A Few Small Details (Chamberlain 19’ Gunning Dor

Details Part II

Bob Smalser, Seabeck, WA

>

Hiking stick, tiller control lines, boat hook and side seats.

Hiking stick stowed beneath the thwart, Wilcox’s smallest winch and handle, Wilcox bilge pump, oar stowage…

…and hinged centerboard trunk cap with Herreshoff jibsheet cleat. It’s hinged at the thwart because I used a larger oak Beachcomber centerboard rather than the light plywood board John Gardner drew in his plans for the boat. One complaint about these as sailers is they are too light, with no carry in troughs…my larger, heavier, lead-weighted board and heavy false bottom seem to have corrected that, although I may add some lead shot bags along side the trunk later for solo sailing, as in 25kts and 3’ seas, the boat points surprisingly well, but it’s impossible to go to windward without a dedicated and energetic bailer.

Centerboard control rod and boat hook…

…the boathook grooved on the underside to register the location of the hook in the dark.

Oars and oarlocks.

Jibsheet comb, lashed marline side stay, English Cocker Spaniel. Side stays aren’t a usual feature of rigs this small (90sf of sail), but I use them to lengthen the life of the centerboard trunk joints. Lashed marline ILO turnbuckles is real quick to cut in an emergency to free the rig.

Continued…

Re: Details Part III

Bob Smalser, Seabeck, WA

>

Jibsheet comb, wall-knotted fender and leather oar buttons.

Salvaged gooseneck with fabricated bronze mast band…

…that folds to make a neat bundle either for rowing or to stow inside the boat.

The two boom bridles are lashed for head room…

…and the mast shoulder cleats were built to hold the leathered side stay and jib halyard eyes firmly in place when stepping and unstepping the rig, which can be done safely while afloat with the board down. The mast and boom are hollow Doug Fir…the rig weighing around 35lbs.

Busy, but very functional. Oar, bow painter and beach hook and chain stowage, still allowing access to the storage compartment and still providing a seat.

Shucks…this boat even “motorsails”.

Re: A Few Small Details (Chamberlain 19’ Gunning

Luke Herzberg

>Great post, Bob. I really hope that building a small boat is in my future, although it will probably be a few years down the road at least. That looks like quite a restoration job you've done...great detail.

Do you have any recommendations for books or info that would be good for somebody wanting to learn more about small boat construction, specifically sailing? I'm in the middle of Chapelle's "Boatbuilding", and the traditional style of building is certainly interesting, but I don't know if something more along the lines of plywood and epoxy wouldn't be better for a first effort?

Thanks,

Luke

They are lying to you.

Bob Smalser, Seabeck, WA

>Chapelle is hard to read. John Gardner has 3 books out, and his "Dory Book" has an excellent how-to on building them traditionally.

These days of regrown forests and portable sawmills, it's usually much cheaper to build outta solid wood than marine ply and goo.

I recommend building one of Gardner's punts or prams of cedar as a first effort....then tackle a dory out of pine.

Plywood and goo has become quite a racket over the decades. The folks who tell you that you don't have the skills to do the joinery on a traditionally-planked boat yet have you accurately bevel and butt that unpleasant, crumbly plywood are trying to sell you plywood and goo.

Don't be hoodwinked. If you can join ply, you can join solid....the trick is to hone your skills on an easy-to-plank design like a pram or punt. And solid is a whole lot more pleasant to work, if slower.

Same with the lie that traditional boats leak. Old traditional boats suddenly relegated to life on trailer leak. New traditional boats built for the trailer don't have to leak any more than plywood boats have to leak.

Re: They are lying to you.

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>On a quick scan, I noticed that Gardner in Building classic small craft specifies plywood, or something close, for a lot of his. Can you substitute wood with impunity?

Pam

Sure....but....

Bob Smalser, Seabeck, WA

>...you probably will have to add some framing, Pam.

You can use a Naval Architects's book of scantling sizes or you can study similar boats and copy those sizes and spacings.

There are few classic boats out there that weren't first built sans plywood and goo....and either Howard Chapelle or John Gardner will have the plan in one of their books. The Smithstonian, Mystic Seaport, CWB Seattle, Phila Museum, and many more museums also have documented plans available inexpensively.

Newcomers tend to build too heavy....if the plan says 9/16" sided and 7/16" molded then 5/8 and 1/2 won't do. Makes a huge difference inthe finished boat.

But newcomers also usually don't study how the boat works to aid in those decisions....read my comment about side stays in small boats, and look at the two sets of thwart knees I added. Is it clear why they protect that CB trunk-bottom joint?

Newcomers should begin with one of Gardner's punts or prams in oak and cedar or fir and cedar....then build a larger dory in pine....before tackling that dream boat, even if it's out of plywood.

Sometimes when I see...

Jim Reed @ Tallahassee

>the detail and the level of your craftsmanship I am stunned. This is one of those times. It just makes some of my projects look like packing crates on top of pallets. Thanks for the pictures and thanks for the inspiration.

Re: A Few Small Details (Chamberlain 19’ Gunning

Clay C in Miami

>Bob,

Thanks 1,000,000 for taking the time and trouble to take, process, and post all the pictures, plus of course the descriptions, without which I'd've been 100% lost ... It's even smaller than I'd imagined when seeing the bits-and-pieces pics.

Clay