Dory Boats

Workhorse of Wooden Boats - The Dory

The wooden dory boat - Named for the fish species known as dories, and for the Greek Spear, Doru.

The dory is a small, shallowdraft boat, about five to seven meters (15 to 22 feet) long. It is generally a lightweight and quite versatile boat with high sides, a flat bottomed hull, and sharp bow. Dory boats are easy to build because of their simple lines.

For centuries, dories have been used for commercial fishing, both in coastal waters and in the open ocean. Variations on the spelling are doree and dori. The British Royal Navy spells it dorey (OED).

The only historically true and defining characteristic of the dory is that it constructed of wide boards or planks,

"It should be well understood, that it is the dory's special mode of construction, not its hull shape, that sets it, and its related sub-types apart from other boats" Chapelle

The dory can be described as a small boat which has:

* flat bottom, with the bottom planks fastened lengthwise (bow to stern).

* hull shape defined by the natural curve of a sawn plank (never steam bent).

* planks overlapping the stem at the front of the boat and an outer 'false' stem covering the hood ends of the planks.

* a fairly narrow transom often referred to as the 'tombstone' due to its unique shape. However, today there are some exceptions to the narrow transom with the wider transom and stern designs of motorized dories.

The shape of the dory boat hull is characterized by a bottom that is transversely flat and even sometimes bowed at bow and stern. This bowing or curvature is called 'rocker'. The dory's stern is frequently a raked surface (a narrow transom) that tapers sharply toward the bottom creating an almost double-ended boat. This is especially true for rowing dory and sailing dory styles. Some motor dories have a modified stern - widened with wider transom to handle a motor mount for outboard engine. Other motorized dories use a motor well, slightly forward of the stern, for dropping in an outboard motor.

The traditional dory hull bottom is made from planks laid fore to aft, not transverse. Some dory hulls have a second set of planks over the first laid crosswise to the main hull bottom for additional wear and strength.

Despite their simple design, dory boats are well known for their seaworthiness and rowing ease. Because of their narrow bottoms, they do not exhibit much initial stability and have often been called 'tippy'. But they really have high ultimate stability, only tipping to a point and then stiffening up and resisting further rolling.

By design, the dory has a huge cargo area and can carry a heavy load for its size. A dory will continue to retain its overall great stability even when heavily loaded down with cargo.

No wonder the dory boat was the choice of Cod and lobster fishermen.