Mountain Buzz banner

Would a Whitewater Dories subforum be a possibility?

38K views 196 replies 23 participants last post by  MNichols 
#1 ·
We have subforums for River Access and Safety alerts, Kayaking, Kayaking/Gear, Kayaking/Trip Planner, Rafting, Rafting/Gear, Rafting/Trip Planner, General boating topics, SUP's, Betty Buzz, and L&F.

I don't suspect it would have enough traffic to merit separate Gear and Trip sub-subforums, but would be cool to have a subforum with Dory builds, questions, repairs, rowing/packing techniques, etc.

Mods, is it too small to consider or worth thinking about?
 
#79 ·
High enough for me!

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=12372000


Nice looking build. You can always just slow it down when the water gets skinny
Thanks Ron! Yeah, it's deep enough, and not too fast. Planning on a 15-18 mile overnight. I plan to relax my butt off. It's been a busy summer and a busy build, and I'm not worried about finding whitewater this time of year, just moving water and a nice campsite.

I know I'll hit rocks eventually, just don't want to do it right away.

By the way, didn't realize you were on the Buzz. I've enjoyed seeing pics of your Oljeto on the Whitewater Dories group. The brown accents on your boat and oars look sharp.
 
#81 ·
Oh god, that looks frikin awesome!!
Really nice looking boat, congratulations! Definitely a build I’m gonna be following once when I build mine.
 
#82 ·
I have 238 photos in my Facebook album. Would have been nice to put a build thread in a Whitewater dories subforum on here.

Guess I'll give my photos and your attention Lord Zuckerberg instead of Vertical Scope.




Launched her Sunday. Rowed more beautifully than I imagined, and loading/unloading was crazy simple with zero straps.


I present: the Great Falls
 

Attachments

#86 ·
I have 238 photos in my Facebook album. Would have been nice to put a build thread in a Whitewater dories subforum on here.

Guess I'll give my photos and your attention Lord Zuckerberg instead of Vertical Scope.

NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just say no to Zucker*uck! Is everything that's wrong with the world today... :roll:
 
#83 ·
Natural Wood Sidewall?

Your boat looks amazing. Love the transom art.
Is the upper part of the sidewalls "natural"? No paint.
I was thinking of doing my next boat with a "Natural Wood" Strip. Didn't want to do the whole thing as I am sure there will be some repairs on the chines.
Your decks look like they turned out well.
Glad you had a great first float.
 
#84 ·
Your boat looks amazing. Love the transom art.
Is the upper part of the sidewalls "natural"? No paint.
Yes..but the meranti was more blonde than I wanted, so I used a water-based wood stain that would still allow the glass to adhere. It was a "rosewood" color. I wish it were just slightly more reddish, but I do like how it came out.

I was thinking of doing my next boat with a "Natural Wood" Strip. Didn't want to do the whole thing as I am sure there will be some repairs on the chines.
Eric Sjoden told me that Kenton Grua also did natural wood sides on his GRAND CANYON. (pic attached)

I like showing wood on a wooden boat, but I think there's also sometimes "too much of a good thing" so I painted the lower. My primary reason wasn't for repairs, but I agree!!

The 2-tone color was inspired by Mike Boyd's dory (attached) which was based on Jerry Briggs' strongback.

Your decks look like they turned out well.
Glad you had a great first float.
The hatches/gutters were inspired by the way Chris Towles did his. I haven't been able to test them yet in heavy whitewater, but look forward to it.

So...I can't really take credit for some of the best ideas, but I've borrowed some ideas that appealed to me and combined them. It's pretty wonderful that everyones' dories are so similar and yet so unique!
 

Attachments

#85 ·
...and I'm not terribly impressed by the BS 1088 meranti I got. I thought it was very heavy and brittle, and it didn't have very interesting grain like the ply on Mike's boat.

The Doug Fir I used on my floors, decks, and bulkheads was a lot more resilient and lighter weight, but I did glass all exposed faces.



If you don't glass the faces of the ply, the meranti has the advantage of not checking like fir.
 
#87 ·
I tried to follow the Deck Drainage on your build but would love to know more about it. It looks like you have 4 outboard drains on your main decks? I like the exposed Wood Grain on the upper end for sure. I know Chris helped you with some of the Deck design but I would love to see more and understand that initial outboard drainage.
Incredible build!!
 
#88 ·
It's a double-step.


Chris' rationale:

  1. Get the water out and away from the boat as quickly as possible. Racing sailboats and kayaks do the same thing. Dory conventional wisdom of draining into the oarsman's footwell makes the footwell have to drain more than necessary. A couple of high holes will drain the deck before it puddles in the oarsman's footwell.
  2. The next rationale was to keep the gaskets out of the puddle. The double step ensures that standing water won't seep in...and a blast of water into the gutter won't force its way under the gasket the way it would if the gasket were at the bottom of the channel.
  3. The other cool thing he did was to make the drain holes slope from center to gunnel so water constantly rolls out.

There is currently only a seal inside the hatch lid, but I will add a seal on the 2nd step before I hit big water.


He has a great Google images album, I'll ask if he'd share with you.

2nd image is how I had to work a beveled hatch lip so it wouldn't bind at the hinge. It is a good idea, but my tolerances were too tight and I did have some binding. I think it would be better to plan for a 1/8" minimum gap between the hatch lips.




My footwell has a slot drain and sloped drain tubes out the side.
 

Attachments

#91 ·
It's a double-step.


Chris' rationale:

  1. Get the water out and away from the boat as quickly as possible. Racing sailboats and kayaks do the same thing. Dory conventional wisdom of draining into the oarsman's footwell makes the footwell have to drain more than necessary. A couple of high holes will drain the deck before it puddles in the oarsman's footwell.
  2. The next rationale was to keep the gaskets out of the puddle. The double step ensures that standing water won't seep in...and a blast of water into the gutter won't force its way under the gasket the way it would if the gasket were at the bottom of the channel.
  3. The other cool thing he did was to make the drain holes slope from center to gunnel so water constantly rolls out.
There is currently only a seal inside the hatch lid, but I will add a seal on the 2nd step before I hit big water.

My "everything" drains into the footwell where the pump sits, and in GC it seemed to work just fine. I can remember a couple times where the boat was completely swamped, hatches under water, and I got a negligible amount of water in the hatches.



Enough that a plastic water cannon filled a couple times on the side hatches, and about 2 or 3 minutes of "clean up" with a sponge, I have the standard single gasket sealing surface on Bears Ears. Will have to ask Mike G how his hatches sealed when he gets off the Grand.


I like your dual gasket detail, but not sure it'd make much of a difference. My friend Buck says the word dry, in relation to hatches, is a nice thought, but it's all relative anyway :)
 
#100 ·
Rick, thank you for the link and for attaching more photos! I see I already liked the photo of you doing a tailstand in your story on the Grand.

After rebuilding a boat, would you do it again, or would you build from scratch? I’m kind of itching to do a renovation.
 
#101 ·
That's actually a photo of the original builder, but she can be a wild ride!

My renovation was mostly cosmetic upgrade, 5 years old and minimal damage - the meranti was in great shape. I think I'd prefer a new build and hope to do one if I someday find myself with the available time. I've always been a diy'er, but there's going to be a learning curve.
 
#104 ·
So...I recently joined the Dory owners community and thought I'd post up. I haven't gotten it on the water yet, but would like to early next year.

I introduce... The Wesley...



Previous Owners Picture at Phantom...


Here is an album with more detail pics... https://photos.app.goo.gl/vbRZkV8k77JoqLRb8

It certainly isn't the prettiest boat when its on the trailer...but it has a ton of history and has been through a lot but still has a ton of life left in it.

It needs a bit of work, but nothing crazy. Mostly just reworking the bilge system and redoing the seals on the hatches. Its tempting to try to fix some of the cosmetic work on the boat...but since it holds water and rows fine still...I think I'll leave them for now. If I got it repaired...I'd be way more paranoid about hitting stuff I think.

I reached out to a few dory guys including Andy Hutchinson and Mike at Eddyline Welding before purchasing it and was surprised to find out how well known this boat is.

It was made as commision for the AZRA commercial fleet in the Grand Canyon from Alumaweld patterns in the mid to late 90's and was decked by the original builder. The decks weren't optimal and it wasn't quite built correctly (wavy sides supposedly) so Brad Dimock, along with a local flagstaff welder fabricator, reworked it and redid the gunnels. It was named after an AZRA guide who I'm told was an amazing river runner and guide that customers and colleagues loved...but who had a hard time dealing with the off season and ended up taking his own life. I don't know much more then that...but plan to show the respect its due for that name and take great care of it. I'd be very interested to find out if anyone knows more details about the boat's name sake.

Found this picture on AZRA's Twitter page...


It spent most of its life in the AZRA fleet till being sold recently a private boater... and then to the person I purchased it from.

The guy I bought it from did a few mods to add a space to put a cooler in the rear passenger well...but otherwise left it alone. He took it down the Grand last year and said he had a blast but that he's gonna take a break from GC trips for a while and didn't have much use for it in Oregon so he decided to sell it. I went and picked it up earlier this month (40 hours and 2700 miles of driving in 3 days...uggh) and its sitting in my driveway now.

I'm told the Wesley was often used as a training boat for new Dory captains and it shows a bit. I'm told it has been down the left side of Bedrock and through the Ledge Hole...so it can definitely take a hit and keep on going. I think it will be a great intro to hard boat life for me...and I'm really looking forward to getting it on the water.
 
#105 ·
Outstanding, good for you and welcome to the wide wide world of Dories !!


I had an alumaweld hull that was decked as my first Dory, she was a McKenzie style, I'd check and see if it leaks at the chine, mine did and it wasn't nearly as beat up as the chine on your boat. Is super easy to fix with a stainless wire wheel and a spoolgun, just beat out the dents and weld away.
 
#106 ·
It has definitely taken a bunch of hits...but the previous owner said it holds water perfectly. There have definitely been some welding repairs done to it already...but I won't know for sure how well it holds water till I get it on the river...



This is a 17' Double Ender Briggs Design. Classic Grand Canyon style Dory. Kinda wish it was transom ended... but I'm sure it will be great either way.

I have a TIG welder but am a complete Novice with it. I think a Spool Gun or a short gun for my Miller 211 will be a likely addition to my welding setup. I'd love to get a push pull machine...but I don't think I can justify the cost right now.
 
#108 ·
I think a Spool Gun or a short gun for my Miller 211 will be a likely addition to my welding setup. I'd love to get a push pull machine...but I don't think I can justify the cost right now.

You'd play hell trying to see what you were doing with a TIG, is super overkill!! Now a push pull stinger would be just the ticket, I've always wanted one, but like yourself, can't justify the cost, and at the end of the day it's a spray arc process, welding, yes, but just barely LOL.
 
#109 ·
Welcome doryman! What is the width of Wesley’s floor? There are some older GCD/OARS aluminum boats that are wider than the Briggs boats. Bram Role’s Coho is one of them.

Buddy of mine has a spool gun for his MM 210, says it works pretty well but requires practice. I’d advocate being able to do your own repairs/mods especially if you already own a compatible welder.

Cheers!
 
#110 ·
Its definitely wider then a classic Briggs at 54" at the widest section. I'm told most boats are 48" wide due to the restrictions of plywood width and not wanting to have to too complicated with multiple scarfing joints. Much easier to get larger sheets of Aluminum...and even if you can't its pretty easy to weld another couple inches on.

I agree that being able to do my own repairs will be nice. I'm debating between getting a spool gun or just getting the shortest standard welding gun possible and putting a teflon liner in it with some thick wire. I've definitely seen that work and you don't have that clunky spool to contend with in tight spaces.

I have also heard that it takes practice...so I definitely WILL NOT be doing my first welds on the boat itself.

For now though... I'm worrying about getting the seals replaced on the hatches and reworking the bilge system with a higher capacity bilge pump and rerouted tubing.

I think, as of now, I'm planning on having the bilge pump in the captains footwell and having the front and rear passenger wells dump into that. Currently, it dumps from all three footwells into a sump in the left captains hatch. The previous owner said that the pump was sucking a lot of air because it emptied the sump faster then water would flow into it... so it was constantly shutting off and on as that happened.



I'm essentially going to emulate the system in Mike Guryan's "Wild Child" and put it under the foot brace in the captains footwell. Planning on getting a Johnson SPX 2200 or 4000 gph pump depending on a few things. I think the existing tubing is 1"1/4...which the 4000gph one would overpower....so I'm kind of leaning towards the 2200. Either way it will be way better then the 750gph one that is in there now. I just have to add a tube from the output of the pump to dump out the side...and run wire from the captains hatch out to the pump to power it.

For hatch gaskets... I'm planning on getting trimlock rubber gaskets. I just have to figure out which size. Its sorty of weird since, if you look in the picture below, the front or back edge of the hatch is flat (depending on the hatch) but the rest of the sides have a vertical metal edge. The edge sides are super easy to find a gasket for...but matching that flat part and making it seal correctly will be the hard part I think.

Captains Bays the flat spot is in front


Rear Hatch the flat spot is on the hinge side


I think the front and rear end hatches are easier since they are "edged" all the way around...but I don't have picture of that yet.
 
#111 ·
Are the raised lips and the flat spots the same height? If so, it will be relatively easy to pick Trimlok gaskets that have a similar thickness. Not sure if the double gasket (hatch and lip) is necessary or not?

Check out Eddyline Welding’s website for some cool aluminum Dory outfitting ideas.
 
#112 ·
I think its close enough where the answer is yes...should be easy enought to match the heights. I'll double check tomorrow. I think the hardest part of the gasket replacement will be matching the corners...probably just use some RTV or something to go between them.

I agree that I'm not sure double gaskets is needed or even wanted. I think a good single gasket on the lip of the hatch will be more then sufficient.

I was also noticing that some of the Southco latches are kinda hard to lock down. Feels like they want to pop open. At $35 a latch, replacing all of them sounds expensive so I'm gonna need to fiddle with them. Maybe just lubricating the mechanism will be enough.

Speaking of Eddyline... I almost bought the Chub protype that he's got up for sale. I even sent a deposit over to lock it down...but at the end we couldn't come to price that worked for both sides. It looks like an amazing little boat and I'm sure it would have been awesome...but it was more then double the price and didn't come with a trailer and some other stuff I would have needed.

p.s. Speaking of trailers... I'd be interested in a Dory/DriftBoat specific trailer if anyone was selling one. This one came with what seems like a snow mobile trailer...but its big and heavy and I'd prefer something that was lighter and slimmer and had the boat closer to the ground. Thinking about building my own...but if there was a deal on one I'd probably take that instead.
 
#113 ·
p.s. Speaking of trailers... I'd be interested in a Dory/DriftBoat specific trailer if anyone was selling one. This one came with what seems like a snow mobile trailer...but its big and heavy and I'd prefer something that was lighter and slimmer and had the boat closer to the ground. Thinking about building my own...but if there was a deal on one I'd probably take that instead.

I have one I'd about give you for what I have into the tires and bearings, it's an older boat trailer that I modified to carry Bears Ears, I sandblasted and painted it after doing a little trussing and bracing, has 2X4 carpeted bunks on the bottom and on the side fenderwells. It could use a little TLC if you were wanting to keep it and use it as your main trailer, I just made it to make it easy to move the boat around until I could get a pretty custom one together. I put the new tires and bearings in when I ended up taking a GC trip, past that they are brand new.
 
#117 ·
EM, PM me if you have any aluminum welding questions. Although I have a push pull for my 350P, I usually tig aluminum. 4943 is a great filler choice for most aluminum, but it only comes in 10# boxes.

A really short whip with a not-very-angled neck can work in a pinch, but it'll probably birdness a ton at the rollers and drive you crazy. Plus the feed speed is a little erratic.
 
#118 ·
Thanks for the offer...I might have to take you up on it once I get a bit more serious. At this point, unless I find a leak...I'm not gonna start welding on this boat much any time soon. Oh...and you might have to look harder... https://www.weldingsuppliesfromioc.com/hobart-maxal-4943-035-x-1-lb-4-inch-spool-494303504 :grin:

I actually got a phone call from John Weldfelt from Weldfelt fabrication this morning with a similar offer. He makes great stuff and I bought one of his Nexus Cataraft Frames last summer and have been very happy with it. Again, I appreciate the offer but I'm not quite ready to jump in with both feet on fixing chines and dings and such yet.

I've definitely been looking at the Hyde trailers but can't find a real price or anyone that sells one locally. I'll have to ask MNichols about it and see.

Speaking of...I think I'm interested in your older one. I'll email you back privately to discuss.
 
#125 ·
Yeah...my TIG is a Diversion 180 that I got as payment for a car trade a while back. Its totally bare bones.

Not gonna lie...kinda tempted to get this multi-process units...


https://www.everlastgenerators.com/product/mig/power-mts-252-sti-tig-package

It even has options for spool gun/push pull setup. I have one of their plasma cutters and while its not as smooth as some of the name brand ones I've used it certainly does the job I need it to. Having one machine to worry about and make space for sounds kinda nice and I'm not at the point where if that one machine craps out that I'd be SOL or anything.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top