[mouse]

Hi
I'm looking at getting a small boat with outboard mainly for summer fishing in calm seas, fairly close inshore, because of storeage around here (there ain't none) it will have to be kept in my garage, (no driveway).
I have been looking at open "Dory" type boats, would these be o.k for what i want and what wolld be the minimum length i should look for?.
Also what engine size should i look at (minimum) and 2 or 4 stroke?, i am looking to fish about 1/2 mile along the coast from where i can launch.
Thanks
Mouse

 

[Ned]

Mouse I used to own a Sea angler 13 .At 13 feet long it used to go in my garage and although was only a single fibreglass skinned boat was great in a calm sea.Ok for estuary and used it up to a mile out in calm weather.I sold it on ebay with engine and trailer for about 1400 quid last year.Good little boat.Hope this helps mate.

 

[Salar]

No less that 12 feet, preferably 14 feet as a minimum. As a diplacement plodder you can get away with a 5hp motor, but if it has a planing hull and you had secure seats/steering 25hp would push it along at a fair whack. You'd be at your half mile mark in about 1 minute. I had great fun for several years in a 14 foot open dinghy with a Seagull ouboard, bought the whole lot for £260 and did it up over the winter.

 

[dazthehappyhooker]

I have infact myself just bought myself an 11ft open Dell Quay Dory, got a trailer and in the market for a 15hp for it.

Im newly turned 21 yrs old and have been using my uncles boats for many years, since the age of 14 Ive been using his 11ft, 13ft, 17ft Dory's alone and I would highly recommend one for inshore fishing in calm conditions. Ive only used them in all the scottish sea lochs for fishing, water skiing and towing a donut, not in any of the open seas around the west coast of scotland, but plan on taking it down to south west scotland this summer for tope an pollock when the conditons are right but not venturing out too far as the conditions can change in an instant down there and wouldnt want to get caught out by conditions if Im out too far.

One thing that can be said with these boats they are very very stable and are said to be unsinkable due to the bouyancy foam inside the hull. One time we left the 14ft dory out on the mooring at the caravan park and came back the next day to find the bung had been stolen and the hole boat had undertaken water but there was still about 3inches of boat sitting out of the water, any other boat it wouldve sunk but not the dory lol it stayed half afloat.

you can pick these boats up at a very reasonable price, I bought mine for £200 at a local boat jumble and got a trailer for £300 and still to purchase a decent engine 15-20hp. As been mentioned before with a decent engine and some steering controls they are fast little boats, they are also very stable in a small rough sea, the only down side with the open dorys you can get rather wet from the spray if ur cruising into the wind lol.

Personal opinion would be to go for it, you wont find a better small boat for stability in calm inshore conditions and they can be bought at a small fortune, providing you get a good buy.

 

[monktonlad]

Whereabouts are you going to be launching from mouse?

At the moment we launch from anywhere with our inflatable, however now the other half has the boat bug and wants to go further out (and I won't in the dinghy), we will probably start off with a dell quay dory type somewhere between 13 and 17ft.

It has been about 30 years since I had one and I still regret getting rid of it.

Malcolm.

ps. we normally launch from Minnis Bay or Westgate at any state of tide since I made some transom mounted wheels for it.

 

[SPECIAL'M']

i used to have a 14 foot open boat made by orkney it had a cathedral hull and was powerd by a suzuki 28, it was great for fishing the coast easy to tow/launch only thing no shelter if the weather turn's bad.

 

[mouse]

Cheers for all the constructive replys, will start looking for a cheap 13/14 footer.
Monktonlad i will be mainly looking to launch from Folkestone as it is local to me and will not need a lot of planing, but will also use other places around this area if i can find secure parking as the last thing i want is to come back and find no trailer :nono:
Mouse.

 

[Nos4r2]

Don't forget if you're trying to buy something that'll fit in your garage that the trailer is going to be quite a bit longer than the boat.

 

[Simon F]

Don't forget if you're trying to buy something that'll fit in your garage that the trailer is going to be quite a bit longer than the boat.

Modify the trailer to have a detachable draw bar, it will then allow you to fit a boat as big as you can fit in your garage, not a trailer as big as you can fit in your garage.

If you do this, you can also then make up a 3 or 4m "extra long" draw bar to help with launching and keeping your car dry.

 

[mouse]

Modify the trailer to have a detachable draw bar,

Good idea mate, it would also work as a security device.

 

[Ian Houlton]

I was actually going to post a thread regarding Minimum equipment on a 12ft open to be used in the harbours and calm Bays around my way, so as there are some pretty good posts on this one, can someone give me a kind of "Basic requirments" idea.
there will be a Max of three using it.The Max/ or most suitable size outboard would be handy.
Displacement Hull.

 

[johntb]

My Orkney Coastliner 14 is for sale on this site. I don't know your budget but these are worth looking at because they are managable for launching/recovering on your own, fit in a garage and are built very well. They are also light and fit into the 'under 500kg' weight limit which is what my car will tow on an unbraked trailer. They are also very forgiving if the weather turns (within reason). Even if you're not interested in mine, PM me if you want any info.