Dell Quay Dory

[seapiper]

Can anyone offer advice as to the suitability of an open Dory with outboard fpr the Solent area. as to minimum recommended length, size of engine etc
My thoughts are that wide boat like the Dory maybe most stable for choppy seas

 

[Whitelighter]

It depends what you want to use it for. If it is for short runs out to a fishing spot then all day at anchor there is some merit in the wide bottom as it should be bit more stable at rest.

Coping with a chop at speed however the reverse is true. You want a narrower beam with a deeper V and a more pointed bow to allow you to cut through the waves both forwards and when you come back down of a peak.

To give you an idea, think of a full sink of water at home and you have a frying pan and a chef's knife. If you smack the pan onto the water in the sink then the pan stops, big splash of water and you feel it in your wrist. Now try the knife - becasue it is sharp there is no resistenace when you hit the water and if just passes though with no splash, an likely you dont feel it. these are two extremes, but it illustrates the point about narrower deeper V hulls and wider flat bottom hulls.

A deeper V hull will be less stable at rest however, hence my fishing comment at the start of this ramble.

 

[colingr]

I agree with Jez. A small boat or one with a flat profile hull will slam horribly in the Solent, trust me mine does! Which is why I'm getting a bigger boat with a deeper V hull.

Unless you only want to go out on flat calm days you want something 18ft at least.

 

[db631018]

Hi

I grew up being lucky enough to be able to have a regular 'play' with a 13' Dory, great fun !

The above is good advice especially the bit about what you want to use the dory for? because if its just a bit of lowish budget safe, fast fun your after its a great little boat. If its to spend time at anchor maybe you should try to find the bigger 19' Dory with a cuddy.

 

[Cad692]

I agree with all that has been said above. If you want to try and get the best of both worlds you could also look for a Fletcher Malibu (sometimes called a Fish'n Ski). I have had one for 12 years and they are great. Open wide interior with the reputable Fletcher 18ft speedboat hull so you get the best of both worlds.

 

[Nautorius]

Hi SeaPiper,

Great boats but beware. The old ones are full of expanded foam between the Hull and inner Liner. Unfortunately over the years water seeps in and fills it up. No way to dry them out. Result is that they often float lower than supposed to and do not handle great.

Apart from that they are a great fun boat. Maybe consider a CJR14 which has a small cuddy on the front but has a similar hull not filled with foam.

Cheers

paul /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Sneds]

Jez, great comparison, thanks for that.......and yes, we have just tried it out in the bath!
/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[Davy_S]

Maybe consider a CJR14 which has a small cuddy on the front but has a similar hull not filled with foam.

The later CJRs were filled with foam! Also rebadged as the triple three and built by poolside boats of Freckleton, very stable at rest, made your kidneys bleed into a head sea and filled the cabin top with stresscracks but, amazing in a following sea, will leave a similar size deep vee for dead (in a following sea only)

 

[Bandit]

We use dell quay dory 13ft for work a great platform to work from or for carrying lots of people and gear.

The foam fills with water over time and literally weighs a ton.

The boat slams in any sea and is quite wet.

Its ok for fishing from in small seas quite stable but not really an open water boat.

Larger Dell Quay 17 or Nab 17 both trihedral hulls still slam like hell but better seakeeping.

If you want a boat to go out in open areas go for a small rib, lots of fun and great sea boats it all depends on your budget.

If your budget stretches to a good secondhand rib its much more fun and a far better seaboat, be careful of tatty tubes and old outboards.

 

[seapiper]

Thanks all for all the advice. I was thinking about a RIB, hoever, we have a dog which we may want to take with us and wasn't sure if the tubes would be torn by the claws. ARIB does seem to be better for the Solent area though

 

[thefatlady]

There are dorys and dorys. Some have a very low freeboard and IMHO are not suitable for anything much more than pootling round a harbour. I think Dell Quay are like that, but would stand to be corrected.

Others are used by fishermen, etc. and are far more robust. Back in the 1980s, I had a 17ft dory built by (I think) JGM with a 100hp Mercury. It had previously been owned by an RAF diving club and was very stable. I used to take that all over the Solent, down to Poole, etc.

It did slam a little, but not too much, but getting it over the hump and onto the plane was interesting. More weight in the bow helped a lot. Once on the plane, it went like a bat out of hell (at least it seemed that way to me then). Also seemed good for waterskiing.

This is it:

Good boat and I kept it for about 8 years, which is a fair indication of what I thought of it.