Boat Builder Central - Builder Forums

Finally got some reasonable pictures of the dory on the water.

Woke up yesterday to 24o (C) clear sky, no wind so swmbo & I loaded up the boat, threw the dog in and went out to catch a fish and have a swim.
Great day, caught a small feed of herring, swmbo & the dog ("Maggie" Red Cloud Kelpie) went for a swim and I sat on the beach with a beer and admired the boat. Still can't believe I built the thing!
Bimini suits the boat very well, its light, strong and easy to close or open.
Came back to the ramp, fisheries inspectors were checking every boat for their catch, got to us and just wanted to know about the design and build! Another Bateau bonus.
Cheers
Richard

Beautiful! Let's put a couple of pictures here...

Congrats! Yes, the bimini looks great on her...

great looking od!!!! looks like you really thought your design out. the bimini really sets it off. i never even thought about a bimini but that one really follows the lines of the hull and makes for a really sleek lookin boat . how about some performance stats? what kinda hp. do you have on it? wow!! i really like the looks of the od's. hope it performs as well as it looks.

Terry went to Bahama in his OD *EvilD*. Not for the faint of heart. He had extra buoyancy emergency equipment, and tells a tale of going *under* a large wave in the Gulf Stream. Very capable boat. But I'm not recommending that sort of test...

Thanks Larry for posting the pictures, I could not work out why my picture was so small.
AS far as performance stats are concerned I don't have a lot of data.
Motor is 30hp 2stroke suzuki, and on a nice calm day the boat feels like it is flying @ wot. I forgot to turn on the GPS the other day so cant tell you how fast she is. She banks really well no slipping at all.
We have only had the boat out about a dozen times since the launch in July 2007, and as you can see by the pictures most of the time we are in protected waters, worst condition has been about 2' of slop, had to slow down to reduce the pounding but she tracked well and didnt feel unsafe.
I remember when EvilD did his trip and thought that that sort of adventure would be pretty scary. I am sure the boat would be capable but I doubt that I would be in those sort of conditions!
MY wife and I have come to the conclusion that the "Georgie Girl" (named after our last kelpie) is a "BBB" (Bread & Butter Boat) i.e. fish in protected waters for bread & butter fish, run her up on the beach for picnics and a glass of chardenay, snorkel and swim.
We absolutely LOVE the boat, easy to handle for two people (though putting her on the trailer can be difficult at times) runs up onto a beach real easy, plenty of room etc etc.

I didnt do any thing fancy with the build, I didnt put foam in her (I regret that now), I didnt labor over the finish (though she still looks great).
As far as fit out is concerned she has a small Hummingbird fish finder, I did spend money on stainless steel for all fixtures and marine radio and of course the bimini.

I have been looking at the de23-25 plans and I am very keen to have a crack at one of those builds, but swmbo has other work for me for this year (i have just about got the OK to purchase the plans, but I think Fridays trip might have stuffed that up. I can just hear her now "Why do we need another boat!!!".

Anyway thanks for the comments guys, I got to say that I think the OD's are just fantastic, She cost $2200AUS to build and paint the hull (BS1088 marine ply and marine paint) and all the other gear including trailor is brand new Total cost about $9.5KAUS. If I purchased a 16" Quintrex here in Aus with motor and trailer I would have been paying something like
28 - 35 $K.

As I have already said for what we want the boat for she is bloody fantastic.
Cheers
Richard

Richard, I couldn't agree with you more about the OD, I uh, barrowed your idea for the Bimini and did the same on my OD, I ended up with an 8' foot long one but hey it was on clearance and I also received an extra vinyl top all for only $183.00. I'll post pictures soon, there in the gallery.

Your Boat looks great!

Joe

Great looking work
I hope mine looks like that, can you post some pics of the interior ?

enjoy your boat it sure looks good !

G'day Joe & Tuck, apologies for the late reply but I have been away for a week doing some work.
Joe I saw your bimini on your thread, great look and a great deal for the price and plenty of cover, I dont know what the weather is like in your neck of the woods but even here in the southern tip of Oz it gets pretty warm (and it rains++++) so having a bimini is very handy. I envy your location having a waterway in your backyard, a far far better option than trying to muscle the od onto a trailer. Even with our modifications it can still be difficult to load especialy when the wind is blowing across the beam.
Tuck I will get some detailed shots of the interior, but to be honest I didn't go to any great lenghts, just threw in the console added some gunwhales and a few locker covers. I must admit if I had my time over again I would re think a few small items ( especially after watching Cracker Larry's attention to detail).
Having said all that I was quite surprised at how she turned out.
The one word that sticks in my mind to describe the boat is "Pretty" and i'm quite proud of that.
Cheers and thanks for the comments.
Richard