You're going to get opinions and this has been discussed once or twice! I have sailed the Skerry and have built and owned the Dory. Mine was the sloop version, the lug version came out later. Either boat will work, of course. Both sail well and row well. The Skerry is a few pounds lighter and two feet shorter and is a bit easier for one person to launch. The Dory can handle weather better if it gets rough and if you get into a good school of fish the payload of 800 pounds is much more than the Skerry! 

George K

I’m a Lug rig Dory builder but have rowed and sailed with a sprit rigged Skerry builder. He had second thoughts and wished he chose a Dory, or at least the Lug rig.
I think the Skerry rows slightly better due to the double ended nature. It’s very nimble and surprisingly fast. Also, due to the interior seat layout it should be faster to build. The downside of it’s double endedness is a lack of interior space. Subtract the two feet and transom vs. Dory and it’s a pretty compact interior. And the transom adds a bit of volume at the stern. I think the Dory is Slightly more tender in Initial stability but it comes on strong with a bit of heel. While you won’t want to stand on a rail you can stand pretty far up on the strakes and still have plenty of stability to land the big one. Standing on the stern platform/seat is also pretty comfortable.

For me the decision came down to significantly more interior space. The Skerry is wicked pretty though.

Cheers,
ev

The smaller Skerry at Okoumefest last Saturday: Replace 2 of those 3 people with fish and I'd be a happy fisherman.

Have fun,

Laszlo

I love my dory, but I am likely prejudiced...Ford vs Chevy eh?   

The "guages" on the CLC sailboat pages are nice summaries of the boats:

Skerry:

NE Dory:

   Thanks for the replys 

From what I can gather the only main negative of the skerry is the "cosy" interior (which I can live with) plus the dory would be too snug a fit to build in my 16x10 shed .Sorry again about the subject of this post but it's a hard decision between the two any way thanks again .

                                                Don

After all these years, the dark side of our eminence grise suddenly surfaces. Delayed effects of bisphenol A exposure?

By the way, two of those people look like they are thinking, 'replace one of him with fish and we'd be happy fisherpersons.'