37 ft 6 in Sailing Dory

Design number 174, drawn in 1978, and 31 ft 0 in on the waterline with a beam of 11 ft 0 in. She draws 4 ft 6 in on the fin keel, or 3 ft 6 in on the optional long shallow keel. Displacement in coastal cruising trim is 13,425 lb, of which 5,350 lb is ballast, a ballast ratio of 40%, for a displacement-length ratio of 201. She carries 700 sq ft on the shorter rig and 725 on the taller for a sail area-displacement ratio of 19.83, has 6 ft 4 in of headroom below, and the drawings allow 27 hp of auxiliary with 110 gal of water and 55 gal of fuel. The largest of the plywood dories, and one of the two sizes with aluminium and cored fibreglass scantlings already drawn, so the hull can be built in metal or glass without redesigning it. Two rigs are drawn, the taller adding about 25 square feet. The dories are all built the same way, and the scheme is the point of the type: plywood planking glued and fastened to the bulkheads and the furniture, so the interior is the structural framing and there are no ribs and no deck beams to work around. Floor timbers run chine to chine to carry the keel bolts, and the ballast keel, cast lead or concrete and scrap metal, bolts on near the end, which lets the hull sit low in the shop for most of the build. The straight-line hull lofts in hours rather than days, and because almost nothing has to be fitted to a curve the joinery goes faster than it would on a round-bilge boat. Flat-bottomed boats are expected to pound, and these do not: heeled, the hull presents a V to the water.

The displacement above is coastal cruising trim, tanks full with the crew and their stores aboard, not a shipping weight. Loading down for voyaging can add half as much again. Plans are sold to owner-builders, and study plans are sold separately for anyone wanting to look before committing.