vermont fishing dory

        John Gardner, the dean of small-boat-building, leaned over to Steve at a conference at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. The speaker at the podium had just said something about "...the perfect hull....."

       John leaned towards Steve and whispered, "The perfect hull ain't been built."

      We aren't going to tell you that the perfect hull has been built. In fact, the point that John was making was that "the perfect hull" is an ignorant concept. The question is always ....perfect for what?

       There certainly are hulls more perfect for this and less perfect for that. As wonderful as the Adirondack Guideboat is....and as wonderful as its smaller cousin, the Vermont Packboat is....every boat, especially a small boat, is a collection of compromises.

        Steve has been vexed for awhile about the stability of the guideboat and packboat. To be sure, the boats are seaworthy....they'll take the roughest water, waves, wind and open ocean.....but stable enough for standing?

       No.

      When this new boat first started to emerge in Steve's imagination, it was with fly-fishermen in mind. Fishing in the flats of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas. Bonefish, redfish, tarpon. These initial photos are from the first boat on its first day on the water. Steve's test was to step off the dock and stand upright into the boat. The photo at right shows the result.

One of our employees, Dan Bushey, caught this catfish in Lake Champlain. When Steve designed the boat he called it The Vermont Fishing Dory...but who knew it would work so well?

Steve began with our 12-ft Vermont Packboat, took its hard-chines, elliptical, flat bottom, stretched it to 14-ft, made it wider and deeper. It's a Kevlar/glass composite with polyester resin, 43" wide at the gunwales, weighs 80-lbs and will carry 700 lbs. We think this boat is going to be a wonderful addition to our fleet.

As you can see below, the boat is actually larger than our 15-ft boat.

Left to right.....15-ft guideboat....14-ft dory........12-ft Vermont packboat

In the six months that we have now been building these dories we have been pleasantly surprised at how well they have been received.

The photo below is one of our long-time employees. He was a plumbing contractor from New Mexico who came to Vermont on a fly-fishing vacation. He stopped at a visitor's center, picked up one of our cards, came up to the shop and it's been five years since he first dropped in. The only problem is....he can't stand the cold. So, come winter, he loads up his fishing gear and heads south, fishing the Gulf from Texas, down to the Keys and up into the Carolinas in one of our boats. Here he's fly-casting in one of our new dories.

An aspect of the Vermont Fishing Dory that we hadn't anticipated was how popular it would be with grandparents. Yes, popular for their own use. But even more so when taking their grandchildren out.

The family below came down from Ottawa, 100% positive that they would be tying a guideboat to the roof of their car. But no, once they tried each boat in every configuration, they decided the dory would suit their needs better.

This next photo is Steve Kaulback, discussing the seating possibilities in the dory with a prospective customer.

A further note:

When we first posted the above photo we didn't identify this "prospective customer." In fact, he is Perk Perkins, the President and CEO of Orvis.

The year 2006 will mark 150 years that Orvis has been selling fine sporting goods. We have recently been informed that Orvis will be offering a special line of commemorative gifts to mark the occasion. And, we were told, our Vermont Fishing Dory was the number one item on Perk's anniversary wish-list.

May we build one for you?

Colors


Dark Green	. .
Dark Blue	.. ..
Light Blue	.. .
Jet Black	..............................
Ivory
Burgundy	..............................
Bright Red	. ..
Bright Yellow	. .
Sea foam	. .

Note: These colors aren't accurate. For photos of what your boat might look like, click here

Accessories
3rd fancy cherry backrest	$200
Boat cart	$135
Ash Cradles, pair	$200
71/2-ft soft maple oars	$400
71/2-ft cherry oars	$550
5’ cherry sneak paddle	$150
Kevlar reinforced skid plates, protect your boat from hard landings and rocky shorelines	$150
Oar bag	$110
Cherry carry yoke	$90
Boats and Boating in the Adirondacks, by Hallie Bond	$50
The Adirondack Guide Boat by Kenneth & Helen Durant	$25
Additional information is available at Accessories
	............	............

Vermont Fishing Dory, 14-ft, 80 lbs, Kevlar and fiberglass hull, 3 webbed cherry seats, cherry gunwales, Okume floorboard, cherry footbrace	$3,100
71/2-ft soft maple oars	$400
2 cherry/caned backrests with leather straps and brass hardware.	$430
Total	$3,930


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