Let's make that the Dory vs. Passagemaker.

I couldn't figure out how to edit or delete the original post.  I have elliminated the Skerry based on capacity.  I have found no comparison of the Dory vs. Passagemaker.

Thanks (sorry for being a forum kook)

 Well If you're worried about capsizing, I can say that this weekend my Skerry got swamped, in an unplanned capsize drill in the river estuary here in Devon, UK.

Her built in buoyancy means she floats. She is not that easy to bail out when swamped and lucky our club safety boat was out and was able to help me ashore. However, I am certain that with a a little more trial and error, I would have been able to get back in the boat and recover her myself. I am considereding adding some additional buoyancy nontheless to raise the floation point and allow better self draining through the dagge board slot. This woudl give me more freeboard to get back in and bail her.

As for the sailing/rowing ability of the Skerry, I can only say that she is a very easy and fast boat to row and she sails briliantly. I went over in her this weekend, when pushing the limits by taking her out by myself in a force 4 and I was acutally coming about to retreat to the boat club when the wind overtook my limited helming skills and over we went. What I shoudl have done was dowse the sail immediately. Even in the chop, the Skerry rows very well and is a very sea worthy little boat.

Thes lessons from that trip were that in stronger winds the Skerry is so light that extra crew for ballast, trimming and handling would have prevented this happening.

However, this cautionary tale is not designed to put you off the Skerry bu to encourage you to build one! Unless you are planning to take a entire football team out for the day the Skerry will easily carry a small family or 2/3 adults.

The Dory has more capacity but we arware she has no flotation built in, so if you are planning to sail offshore and beyond the reaches of any immediate help, you'll need to find a way to pack the hull with buoyancy bags.

To answer the rest of your questions have a look at this thread on the forum

http://www.clcboats.com/forum/5/thread/23997.html

I faced this same puzzle. What was extermely helpful was to attend one of the open houses and actually get in each boat. I brought along my young daughter - partner in adventures. After careful thought and sea time in each craft when it came time to seelct the right sailboat her answer was...

A wood duck kayak!

   I am in process of building the Skerry as I type, but no experience with her yet. I am inland Ohio and close to a local sail lake. I wanted small and light for this reason. After talking with a few and reading a little my choice for rig will be the balanced lug. Just my 2 cents.

   A couple points, but realize I'm prejudiced because I have a dory.

• Actually the dory does have floatation, under the seats/thwarts.  I have read that a submersed dory (and maybe a Passagemaker too)  will come up almost full to the rails with water, thus I stick to within a half mile of shore but you can also add air bags or beach rollers for more floatation. By the way, I have never come close to dumping my dory, she's incredibly stable, and I've been in some pretty big blows, knock on wood.  Do a Youtube search on Neil Calore.
• Call CLC.  They are very helpful in talking thru the issue of which boat to build.  They have built them, trailered them, car topped them, sailed them, and dumped them and are the best resource for you to compare different boats.
• Agree on the idea of seeing some.  Where do you live? Maybe you can get lined up with one of the many shows CLC does...this would be very good for your situation!
• Suggest the balanced lug sail rig over the sloop rig for many reasons.  Just spoke with someone yesterday with a sloop rig dory and he was saying how he can tell the sloop rig is more rigging issues than the dory, yet on the dory, you can very much customize it for easy sailing while seated.  Let me know if you want to see the features I added to my dory.

Curt

Curt,

All good pints. Is the flotation built in under the dory seats or added afterwards? If I have maligned the design of the boat, then please excuse me!

Frankly my dump on Saturday was really down to bad seamanship, poor gybing & sail handling and positioning my self incorrectly in the boat. A more experienced sailor would not have made such a Horlicks of the process! As i mentioned in my post above, she is inherently a good little sea boat, but once swamped it was quite hard to bail her, so a little more flotation would help with that.

I note in this clip  that you have packed the boat with a lot of extra buoyancy for the Everglades challenge. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyK3TYNEs1w

It looks to me like you have added a couple of kayak bladders forward and aft along with the swimming noodles/chips tied on the side? That far off shore I think this is a wise move!

Andy

The floatation in a dory is made up of pieces of "pink foam" sheets from Lowe's or Home Depot, cut to size, glued together with proper adhesive, then glued to the underside of each seat/thwart board on both sides of the bulkhead.  It is one of the last steps in the dory build.

   For clarity..Neil Calore is an experienced excursion sailor... I mentioned him as a place to see air bags and other excursion related features.  I am Curt Dennis and a real rookie compared to Neil!

Also try Boaty Moon on youtube

Curt

OK, sorry for mixing you up with someone else!

That buoyancy solution is interesting. Does that stuff not degrade over time? Sea water or brackish river water is pretty corrosive stuff - its part of the reason that we have to replace our syntheitc lines and everything esle every so often, does it not damage that insulation foam?

   The layers of pink foam are glued with a adhesive designed specifically to bond that material so that's good...Loctite PL 300 is what I used, then edges sanded, and covered with a few coats of epoxy, then black spray paint...they are pretty industructable, and I doubt salt/brackish water will hurt them if sealed in epoxy.

https://picasaweb.google.com/114717787929554738224/BuildingWoodenBoatCLCNortheasterDory?authkey=Gv1sRgCKCBzczm_aKs2wE#6015637105079893538

The pink boards do not absorb water but the white old style styrofoam (I understand) will absorb water and break down....one reason why marinas can no longer install the big blocks of white styro under docks...they have to use other methods like plastic air chambers.