Dell Quay Dory

[astroarcadia]

Looking for a Eurosport 13 for exploring the estuary, possibly some fishing and days out etc.

I'm sure some of you may have owned one at some point.

We have some great memories as children watching the Harbour Master in Fowey do his rounds on one.

Any advice or things to look out for on these?

[paintman]

I have the Sportsman 17.

Main issue with dories is water ingress between the inner & outer hull into the foam & this comes up on various forums.
Quick random google: https://forums.ybw.com/index.php?threads/dell-quay...
Lots more if you look.

Also due to the cathedral hull shape they are very stable BUT going into any wave or chop they do slam & can be very wet with the amount of spray.

IIRC on the smaller ones there isn't a lot of height from the deck to the top of the gunwhales, the gunwhales on mine aren't that high - only 24" from deck to top of gunwhale from middle of boat to stern - & I'm glad of the rails that it came with when moving around on it at sea. Downside to the rails is it makes fishing difficult from the front sides unless you stand or stick the rod through the gaps but that brings its own problems!
This pic is almost identical to mine & you can see how low it is.: https://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NjMyWDEwMjQ=/z/LfUAAOSw... It appears to have a fold up fabric on metal frame cuddy - as mine does - & that can be handy if the weather turns wet.

Edited by paintman on Tuesday 6th July 15:02

[Nico Adie]

My dad's got an Orkney Dory 424, might be worth looking into as well? Great boats, go very nicely with a 50hp outboard.

[RobbyJ]

We've got a Jenneau Rigiflex Cap 400. It's 4m so same length as the dory, it's really easy to launch and retrieve single handed. They can be well kitted out so comfortable for family use or for fishing. Having spent quite a bit of time in a 13ft Dory I think the Cap 400 is much better in choppy conditions and as far as I'm aware doesn't have any inherent issues.

Might be worth considering.

Edited by RobbyJ on Wednesday 7th July 09:56

[DonkeyApple]

astroarcadia said:

Looking for a Eurosport 13 for exploring the estuary, possibly some fishing and days out etc.

I'm sure some of you may have owned one at some point.

We have some great memories as children watching the Harbour Master in Fowey do his rounds on one.

Any advice or things to look out for on these?

Spent much of my childhood mucking about with a 13' Dell Quay. Solid, practical boats. Ours was used as a tender but I used to use it to cross the Solent to Cowes from Buckler's Hard.

Plenty of other options available these days.

Eventually, water gets in to the hull if they live on the water and you'll feel the top deck come away from the foam inner in places but a winter sitting on their arse having drilled a couple of 10mm holes in it will get them dry. You just plug those holes and seal others that you find.

The other thing is that they aren't comfortable. At the helm your back will be permanently bent to reach the wheel and your passengers will be sitting in benches with nothing to recline on.

Ultimately, despite very fond memories, they're work boats and today the market is flooded with equally competent leisure boats that are more comfortable.

Let's put it this way, last weekend, I popped over to Cowes in a 4m SIB and then back to Buckler's Hard and aged 48 had zero ill effects. 35 years ago the same crossing, the first time I did it solo, I went to stand up to tie up in Cowes and had to crawl as 20 minutes of waves hitting exactly where you sit to helm had completely numbed my spine!