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Faering Dory Under Construction
The Faering Dory is a design that I came up
with after seeing Iain Oughtread's Elf Faering rowboat
on the Internet. I liked the flare that the boat had, it appeared
very open and inviting. I liked the wishbone framing in the
fore and aft ends, and the symmetry of the hull. I have always
liked the Norwegian prams with their radical curvature, and
the chamfers cut into the woodwork as opposed to radiussed
edges.
John Maxson poses beside his Faering dory.
I wanted to build a boat that would really
stand out. Lots of flare and sheer, a curve from any angle
of perspective. Full of clear wood with interesting grains.
I designed the Faering Dory so I could make the hull out of
a single skin on each side and a flat bottom. I did leave
about 4" of rocker in the bottom to give the thin bottom
some stiffness. The plywood is 1/4" thickness. I wanted
to make the boat as traditional as I could but using the simple
sheet hull. The boat is 13 1/2' LOA, 47" beam.
I made a 2-station mold to form the hull. The side planks
were fastened to one stem, and at the opposite end, fastened
to the other stem on one side only. The sheets were then wrapped
around the mold, upside down, and the last sheet end fastened
to the stem to complete the shape. It was tricky to get the
screws into the last stem in the correct position while the
3M #5200 sealant was getting messy. Luckily, I have a very
skilled neighbor who can do the seemingly impossible, he came
over to help with the task.
I steam-bent the white oak chines on a jig and laid them in
the hull, the mold having removable sections at the top to
accept them.
Hull under construction on the mold
I attached the bottom sheet, pulled the hull out of the mold,
plumbed and braced it, while I made the douglas fir frames.
The breastplates are made with 4 pieces of douglas fir each,
laminated to give me enough thickness to work with the flare
of the hull. The pieces were grain-mirrored, all the grains
in the fir really show off nicely.
I made the inwhale spacers, using leftover plywood
strips, by chamfering the edges of 2 strips, and gluing them
over a square strip to create a chamfer feature within the
spacer. Just a little added touch.
The outwhales are African Ipe, a gift from Phil Behney. The
Ipe bends really easy and the plank was a 16 footer, plenty
long for a continuous outwhale. The inwhale is Douglas fir.
It was steam bent as well. It stops about 18" shy of
the breasthook, ending at the wishbone frame. I thought that
this would give the inwhale ends a little detail, instead
of being a continuous line right to the breastplates.
Faering dory under construction
The thwarts are Redwood that was given to me by a friend,
Doug Howard. The planks were old growth from the 1960's, straight
as can be. The grain matches that of the inside of the inwhales.
I have the inside carpentry complete, I need to varnish the
pieces, assemble, bung some more screw holes, and then varnish
more. Then I will be ready to flip her over and make the outer
stems and bow nosepiece out of white oak. many thanks to the
bargain cart at General Woodcraft. The bottom will get a skeg
that blends into the aft stem.
I guess I am putting alot detail into the boat that may seem
trivial, but has been enjoyable, not tedious work, that some
may think. designing the boat, making paper models, it has
all been really fun.
I really want to build another boat like the Fearing Dory,
but change the lines a little. I can vary the hull shape simply
by the cut of the sheer line in the plywood sheet, or adding
a small transom to replicate a Finnish rowboat.
Looking inside the Faering dory
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