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The Vermont Fishing Dory
John Gardner, the dean of small-boat-building in America, leaned towards Steve at a conference on boatbuilding at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. The speaker at the podium had just said something about "...the perfect hull....." |
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| John whispered to Steve, "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 are hulls more perfect for this and less perfect for that. As wonderful as the Adirondack Guideboat 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 on the roughest water, waves, wind and open ocean.....but stable enough for standing? | |||
| No. | |||
| When the dory first emerged in Steve's imagination, it was with fly-fishing in mind. Trolling for musky and lake trout, fishing the flats of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas. Bonefish, redfish and tarpon. Steve hadn't given any thought to catfish....but one of our employees, Dan Bushey, caught this catfish on Lake Champlain, near Fort Ticonderoga. | |||
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And this customer from Virginia proudly shows off his catch. Harris once visited us a fly-fishing show where we were showing our boats. He stood next to our booth and told those gathered about duck hunting from his boat and the time a 45-lb redfish towed him through Charleston Harbor and out to sea. Clearly a satisfied customer.
And this just came this morning: |
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| "In the month I've owned my boat I've rowed it 15 miles, mostly in rivers, and have completely enjoyed myself. This past weekend I finally went down to our place on the lower Texas coast...WOW. I freaked them out! I went 2 miles out in the bay with 10-15mph winds and had no problems. I even caught a record Sheepshead with my wife as witness. We didn't have our camera with us...all I have is a bruised stomach for proof. I had a one pound kayak anchor out and the fish pulled me, boat and anchor for about 15 minutes. Great fun! The next day I went out in the little bay with winds at 25mph. People were amazed. I was most impressed how it handled the salt and weather. I promise pics in the future." | |||
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Steve Seale, Jasper TX |
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In the design of this boat Steve began with our 12-ft Vermont Packboat, he took its hard-chines, elliptical, flat bottom and stretched it to 14-ft, made it wider and deeper. It's a Kevlar/glass composite with polyester resin, 44" wide at the gunwales, it weighs 80-lbs and will carry 700 lbs. In the two years that we've been building this boat it has become our biggest seller. |
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As you can see below, the boat is actually larger than our 15-ft boat...even though it's a foot shorter |
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Left to right.....15-ft guideboat....14-ft dory........12-ft Vermont packboat
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| Below is a photo of one of our long-time employees fly-casting from one of our Vermont Fishing Dories | |||
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| We hadn't anticipated was how popular the Dory would be with grandparents. Popular for their own use, of course. 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. | |||
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| This next photo is from a customer in Spanish Fort, Alabama. She apologizes, saying she knew this wasn't the way the boat was supposed to be used.....but we disagree... this is precisely how the boat is supposed to be used...folks having fun on the water. | |||
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| This next photo is Steve discussing the seating possibilities in the dory with a prospective customer... who happens to be Perk Perkins, the President and CEO of Orvis. | |||
| Perk ordered one of our smaller Vermont Pack Boats for his own use....and ordered the Vermont Fishing Dories for Orvis. | |||
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