08/25/2023
Hello all! Welcome to the rebuilding, and adventures, of my 18-foot power dory. It’s been a long and woolly ride so let’s get started.
First, some prehistory - around 2002 I finished this boat in its first rendition. As life dragged me away, I very seldom used it. It was placed in storage, and forgotten.
Flash forward to 2022. After 30 years of service, I retired from the Bellingham Fire Department. Though I had been dabbling at remodeling the boat, I was now finally free to rebuild this boat the way I had dreamed of for decades.
I have wanted to explore the local islands for long long time. Unfortunately, almost all marine camping sites are inaccessible via road. They are surrounded by private property. The only access is by boat.
The goals of this boat (and my solutions) are as follows:
- Seaworthy (it’s a dory so that’s covered)
- Low horsepower.
- Towable by a smaller truck (My Toyota Tacoma can tow 5000 pounds. The boat is 2900 pounds).
- Sleep two. (V-berth)
- Permanent shelter (hard top being provided; some soft sides are ok)
- Heated. (Dickinson propane fireplace with sealed combustion air)
- Toilet (compost toilet )
- Lots of 12 volt power available (two 200w solar panels).
- Beachable (reinforced flat bottom).
- Unsinkable. (Per ABYC Standard H-8, 830 pounds of floatation is needed to float the boat, a 50hp motor, two batteries, and 1300 pounds of ‘live load’, at the gunnel (the boat is wood so it floats). This has been provided via poured-in-place styrofoam).
Here we go!
