A dory is a small, shallow-draft boat, about 5 to 7 metres or 16 to 23 feet long. It is usually a lightweight boat with high sides, a flat bottom and sharp bows. It is easy to build because of its simple lines. For centuries, the dory has been used as a traditional fishing boat, both in coastal waters and in the open sea.
A catboat is a sailboat with a single sail on a single mast set well forward in the bow of a very beamy and (usually) shallow draft hull. Typically they are gaff rigged, though Bermuda rig is also used. Most are fitted with a centreboard, although some have a keel. The hull can be 3.7 to 12.2 metres long with a beam half as wide as the hull length at the waterline. The type is mainly found on that part of the Eastern seaboard of the USA from New Jersey to Massachusetts.
Boating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether powerboats, sailboats, or man-powered vessels, focused on the travel itself, as well as sports activities, such as fishing or waterskiing. It is a popular activity, and there are millions of boaters worldwide.
The Banks dory, or Grand Banks dory, is a type of dory. They were used as traditional fishing boats from the 1850s on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. The Banks dory is a small, open, narrow, flat-bottomed and slab-sided boat with a particularly narrow transom. They were inexpensive to build and could be stacked or nested inside each other and stored on the decks of larger fishing vessels which functioned as mother ships.
The Gloucester dory is a variant of the Banks dory, a type of narrow-bottomed, slab-sided boat, common in the North Eastern United States. It is characteristically smaller and lighter, with less overhang, both bow and stern, and less freeboard. It retains the Banks dory's slab sides. Gloucester dories were designed to be launched through the surf behind a breakwater for daily fishing and lobstering off the Massachusetts shore.
Sharpies are a type of hard chined sailboat with a flat bottom, extremely shallow draft, centreboards and straight, flaring sides. They are believed to have originated in the New Haven, Connecticut region of Long Island Sound, United States. They were traditional fishing boats used for oystering, and later appeared in other areas. With centerboards and shallow balanced rudders they are well suited to sailing in shallow tidal waters.
Philip C. Bolger was a prolific American boat designer, who was born and lived in Gloucester, Massachusetts. He began work full-time as a draftsman for boat designers Lindsay Lord and then John Hacker in the early 1950s.
The Friendship sloop, also known as a Muscongus Bay sloop or lobster sloop, is a gaff-rigged working boat design that originated in Friendship, Maine around 1880 and has survived as a traditional-style sailboat.
A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to catch fish and other valuable nektonic aquatic animals in the sea, lake or river. Humans have used different kinds of surface vessels in commercial, artisanal and recreational fishing.
Cape Dory Yachts was a Massachusetts-based builder of fiberglass sailboats, powerboats, and pleasure trawlers which operated from 1963 to 1992. It also produced a small number of commercial craft.
Lowell's Boat Shop is a National Historic Landmark at 459 Main Street in Amesbury, Massachusetts.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to fishing:
Traditionally, many different kinds of boats have been used as fishing boats to catch fish in the sea, or on a lake or river. Even today, many traditional fishing boats are still in use. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), at the end of 2004, the world fishing fleet consisted of about 4 million vessels, of which 2.7 million were undecked (open) boats. While nearly all decked vessels were mechanised, only one-third of the undecked fishing boats were powered, usually with outboard engines. The remaining 1.8 million boats were traditional craft of various types, operated by sail and oars.
John Gardner (1905–1995) born in Calais, Maine, USA; was a historian of water craft, a writer, a labor organizer, and a designer and builder of wooden boats.
The McKenzie River dory, or drift boat, is an adaptation of the open-water dory converted for use in rivers. A variant of the boat's hull is called a modified McKenzie dory or Rogue River dory. The McKenzie designs are characterized by a wide, flat bottom, flared sides, a narrow, flat bow, and a pointed stern. The sole identifying characteristic of the McKenzie River dory is a continuous rocker. It is this constant rocker that allows the boat to spin about its center for ease in maneuvering in rapids.
The Tempest 23 is an American trailerable sailboat designed in 1962 by Philip Rhodes and Richard D. Carlson.
The Cape Dory 25, also called the Cape Dory 25 Mark I, is an American trailerable sailboat that was designed by George H. Stadel Jr. as a cruiser and first built in 1973.
The Typhoon Senior is an American trailerable sailboat that was designed by Carl Alberg as a cruiser and first built in 1984.
A Woods Hole spritsail boat is a small sailing and rowing craft, constructed entirely of wood, and fastened with iron or copper. It was used historically for fishing, island mail deliveries, racing, or day sailing off the coast of southeastern Massachusetts, especially in the waters of Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound near the town of Woods Hole, a community of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts. Although the sprit sailing rig has ancient roots, the Woods Hole spritsail boats were built and used mainly in the period between the US Civil War and World War I, becoming most prevalent during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The original boats were employed almost exclusively in fishing, including handlining for finfish, trap fishing for lobster, or digging with tongs for bivalve shellfish, but by the late 19th century, newer and lighter spritsail boats began to be built for recreational sailing and racing. This transition coincided with the emergence of Woods Hole as a summer coastal tourist destination, when the Cape Cod Central Railroad began service from Buzzards Bay in 1872, followed by a private subscription railroad that was extended from Boston in 1884. This spritsail boat has now disappeared as a type, but its cultural significance endures in New England maritime museums, remaining a material symbol of the small community of Woods Hole.
