Hankinson "Chunky Dory"

[Don R]

I live Oregon and have many friends who fish the Pacific ocean for Halibut, Salmon, and most importantly.......Albacore TUNA!!!

I have built several wood boats in the past. Two driftboats and a 16' dory/skiff to be exact. I want to make the leap to an ocean-capable craft so I can run with the pack and fish the salt with my buds.

I have been debating between the Glen-L "V-Dory" and the Hankinson "Chunky Dory", with the V-entry option. I've decided to build the Hankinson and I've now have the plans. I plan to excercise the option to stretch the 8'6" x 23' stock plans to 25'8". It will include a cuddy with a v-berth, a fully enclosed cabin, and 140hp Mercruiser I/O. It will be 1/2" fir marine ply on the sides and three laminated 1/4" layers on the bottom, all encapsulated and glassed with System 3 epoxy. The framing will be white oak.

Some may question my decision to build a flat-bottomed boat for long range fishing the Pacific ocean. I understand that the ride will be "bumpy" at times and I am willing to accept that.

My reasons are twofold...I am comfortable with the construction techniques and the relatively quick timeline to build this style. Also, the Pacific style dory is a time tested design here in the Pacific Northwest. They are tough little workboats that seem to just ride better the heavier they are loaded.

Has anyone here had any experience with building a Pacific Dory, Hankinson, Glen-L, or some other design? Any advice before I start?

[RonW]

Think I can help and give you some info. I asked the same question on this board back in the summer or so, think the thread was -pacific dory- I have the plans for glen-l's pacific dory, and like you I also have a 18 ft. drift boat. Use the search above to find threads on the pacific dory.

But besides the info on the thread I had a lot of e-mails back and forth from a forum member who lives in oregon and has a 24 ft. pacific dory built from glen-l's plans, he fishes off shore for tunas, and even sent me some neat pictures of tuna fishing. I planned on using it for the ohio river and lake erie, which can be one rough body of water. I thought the flat bottom would be good for beaching on the river, and the pacific dory could handle lake erie.

Here is the info I got from my inquiry. The dory will pound ungodly, exstremely bad. In fact if the water gets rough you have to keep the boat off of plane and run about 10 miles per hour top speed, or you can't take the pounding litterally.He fishes off shore as much as 50 miles, and says if the water gets rough, it is one long, hard,and very slow ride home, like 3 or 4 hours trip in, maybe more. He also advised me to get a inflatable life jacket, as you never know when you will get tossed overboard.If you are leaning over the rail and a wave hits the boat, being flat sided it will rock hard and may catch you off guard throwing you out. This is 2 very bad points against the boat. But you also have another bad point, you loose a lot of floor space by the flaring sides, once you see pictures of a couple of guys with fish and fishing equipment the floor space shrinks dramatically.So I laid the pacific dory plans aside, I even ordered the simmons plans, but decided against them. The bottom is a big improvement,nice looking boat, but again you have the flaring sides that rock hard and you loose a lot of floor space.

Instead I will make the suggestion for you to go to glen-l's page and look at the double eagle, it is a lobster boat. The construction and materials are the same. I doubt if the hull itself will cost you anymore or be any more trouble to build. All the money is as you know in the motor, finish, trailer and so forth, but I bet the hull will cost about the same. In the same size boat you will have a whole lot more room, a easier and very smooth riding boat, and a boat that can run 16 to 18 m.p.h. through 5 foot waves, you can almost cut your run time in half on rough water.

On glen-l's home page you can use the search for double eagle and come up with some good info, think about 4 web- letters back glen-l had a article on the eagle with a lot of pictures and comments from owners. I now have the plans for the eagle, the rounded version and am starting it now. Don't worry about the cost of the plans you already bought, The plan cost are nothing compared to the finished cost. Don't spend all the work and money just to save plan cost only to find out after the new wears off, you really aren't that happy with the boat. The forum member that give me all the info on his pacific dory, plans on building another boat in the future, think he was thinking of either the double eagle from glen-l, or a tolman skiff in stitch and tape.

Sorry for the negatitivty, but the facts are the facts, and you might really appreciate it later if you change boat plans.