Surf Dory

Spotted while riding bikes up the coast in Los Angeles today:

The boat is about 18 feet long, and of a slightly different shape than our Mare Liberum Dories (closer to a Swampscott dory, with more rounded sides) but same basic design principles — flat bottom, narrow transom, high bow and side lines. A couple of interesting features:

1. The planking lines on the sides. These are faked by cutting planks out of plywood.
2. The holes cut in the sides for the surf to roll over. The space between the decking and the bottom board (3 – 6″ according to the lifeguards) is sealed and fiber glassed to create a buoyant chamber.
3. The perfect rowing seats and foot harnesses.
4. The elegantly thin oar shaft and extended (also quite elegant) blades.
5. Where are the frames? I don’t know. Anyone? Are they so narrow as to be hidden behind an inner wall of plywood/fiberglass?

More surf dory info here:

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