Team Dory

In 2012, we built the first 23'9" CLC Team Dory with a group of volunteers from the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia. Many more have been built since then and the feedback has been uniformly positive. Check out this blog to read a performance report and discussion of the design. You can watch a time-lapse of the first build in the Video section below.

There are a number of multi-oared training craft designs out there, and they continue to gain in popularity with youth and adult rowing programs. Less skill is required to row a wherry-type hull like this, than in a narrow rowing shell, and with appropriate skill on board you may venture safely into cold, and even rough, water.

The problem with most rowing boats in this size and performance category is that they are difficult and expensive to build.

We've fixed that.  The CLC Team Dory kit is suitable for amateur construction.  A team of volunteers can build the hull in about 50 hours, plus another two or three weeks of part-time sanding and finishing. Total build time is 120-150 hours. The ease of construction and complete kit cost under $5,000 is a low barrier to entry. With sufficient space and volunteers. it would be plausible to build two or three of these in as little as a month, creating a fleet that's ready for competition, training, or adventure. Epoxy coating, strategically reinforced with fiberglass, keeps your maintenance chores near zero.

The Team Dory enjoys all of the refinements that make its smaller sister, the Northeaster Dory, so easy to build. All of the parts are cut on our computer, the hull is assembled with our exclusive LapStitch™ scheme, bulkheads are mortised in place, and stitching holes are pre-drilled by the computer.  The tight-fitting kit combined with stitch-and-glue construction makes the Team Dory uniquely accessible to amateur rowing clubs and youth groups.

There are four sweeps, plus room astern for a coxswain. As you can see in the video, the boat is fast and stable.  The interior layout allows a very wide range of crew weight and height, fitting rowers from about 5'6" to 6'6" tall.  Integral flotation chambers allow the boat to be recovered and bailed unassisted, but from all the testing the boat seems to have excellent manners in waves and is a good match for expected currents and waves on rivers, bays, and alongshore.

Speeds range from 5-8 knots depending on crew skill and sea conditions.  After some experimentation, 10'6" sweeps seem like the best fit for the boat.  The kit includes full-sized patterns and instructions for building your own oars, or you can repurpose sweeps or sculls from rowing shells.

The hull weighs about 210 lbs.---a reasonably easy carry for the crew of five.  It could be cartopped on a heavy truck, but the lightest of trailers is sufficient.  The payload is about 1000 lbs.

We've seen the Team Dory used as a "pair," with two rowers pulling two oars each, with or without a coxswain, and with or without sliding seats. An excellent option for strong rowers.

We also offer a larger version of this design, the Team Dory 26, which adds another 400 pounds of payload capacity without being any more difficult to build. If you are interested in the larger Team Dory 26, please shoot us an email: info@clcboats.com