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Introduction:
[March 18,2023]
This will be our fifth skin-on-frame boat build. Although the photo above looks somewhat like a
smaller version of our Chamberlain Gunning Dory it is a totally different design also by Dave Gentry.
As designed his 'Ruth' high performance wherry would be 18' long with a beam of 33" and could weigh
as little as 45 lbs. Our slightly modified version will be 16' long and will have an inch more freeboard
(depth).
I've made these changes for a couple of reasons. Length: 1)We have found
that 18' boats are a bit longer than is easy to store in our boat shed.
2) Shorter means lighter, and 3)rowed/paddled boats 16' or less don't need to
be registered in Michigan. It seemed prudent to add a little depth to the
hull for safety while rowing on Lake Michigan and because of the slight
reduction in buoyancy caused by shortening the boat.
One other minor change will be the use of heavier, 13 oz. polyester fabric
rather than the specified 8 oz. material. As it turns out that lighter
fabric is no longer available from George Dyson or any of the other sources
I've researched. This 13 oz. fabric is the same as the material we used to
cover our dory back in 2015 and it has held up really well. I'm still
undecided as to whether to varnish or paint the boat. We and others have
found that oil-based finishes tend to cause the covering to wrinkle so I may
at least prime the hull with a water-based spar urethane.
More soon ...
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