The ever-versatile dory...

[mmd]

Found a couple of interesting photos showing dories at work. They sure do lend creedence to the term "floating pick-up truck".

"Roy Ramsey of Lower LaHave transports a load of dry fish somewhere in his dory."
http://users.auracom.com/limms/Images/Riverport01.jpg

"Oxen from Ironbound Island are unloaded from dories at Riverport." (Note: livestock were often turned out on uninhabited islands in the Lahave Island archipelago to browse during the summer. Not much need for fencing that way. - mmd)
http://users.auracom.com/limms/Images/Riverport04.jpg

(Photos courtesy of the Lahave Islands Marine Museum www.lahaveislandsmarinemuseum.ca

[Thorne]

http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/historic/nmfs/images/figb0010.jpg

And useful for the little-known sport of "bird-fishing"...
http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/historic/nmfs/images/figb0030.jpg

[StevenBauer]

Hey Michael, those oxen are on a catamaran! Very cool. We're getting excited down here about our N.S. trip in August. Have you seen Malolo lately? I haven't heard much from Howard. I guess that means he's keeping busy. See you then,

Steven

[Alan D. Hyde]

http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/CommunityMemories/CBMA/000a/image/slide/CBMA000a00a0.jpg

Alan

[Paul Pless]

those oxen are on a catamaran

kinda wharramesque

[mmd]

Alan, not to put too fine a comb through the fleece, but that isn't a dory; its a trap skiff.

[dmede]

Surf dory in action (pretty cool):
http://www.geocities.com/garylambda/surfdory3.jpg

[mmd]

Have you seen Malolo lately? - Steven Bauer

A couple of weeks ago, just after she went back in the water. Howard had a new engine installed and was dealing with a couple of transmission glitches. I gather that all is well now.

[StevenBauer]

That's the last news I had - no reverse. :(

I got the SWBANS e-mail. :eek: Is everyone going to pull together here or what? Sounds serious.

Steven

[HR]

My ears were burning! Transmission problems are resolved (it was forward that was slipping), and the rot in the pilothouse is almost fixed. I've got all the bad wood replaced and Dynel on the roof, now all I need is some dry weather to put on a couple more coats of epoxy and some paint.

SWBANS has been drifting for the past couple of years and I would guess it will dissolve quietly while those still interested will keep in touch and plan get-togethers (such as the Mahone Bay races, if the Festival continues).

Boy, this is serious thread drift - sent you an e-mail, Steven.

Howard

[StevenBauer]

OK, maybe we need a dory pic to get back on topic:

http://www.boat-links.com/DepoeBay/00/ScottsDory.jpg

[Popeye]

http://collections.ic.gc.ca/fisheries/images/a7-42.jpg

[bholderman]

I hate to hijack a thread here, but BrianM and I live fairly close together and he has offered to introduce me to the real aspects of boat building. Specifically the beater he wants to put together.

But in regards to something realistic, how versatile is the Dory in regards to variation in plans and "difficulty" of construction. This is definitely something I would consider over the next couple of years, does anyone have recommendations?

Cheers,
Brad

[dmede]

I think the AMAZING thing about this picture is the untold story... HOW in the HECK did those guys CONVINCE those cattle to STEP INTO the boats??? It's not like you just pick up a 1200lb non-cooperative "puppy" and stick him into the bathtub.....:D :D

Very nice photos... they almost make me feel nostalgic for my 12', 400+lb backbreaking Bank Dory....no.. wait, I've adjusted my back brace... now I feel all better again....

You'd be amazed where a domesticated animal will follow a coffe can full of sweet feed (grain and molasses). :D

Just the sound of you taping that can from a half mile away and our goats and cows woudl come running up the pasture. Any time we needed to move them anywhere... can o sweet feed.

[MarkC]

dmede - the surf dory! any more info?

[mmd]

Brad, dories are stupid simple to build - even lapstrake ones. That's why they were so popular. Sorta like the Model T's of the waterfront. Building a dory was commonly the first project for a shipwright's apprentice. Four shiplapped planks laid side by side, fastened with three cleats, and cut to shape made the bottom. Set up on blocks and braced down to the appropriate rocker. Stem and tombstone transom fastened to the bottom & braced to the proper angle. Two or three moulds set in place. Three or four planks per side, each served up, spiled to fit, gains planed in, and fastened. Fit four pairs of frames, add the inwale and seat riser, lay on the caprail and fit the breasthook and the woodwork is done. Flip her over and caulk the bottom seams, paint her inside and out, and you're ready to go. It takes one guy three days to build and paint a 16-ft dory at the Dory Shop in Lunenburg (shown below). Note that dories are sized by the length of their bottom, not the overall length.

Curtis Mahaney at the Shelburne Dory Shop tells me that "back when" two guys would build a dory in a day, caulk and paint it the next morning, and have it ready for delivery in the late afternoon - probably still wet. The Nova Scotia Dept. of Education has a 55-minute video for sale of Curtis' father, Sydney Mahaney, explaining the process and building a dory. Sydney was 94 when the video was made - he had been building dories since he was 17.

The biggest problem that you should encounter is finding planking stock wide enough for the garboard plank. Of course, plywood removes that concern and replaces it with the need to learn how to scarph plywood to get planks long enough.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d19/mmd_ns/DoryShop1.jpg

[Alan D. Hyde]

"Keeping Shelburne Dory Tradition Alive
Department of Education and Culture (to July 99)
July 17, 1998 16:41

As hardy and practical as the Atlantic fishers who handlined and
set trawl in it, the dory was a vital part of the east coast
fishery for almost a century. Now a 12 foot Shelburne dory, built
with the signature "clip" technology that made it unique to
Shelburne, is headed for Ottawa and national recognition as part
of the collection of the National Museum of Science and
Technology.

The official handing over of the oars takes place Tuesday, July
21 at 2 p.m. at the Dory Shop Museum, Dock Street, Shelburne.
David Monaghan, National Museum of Science and Technology will
accept the dory. Deborah Scott, Nova Scotia Museum will make the
presentation.

The public is invited to the brief ceremony and reception.

Donated by the Museum Services Division of the Nova Scotia
Museum, the outfitted dory, was made by the late Sydney Mahaney,
master dorymaker, when he was 92 years old. Mahaney, who died in
1993 at the age of 95, spent most of his 70 year career building
dories at the John Williams Dory Shop in Shelburne, which is now
part of the Nova Scotia Museum family.

The "clip" technology refers to the metal clip that joins the
floor frame of the dory to the side frame.

What does an outfitted dory contain? A trawl tub and trawl, two
buoys, a bailer and gaff, knife, handline, hand of trawl,
sounding lead with line halibut bat, roller gurdy, a floating
compass, a metal dinner box and water tin, not to mention thole
pins, dory plug, a set of 8 foot oars, thwarts, two anchors, a
fog horn and flare, all in keeping with the quality product
exported from the John Williams Dory Shop from the 1880s onward.

The Dory Shop Museum, Shelburne, is open daily until Sept. 30."

* * * * * * *

So far, however, I had no luck googling for a link to that video you mention... :(

Alan

P.S. Thank you for that excellent post, Michael.

[Joe ( Cold Spring on Hudson )]

Ayup

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid136/pcb05b89281e46e4fccf5192912877836/f74b386f.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid110/p1a208756d1c43d46f835ed96c0c3f6bf/f91e4cd6.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid106/p2e0bcca265903c3cf8de3a5af9d18b59/f96a3bd6.jpg

:D

[mmd]

Alan, I might be in error in saying that the video is for sale to the general oublic. I have a copy, but my wife got it for me through the school she teaches at. Apparently, it is only available to teachers through the NS Dept. of Education video library.

I'll try to find out if it is available through other sources.

[Bruce Hooke]

I lived for a while on an island on the coast of Maine while I was taking care of and working on a house on the island. My transportation to and from the island was a pair of dories (one Banks style and one more of a Swampscott style). Those dories certainly operated as pick-up trucks, carrying everything from propane tanks to 50 or 100 lb. bags of plaster to groceries to guests. I even used them to bring off a couple hundred board feet of white pine boards that I had milled out and dried on the island (using a portable bandsaw mill brought out in the dory). The boards got transferred from the dory onto my father's 23' sailboat and sailed back up the coast to my parent's house. We stowed the lumber with one end resting on the v-berth and the other end in the companionway. Sleeping space was kind of tight but it worked...

[Phil Heffernan]

Thanks Joe, for posting the Dory pix....

My beloved Lowell Dory, a Salisbury Point Skiff, a modern classic...

Thanks, Lowell boat shop ;)

PH

[Popeye]

http://shorock.com/nfld/2003/photos/800/P7253246.jpg

[StevenBauer]

From today's Portland Press Herald:

Tyler Thompson, a teacher at Wescott Junior High, helps students from the Compass Project's boat-building class launch a 21-foot dory at the East End launch Thursday. The boat, named "Practically Perfect," was built with the help of boat-builder Kipp Powell. A Stephen King Foundation grant will keep the program going two more years.

http://www.pressherald.com/photos/060609dory1.jpg

[mmd]

Update on the Sydney Mahaney video: yes, it can be purchased by non-teachers for CDN$14.94 plus taxes & shipping.

Nova Scotia Dept. of Education
Learning Resources & Technology
Education Media Library
3770 Kempt Road
Halifax, NS
B3K 4X8

https://sapps.ednet.ns.ca/lrt/index.php?form_id=0&language=English&recipient=General%20Enquiries

[ishmael]

Getting back to dories. Looking at the form, it's so simple, and inexpensive to make, and you think well that's why they built them. But then you look again, and for its size it has to be the most seaworthy craft on the planet.

Wonder of wonders, the two ends come together and make a fabulous boat! That doesn't happen all that often. Joy to the world, salud the bank dory.

[Alan D. Hyde]

That's not a bad deal, either.

~ $10 U.S....

Alan

[Popeye]

http://www.shorock.com/nfld/2003/photos/800/P7314020.jpg

[StevenBauer]

That's not a bad deal, either.

~ $10 U.S....

Alan


Not at todays exchange rate....


Steven

[Popeye]

http://collections.ic.gc.ca/fisheries/images/e24-12.jpg

another reason why , minus thwarts , stacked on the deck of a fishing schnooner

the Newfoundland Skippers bought them from Nova Scotia builders by the dozens

[mmd]

Here's a link to a whole bunch of old photos, including dories, from the Shelburne (NS) County Museum. Shelburne is a town settled by United Empire Loyalists from the US who were loyal to the British crown at the time of the American revolution. It became a major shipbuilding centre during the 1800's and was the birthplace of Donald MacKay (actually, he was born in Jordan Falls, about ten miles from Shelburne, but he began his shipbuilding career in Shelburne).

http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/pm.php?id=record_detail&fl=0&lg=English&ex=00000170&rd=78895&hs=0

A sample (I count twenty dories in this photo)

http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/CommunityMemories/AAQO/000a/image/original/AAQO000a00cg.jpg

[Chas Beard]

The Dory Shop in Lunenburg makes a beaut they cakll a seine dory...sweet and cheap.If I weren't in Ca. Oh,well!