Building the Dory Tender
Part 1 :: Part 2 :: Part 3 :: Part 4
LAUNCHED!
A proud day in a young boy's life: his first boat kisses the water. Last night we had a sudden break in a rainy weekend and we dashed down to the lake in fading light to launch the Marc Bauer designed dory tender. It took over a year to build but Tom learned a great deal and had fun at the same time. Now he gets to find out which is more fun: building or rowing. The boat fit snugly in his short bed pickup and wasn't too bad a carry over about a 100 meters to the water. She has no skeg of any kind on the bottom but she seemed to track well under oars and should be nice and maneuverable. Tom said she felt steady and stable to boot. The designer (plans available from marc.a.bauer@gmail.com) confessed already that my idea of adding a false stem makes her look nice. I suspect Marc will adjust the plans accordingly. We also added a little half-round right under the caprail to hide the screws in the sheer plank (which was too thin to allow for countersinking).
We will see now if this gets Tom thinking of building a grander boat. I hope he comes up with something soon, as he treated us to ice cream cones following the launch.
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Douglas Brooks
November, 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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