Building the Dory Tender
An update on the Bauer dory that I last wrote about some six months ago. My friend Tom basically took the winter off, in part because of how difficult it would have been to use epoxy in sub freezing temperatures, and this glued lapstrake boat is dependent on epoxy. But he did shoulder on when he could, fitting thwarts and the caprail. One heated shop (mine) project was to get started on a pair of oars.
For oars Tom just used select grade lumberyard spruce. He bought an 8' 2x6 which we ripped into two 1-1/2" wide strips for the looms of a pair of oars. The remainder we cut into four equal lengths to glue on the ends to form the blades of the oars. I turned these pieces 90 degrees to orient the grain in such a way that the thin edges of the blades won't be a fragile vertical grain, but more flat sawn.
I wrote about how to lay out a perfect octagon from square stock when I wrote about building the spars for the Rushton catboat. You see the sketch there as I showed Tom that layout so he could shape nice round oar looms.
I made for Tom a breasthook out of an apple crook I have (a couple of years ago I got to chainsaw all the natural grown crooks I wanted out of an orchard full of apple trees that were cut down). Tom meanwhile fitted each caprail out of three pieces. He first fit blocking between the top edge of the sheer plank and the inhale so he would have something to fasten the caprail to as well as some blocking where his oarlocks will go. But he got good fits and he both glued and screwed the caprail in place.
I had long advocated for a false outer stem for this boat. I think it makes the dory look more shippy and I know the architect will forgive me, mainly because he believes blindly that anything described as "shippy" is sacred. Tom had already rounded the stem as per Marc's original plans so we cut a radius on the end of our false stem and he filled in between with epoxy. A little shaping and then paint and no one should be able to tell the difference.
The oarlock pads are ready to go.
Tom trimming the bottom of the false stem in line with the bottom of the boat.
One small detail: we found that Marc's designed thwart risers really offered material that was too thin to fasten the thwarts to. On the other hand, they have to take quite a bend, so to make them out of thicker stock would require laminating or steaming. What Tom finally did was fasten the thwart on edge with one screw through the frame and one through the planking. It should be fine as long as someone doesn't try to lift the boat by grabbing a thwart.
I think that my next entry on this boat will be the launch! Stay tuned.
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Douglas Brooks
May, 2010
Douglas Brooks (www.douglasbrooksboatbuilding.com) is a boatbuilder, writer and researcher specializing in the construction of traditional wooden boats for museums and private clients. He lives with his wife Catherine in Vergennes, Vermont.
© Copyright 2010 by Douglas Brooks
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