Designing a Classic - The Dougherty Way

A conversation among Whalers
Jeff
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Designing a Classic - The Dougherty Way

Postby Jeff » Tue Jan 05, 2016 1:00 am

I know I have written about this before, but I thought I would repost because of an artifact that was sent to me from someone I am connected with through Facebook.

The story of how Dougherty Design the Classic Whalers is a helluva interesting one for me. You see, Bob Doughtery would hand sketch all of his designs and then create the wooden measuring scales to fit the drawing. This way if the drawings were ever to get in the hands of a competitor they would need the scale that corresponded to that drawing to get all the correct info. If you know architectural drafting this style is backwards. When you draw plans you are already working to a known scale. By sketching the design free of scale you are able to create a true free form aesthetic for the item you are trying to design.

This leads to one interesting item that I have. A number of years ago I bought one of only two scales that were saved from Boston Whaler. The scales were pulled out of the trash in the early 90's by Janis' (owner of Magic Brush) husband Tom Johnson (draftsman on the old CW site) around when he worked there. Tom told me when I bought this scale on ebay, at that the time management was literally throwing away all of Dougherty's hand drawings, hand made scales and other Classic Whaler design and engineering items. Tom, could only save the two scales without being noticed and he saved a few other things too. The rest of these scales are gone... Having attended the Center for Creative Studies where I studied product and transportation design, and always been drawing whalers as a kid, this scale is the most prised Whaler item I own.

Now, the new addition is a photo I received that is of the hand drawing Bob Dougherty did of the famous 18 Outrage. It is framed and hanging outside of Bob Dougherty's office at Everglades boats. The plan and elevation section lines on this drawing are what correspond to the hand made scales. Now I have no idea what hull my scale belongs to, but I would love to figure that out.

On a side note: The 21 Outrage was the only hull to have two scales made for the same hull. I had a scale for the side and plan, and a separate one for the bow/stern. In 2008 at the Miami boatshow when I spoke to Bob about these scale's and his drawings, he said he had to draw the bow / stern in a separate scale from the side and plan to get the bow (smirk lines) to look correct

Interesting that in Bob's Original 18 Outrage Sketch, there is a Mercury on the Transom....
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Last edited by Jeff on Tue Jan 05, 2016 1:16 am, edited 3 times in total.
1993 23 Walkaround Whaler Drive - 1988 190 Grady White Tournament- 1981 15' Striper (under restsoration) - Curator of Everything Boston Whaler on Instagram

Jeff
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Re: Designing a Classic - The Dougherty Way

Postby Jeff » Tue Jan 05, 2016 1:07 am

1993 23 Walkaround Whaler Drive - 1988 190 Grady White Tournament- 1981 15' Striper (under restsoration) - Curator of Everything Boston Whaler on Instagram

jimh
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Re: Designing a Classic - The Dougherty Way

Postby jimh » Tue Jan 05, 2016 9:32 am

Jeff--thanks for this most interesting article. The drawing of the OUTRAGE 18 is wonderful.

Do you have any idea of the process for making a prototype boat from that drawing?

ConB
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Re: Designing a Classic - The Dougherty Way

Postby ConB » Tue Jan 05, 2016 7:40 pm

Jeff, the sheer line in the drawing is not straight like my 1987 Outrage 18.

Do you think it was changed or is it just an illusion in the drawing?

Thanks for the good reading.

Con
!987 Outrage 18 / 2011 Yamaha F150
1969 13 / 30hp Johnson tiller

hauptjm
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Re: Designing a Classic - The Dougherty Way

Postby hauptjm » Wed Jan 06, 2016 11:26 am

I agree on the previous comment regarding the shear line of the Outrage 18. With the bow being Station 1, at or around Station 7 it begins a rise that continues to Station 3 then plateaus to the bow/Station 1. That is definitely different than the final product that came out of the molds. I know production constraints will often influence the final version of what's manufactured from designed, but in a way, that drawing's shear line on the 18 hull is attractive.

Binkster
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Re: Designing a Classic - The Dougherty Way

Postby Binkster » Wed Jan 06, 2016 1:53 pm

I believe a flat (straight) sheerline is drawn with a curvature in a profile drawing. Drawing plans for a boat is not as straightforward as drawing house plans, which is basically straight lines drawn to a scale.

[DEAD LINK DELETED--please do not post URL's to resource that cannot be found.--jimh]

jimh
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Re: Designing a Classic - The Dougherty Way

Postby jimh » Wed Jan 06, 2016 2:18 pm

Taking a guess, perhaps the intended reference made above was to

http://www.dixdesign.com/lofting1.htm

I need BINKSTER to explain what part of this long article explains how a straight line in real life is shown in as a curved line in a profile drawing.

jimh
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Re: Designing a Classic - The Dougherty Way

Postby jimh » Wed Jan 06, 2016 2:27 pm

Re the photograph Jeff included and how the boat shear line looks curved:

--this is a photograph of the drawing; you can see the reflection of photographer in the glass that covers the drawing, and

--the lens of the camera may have some distortion, causing the drawing lines to be shown as curves when in fact they are not, or

--the drawing line of the boat shear line is slightly curved

I guess we will need someone who has seen the drawing in person to tell us which condition applies.

I don't know any method of drawing a profile view that causes a line in the drawing that is curved to become a straight line in the actual object described by the drawing. If the original sketch was for the boat to have a slightly curved shear line, that detail may be been eliminated in building a production boat due to the difficulty of accomplishing the curve in the two pieces that must join at that line. It is a lot easier to make the two molds have a straight shear line. It is also easier to make the two molds clamp together if the joint line is a straight line. All of those considerations tend to make me think the production boat's straight shear line was a result of production efficiencies and costs.

jimh
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Re: Designing a Classic - The Dougherty Way

Postby jimh » Wed Jan 06, 2016 2:30 pm

By the way, I also have a Dougherty custom scale (thanks to Jeff). It has a very long scale, going out to 28-feet, so I assume it must have been used for the design of a larger boat, perhaps a 25-foot or 27-foot hull.

Jeff
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Re: Designing a Classic - The Dougherty Way

Postby Jeff » Wed Jan 06, 2016 2:44 pm

I suspect that this is truly framed in an archival method this the article artifact is lightly attached to a backer at the top two corners thus allowing the piece to float as it hangs. This preserves the article in it's original form because it is not glued to a substrate backer, but it also allows for the item to wave and move freely too. So, the paper might have a bit of a bulge to it. I also had to slightly stretch and manipulate the image to make it truly "flat".

One thing after really looking at his sketch, the smirk on it is very elongated and reminiscent of the 21 and 19 smirk. The production 18 had the smirk meet the waterline much further toward the bow and the "Upper lip" of the production smirk was much larger.

This change in the smirk would have then allowed for a much more level cockpit and bow floor transition, more floor space in the bow and larger bow steps.

Here are is a truth to scale line drawing I did of a the production 18..

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1993 23 Walkaround Whaler Drive - 1988 190 Grady White Tournament- 1981 15' Striper (under restsoration) - Curator of Everything Boston Whaler on Instagram

Jeff
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Re: Designing a Classic - The Dougherty Way

Postby Jeff » Wed Jan 06, 2016 9:56 pm

Attached here is the original photo. I had to carefully stretch and reform the image in multiple step to get this so to read as close to a true straight on elevations as I could. You can see from the shadows along the top edge of the matting, the paper does have a wave to it.

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Also, here is a detail shot of the notes above the front elevation. Notice the design date of 4-13-1979, the deadrise called out at 18 degrees, and the hull was called the "V-18'"
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1993 23 Walkaround Whaler Drive - 1988 190 Grady White Tournament- 1981 15' Striper (under restsoration) - Curator of Everything Boston Whaler on Instagram

Binkster
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Re: Designing a Classic - The Dougherty Way

Postby Binkster » Thu Jan 07, 2016 12:51 pm

I doubt that the 18' Outrage has a straight sheer line, although I'm not familiar with that model. Check Jeff's profile drawing. The sheer line may appear straight, but take a sheet of paper and lay it across the rub rail on the drawing. Looks like maybe a couple of inches of upward turn toward the bow. Check it out on your own 18' Outrage. From the transom site along the rubrail. How does it look?
It's not a production thing. Any shape is possible in fiberglass.

JRP
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Re: Designing a Classic - The Dougherty Way

Postby JRP » Thu Jan 07, 2016 2:59 pm

It's interesting that the length on the drawing is indicated as 18' 3", which is 3" short of the Outrage 18 spec length of 18' 6". It could be the extra length was added by enlarging the "upper lip" of the smirk upwards and forward to create the production version. Doing so would have also flattened out the sheer line.