for differing arm lengths. We brace them to the deck for strength in case of oar crabbing.
Adjustable Foot Brace
Based on the old fixed dory foot braces from Martin Litton days, this footbrace with toe-bar can slide on a Trex runner. Turns out some folks’ legs are longer than others.
Carved Minicel Seats
For comfort, stability, and a bit of lumbar support, we carve seats from 4″ mincel foam. We attach them with industrial velcro so they can be removed for sleeping aboard.
Neoprene Outer Chines
We use solid 1/2″ x 1-1/2″ neoprene for outer chines, for tracking and to protect the vulnerable fiberglass chine corner. We affix it with Weldwood Contact Cement.
Proportional Stripes
We believe a paint job should accentuate the boat’s natural grace rather than compete with it. Our favorite way to do that is with longitudinal stripes that diminish in width proportionately with the width of the sidepanel. A solid 8″ stripe may look good near the front of the boat, but is probably way too big near the stern. Better to go with percentages of the sidepanel height. Somewhere around 30% is always good for a top stripe.
Hatch Gutters & Lid Lips
In our attempt to make it difficult for water to find its way into hatches we create an obstacle course. Water has to find its way down into the fast-draining gutter, beneath the lid lip, then back up the inside of the gutter, through the weatherstripping and finally into the hatch. Properly adjusted latches usually foil the water’s attempts.
Umbrella Holder
Although we don’t believe in occluding the view when we are rowing–wide brim hats are best for shading the brain–it’s sometimes nice to pop up an umbrella when it’s raining–day or night. This is a simple hunk of aluminum pipe, cut at an angle at the top for easy bolting, and through-bolted at the base.
Oar Leathers
Brad leathered his first oars twenty-five years ago and fell in love with the slippery feel of leather on bronze. If properly lubricated they last forever. They feather so sweetly. And they look really cool. Check these blog posts for a how-to lesson: Leathering 101 and Leathering 102