has little to recommend it except utter simplicity.

A weight and windage, adversely affecting stability This

more advarrced scow shape (Figure 2- IB) shows a makes it difficult to safely obtain standing headroom
rockered bottom and, usually, some flare and curva- in a true sharpie under 40 feet.

ture to the sides. Due to its simplicity, roominess, and The sharpie can make an able powerboat if the

shoal draft this form can still be used to advantage m design incorporates a deep forefoot to reduce pound-

protected waters. New Jersey garveys and Maine ing. The bow should have a sharp entrance so the

sloops built along these lines in sizes of 45 feet and hull slices through the seas rather than rising on one
more were used in coastal waters for fishing and wave and slapping down on the next. Such a boat

cargo carrying. The scow would still make an inter- should be limited to semidisplacement speeds; this

esting and inexpensive sailing or houseboat cruiser, permits a narrower stem with better low-speed per-

but it pounds in a chop and is not at home in open formance when slowed by heavy weather. The
waters when powered to higher speeds. sharpie should also be fitted with a deep skeg to give

The sharpie form (Figure 2-lC) was developed in the hull some bite on the water and reduce yawing in

the 1800s in Connecticut for use in the Long Island steep following seas.

oyster industry, but the design spread rapidly to the Dory hulls (Figure 2- ID) are beamier than the

Chesapeake, Flonda, the Great Lakes, and the West sharpie for their length, have more rocker, a narrower

Coast due to its reputation for seaworthiness, its ease bottom, much more flare to the topsides, and typi-

of construction, and its ability to sail on a heavy dew. cally, a very narrow or pointed bottom aft leading up
Large sharpies were used as mailboats, and even as to a tombstone-shaped transom. The boat is initially

gunboats off the coast of Africa. The form is charac- very tender due to the narrow bottom, so small dories
terized by narrow beam —about one fourth the will heel alarmingly at the slightest shift of crew
length —and a pointed bow. Many sharpies were weight. However, the flared topsides provide great
built as double-enders (pomted at both ends). The reserve stability and have given the Banks dory an
topsides were generally well flared to increase reserve enviable reputation for seaworthiness. An outside keel
stability and dryness. wath heavy ballast is mandatory for a sailing cruiser.

The sharpie is a fast sailer when reaching m a Many designs based on a dory hull show a widening
good breeze but should be sailed upright and not of the stem to provide increased initial stability

allowed to heel excessively. Thus they tend to pound The sailing dory operates at greater heel angles
when driven to windward m a chop. The sharpie is than other Hat-bottom boats due to her narrower bot-
best suited to coastal cruising in waters where shelter tom, and so has less tendency to pound because she
IS reasonably close at hand, but an experienced skip- presents her chine to the seas rather than her flat bot-
per can make the occasional long passage if he is tom. Though slower than a sharpie, a cmising dory
careful to pick his weather. with outside ballast can be made self-righting from a
The sailing sharpie's big drawback is a long cen- severe knockdown. Thus she is suitable for longer
terboard trunk that splits the cabin in two and offshore passages, although still not the ideal vessel
divides the accommodations. Some designs feature for ocean voyages.
twin centerboards, bilge boards, or leeboards to leave Dories make able low-speed powerboats and can
the cabin clear. Another disadvantage is the lack of be driven economically with small engines. Like the
headroom. High freeboard and cabins are dangerous sharpie, weights should be kept low and high cabin
in a narrow and shallow hull because they add houses avoided to maintain maximum stability. Such

UNDERSTANDING BOAT DESIGN

10