<<<<< BUILDING THE GLOUCESTER GULL LIGHT DORY PART (12) >>>>>

 

Progress has been steady despite being laid low for a couple of months with a nasty flu .The whole country seems to have caught it and I've never known a flu to stick around for so long. 

The main seat has been fitted to the central frame as have the inwales, breasthook and rowlock blocks. The transom (called a 'tombstone stern' in Dory speak) has been shaped and the towing notch bored.

A large plank (not a king plank) was useful when aligning and levelling the forward buoyancy chamber deck beams. The buoyancy chamber decks are not parallel with the waterline, rather they rake upwards to the bow and stern following the Dorys sheer.

Framing shows the position of the stern buoyancy chamber hatch (The largest of the two oblongs). Both chambers will have watertight storage hatches.

I recessed the breasthook slightly and shaped the top of the stem in a traditional style.

The port and starboard rowlock blocks were a tricky installation. The considerable flair in the topsides means that the angle of the top of the sheer is a long way off the horizontal. I made each rowlock block up in two pieces laminating them together on top of the sheer at about an 8 - 10-degree angle off the horizontal - the angles and bevels made my head swim.

Shaping the stern area was a challenge combining tapers and bevels and fairing everything up mainly by eye. In my first version the camber was too high, but I am happy with the final result. The next stage is decking in the buoyancy chambers and installing the hatches: fiber glassing the bottom of the hull and installing the stern skeg - all before sanding, minor fairing and painting.