Dory is a a lightweight boat with high sides, a flat bottom and sharp bows, usually easy to build because of its simple lines. It is considered a traditional fishing boat, on the open sea and near the coast. It can be handled both with paddles and sails.
Classic Dory
[source for both pics: http://doryshop.com]
With this article I continue to post in Encyclopedia category after a long time. Normally I hate to inspire my writings from Wikipedia (being so editable and so “open”), but sometimes one can’t find an independent source or even more. There also must still be some books on the market, about the subjects I approach here, but they aren’t always available, so, I had to take the data from Wikipedia as it is. In this case for example, Wikipedia doesn’t show a sailing dory, the article is (as most of the others, especially in this domain, of boats) obviously incomplete and in need of other citations. Anyway, the important things to know are there.
A Little History
The primary known mention of a dory was in 1719. In its most popular style, the dory was created in New England fishing towns at some point after the early 1700s. Simeon Lowell is acknowledged with building the very first dories close to 1793 which he referred to as ‘wherries’.
What this boat looked like is wide open to opinion but via various sources it might be deduced to have been a flat bottomed boat. Although a few presume that boat adopted the Banks dory shape, the Grand Banks cod fisheries for which the Banks dory was made didn’t start working till the 1830s.
The first identified dories were beach dories designed for beach launched fishing trips. The main example is the Swampscott dory, named after Swampscott town where they were made. It is frequently assumed that the Banks dory was the genuine dory. In truth, the Swampscott dory preceded the Banks dory by fifty years. (cf. buildyourowndoryboat.info, a website not functioning anymore.)
Sailing Dory from Nova Scotia
Dory Today
In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest within the dory style. Quite a few modern marine designers and backyard amateurs are experimenting with the dory design and refining the type to some degree.
These boats are designed largely for pleasure and make use of new building materials and strategies not available for the originators in their day. The basic form remains nonetheless as dory building spreads all over the world.
Dories are generally 5 to 7 meters long (66 – 23 ft.)
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