Thursday, October 06, 2011

Big Mo Returning

There is a major Westerbeke Marine Diesel distributor, Hansen Marine,  located about a half mile from my house.  Makes me think that I should consider powering the Chamberlain Marblehead Gunning Dory with an inboard, 12HP diesel engine, instead of a Honda outboard located in the floor well..
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That's right... I'm staring to rev up the Gunning Dory again.  This blog is supposed to be about boatbuilding after all.... isn't it?   And I have all of the dory components... the frames, bottom and keels... in a nice unused space at the Peabody Nanepashemet Telecom Warehouse.
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All I have to do is set up the frames on the strongback and secure them to the bottom, add the keels, and I should be cutting and adding the strip cedar planking. 
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Time is still at a premium though.   And Joanne is asking me to put together some shelving to camoflage the elevator door at the Sundance house.
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But I can sense the momentum returning.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi..I came across an old hand made Dory. Now I've never been much for wooden boats..I'm usually doing Mach 2 with my hair on fire in a Checkmate. But since I brought this girl home..I've been thinking. At twenty feet long..and weighing in a 160 lbs...just rowing this beast might be a bit much.

I saw that yours has a roughly square engine well in it...my boat has three enclosed seats. I'm thinking of taking the screws out that hold the top of the last seat down..and rigging up an engine well inside of it. It's 10 inches wide..and 13 inches tall..38 inches at the top of the seat..and 28 at the bottom where it meets the floor.

I give you this information because..like I said..I've never owned a wooden boat..and I figure..only a fool or an expert wood cut a whole in the bottom of a perfectly good boat.

Any tips or insights you might have would be appreciated. She's all finished...and I have this 1966 Evinrude Lightwin 3 hp.



The reason that I haven't played with wood in the past...I'd have to learn a whole new vernacular.

John Nestor said...

The cut for the motor well is not as important as the strength and seal of the wood well that will surround it. Recommend that you use thickened epoxy and sheath it with fiberglass cloth. All of these skill sets are not difficult, but require research and patience.
Good Luck, Rowing a dory is the other side of the Moon from your Checkmate, but can be a very calming experience.