Gloucester Gull Dory (Photo from the internet)
The Gloucester Light Dory (Also referred to as the Gloucester Gull Dory) was designed by the innovative American yacht designer Phil Bolger. Harold Payson popularized this Dory with his book 'How to Build The Gloucester Light Dory'. I have had Payson's book for years and have decided now is the time to build my own Dory. With arthritis affecting my left ankle and right knee to the point that long walks or running (what's that?) are distant memories I am going to add to my fitness kit of sailing my OK Dinghy and riding my Brompton folding bike by building a boat I can row - a Gloucester Gull Dory.
The first step is to read the manual. This is all that I have to go on - no full sized patterns or plans. But the book will do - but I need a magnifying glass, not just because of my age, but because some of the measurements are a bit blurry and hard to read.
8 comments:
Excellent - Alden's back and he's got a project! Looking forward to this.. :o)
Hi Sreve, good to be back building and posting something online again. The build is going well so far, including ongoing problem solving around the tricky bits - but that's all good for the old brain. : > )
We happen to be starting this boat ourselves—with 18-year-old tracing patterns and Dynamite's book that I had put aside when my son was young. Your image of the stem layout leads me to hope that you have more insight into how to read one of the plans I've found that is not in the original book:
https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/554bc91be4b02833ac37c236/1458827440725-5XWL60WNJ2O60VH8AKO7/G.Gull+lines+nws-1.jpg
If you have any insight into the pull out for the stem in this copy of the plan, could you share it here or in the comments, or in the blog?
Hello Anonymous - I already have the plan in your link, but I don't understand what you are asking regarding the "pull out for the stem"'. If you can explain this a little more I may and are willing to help you.
Yes, still anonymous here: That plan is identical to The Gloucester except someone's changed it just slightly and also in fact changed it's name as if it's their plan. But what they have added is what appears to be some kind of 3D projection of the stem "floating" offside with varying inch measurements that differ and I'm not sure how to read it, and turn that into varying angles, that's all
Since I am having difficulty with what will be required to hone the stem to exactly match the sides without any gaps, I thought I'd ask you since your photo of the stem has demarcations on it, 4. if I remember correctly. like the projection on that plan. Thanks for this reply. I've book marked your site now and will check back soon.
Hi Anonymous. I found the making of the transom and the stem problematic to say the least. The plans in the book are not clear and I had a lot of trouble trying to figure out what to do. This is what I did with the stem. I first made a plywood pattern of the stem using the dimension from the plan, I laminated wood up to a reasonable thickness to the profile of this pattern. I then fixed the stem to the building frame and faired the bevel in using a fairing batten - I used a wood plane to plane the bevel down, checking the bevel as I went with a fairing batten. I did a similar thing with the transom - I did not pre-cut the bevel, I faired the bevel in using a fairing batten and a hand plane. There are numerous difficulties that arise when building any boat, but there are always work arounds or other ways of getting to the same result. Good luck with your build.
..... Anonymous - the four marks you are referring to in the photo are measurement marks that I made from a base line so that I could make the plywood pattern for the stem - the measurements are from the plan in the book. ALSO - because I faired the stem in with a fairing batten, this free hand approach has allowed me to alter the stem a little bit - you will see from the photo that I have introduced a taper on the front face of the stem onto which I will add a stem capping which I will round off. This will make a more attractive stem than a sharp razor like model.
It's a comfort to know that I'm not the only confused one. Nice job posting 3, and 4 which I'll look at closely a little later. Thanks~
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