Design
Traditional Dory
Designed by Vintage Projects
This little dory was copied from a wreck. The author, hiking in southeastern Massachusetts with his sons, pulled the remains of an old dory from a cranberry bog reservoir, apple crook frames, pine planks and clenched nails, patched the bottom with plastic sheet to try it, and found it a sweet rower with a bottom wide enough to avoid the tippiness dories are known for. He built a new one on the old boat's lines.
The article suggests her as a tender, a utility boat, a quiet fishing skiff or a first boat for children. She rows easily, can be sculled with one oar through a notch in the transom, and is the right size to take the rig from a sailboard or small dinghy, roughly 45 to 65 sq ft. No dimensions are given on the page, but the free plans carry them.
What building a Traditional Dory actually takes
Medians from the build logs kept on this site, not the designer’s estimate. Nobody has logged this boat here yet, so they are empty until the first builder does.
Those medians firm up as more people log this boat.
Builds of this boat
Nobody has logged a Traditional Dory here yet.
If you are building one, yours becomes the reference: the page the next person building this boat finds when they search for it. One photo and one line is a valid first entry.
Start the first log of this boatBoats like this one
Same type, closest in length.
| Design | Plans from | LOA | Logs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northeaster Dory | Chesapeake Light Craft | 17′ 0″ (5.18 m) | 3 |
| 15' Rangeley Lake Boat | Newfound Woodworks | 15′ 0″ (4.57 m) | 1 |
| Passagemaker Take-Apart | Chesapeake Light Craft | 11′ 7″ (3.53 m) | 1 |
| Polliwog 8 | Devlin | 7′ 6″ (2.29 m) | 1 |
| The Guider | Chesapeake Light Craft | 18′ 7″ (5.66 m) | 1 |
| Ultralight Dinghy | Chesapeake Light Craft | 6′ 0″ (1.83 m) | 1 |