dovekie sailboat

A truly unique design from Phil Bolger

Min./max. draft: Bridge clearance: Power: B/D ratio:

21' 5" 21' 5" 19' 0" 0' 4"/2' 6" 24' 0"

outboard 2 hp

Designer: Builder:

Years produced: Sail area: Fuel tankage: Water tankage:

Philip Bolger Edy & Duff 1976-1983 143 sq. ft. portable portable

Approx. trailering wgt.: 1,100 lbs.

Like her comps, Dovekie is basically a decked-over open boat. Bolger's design is unusual (some would say radical) with a dead-flat bottom (no rocker, no deadrise), leeboards, a tiny bow centerboard for working to weather in shallows, and oar ports so she can be used without resorting to outboard power (though a side-mounted outboard bracket is a popular option). Best features: Dovekie feels like a big skiff under sail, and is fairly stable both underway and at anchor, especially considering her light, unballasted hull. But her best features are (A) ease of towing behind a small car, (B) ease of launching and hauling at ramps, (C) ease of striking the mast (six-foot clearance under bridges), (D) ease of rigging and unrigging, and (E) the ability to cruise camper-style in very shallow water. With a boards-up draft of four inches, she can easily be beached for lunch and a swim. Worst features: Rowing power or a 2-hp outboard will only move her at about 2 to 3 knots. Accommodations are minimal, though no worse than her comps. Be prepared to rough it.

Continue reading here: The Balboa with a different cabin house

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Readers' Questions

Where to buy the plans for a dovekie sailboat?

You can purchase plans for a Dovekie sailboat from various websites, such as Sparkman & Stephens, and MyBoatsPlans.com.

The Dovekie is a 21.42ft cat (marconi) designed by Phil Bolger and built in fiberglass by Edey & Duff (USA) between 1978 and 1998.

The Dovekie is an ultralight sailboat which is a very high performer. It is reasonably stable / stiff and has a low righting capability if capsized. It is best suited as a racing boat.

Dovekie for sale elsewhere on the web:

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clock This article was published more than  41 years ago

New Dovekie Could Become The Model T of Gunkholing

Before he turned 20, Bill Rosen was a veteran of three trans-Atlantic yacht races. As paid crew aboard such ocean-racing yachts as Xanadu II and the legendary Ondine, Rosen worked his way through college in jobs most sailors only dream about.

But given his background, it's not too surprising. Rosen, 28, grew up in a sailing family on Long Island and spent many of his young years racing dinghies on Manhasset Bay, real yachting country.

What is surprising is that someone with all that racing experience -- which also includes five Newport-to-Bermuda races plus half a dozen other big ocean events -- would fall in love with one of the most unconventional small cruising sailboats on the market today.

Bill Rosen is in love with the Dovekie, a picture of sea- going simplicity, economy and all-around common sense. It's the answer, he says, to the boating riddles of the '80s: It's inexpensive; carries a simple rig; has no engine to burn expensive fuel, stink or break down; sails in as little as four inches of water; can sleep four people in modest comfort; and is easily trailered behind a subcompact. But it's like no boat you've ever seen before.

Imagine a pointed fiberglass shoe 21 feet long with a mast and single sail sticking up from the instep. A fin juts down into the water on either side of the arch. Square hatches are cut through the tongue and the toe, and a seat is wrapped around the inside of the heel -- that's the cockpit.

Now look at what makes the boat go when the wind dies. Two rectangular ports are cut through the hull just forward of the fins (called leeboards) and a removable seat is placed between them. Out of the ports come -- surprise -- nine-foot oars. They don't smoke or make noise, they burn only carbohydrates and they'll never require the services of a mechanic. And they move this 21-footer surprisingly well: At three knots, Rosen claims.

A Dovekie weighs only 600 pounds and has a flat bottom, to allow easy beaching and an upright position when the tide goes out. And it also lets you pull the boat up easily on its specially designed, carpet-covered trailer -- no rollers to position or jam up. And the trailer allows you to launch and retrieve the boat without even getting the wheels wet -- no wheel bearings to repack.

The sail rig is also surprisingly simple: Technically, the boat is a Marconi-rigged catboat, since it has only a triangular mainsail, but a Dovekie uses a sprit instead of a boom. The sail is laced to the mast and they go up together when the mast is stepped on the cabin roof (the instep). The rig can be raised or lowered in two minutes, so fixed bridges are no problem -- and all that thin water upriver is open to you.

The leeboards, which provide the lateral resistance of a centerboard or fixed keel in most sailboats, pivot on the outside of the hull, leaving the cabin floor flat and unobstructed. The boards are raised or lowered to any angle by inside handles. Fully dropped, the Dovekie draws 2'6", yet -- depending on the direction of the wind -- the boat can be sailed effectively with the boards drawing a foot or less. The Dovekie has an outboard rudder with a pivoting blade that will kick up over obstructions.

"If it's blue, you can sail there," says Rosen as he prepares to sail out of a quiet, and very shallow, anchorage in which a raft of Dovekies have just spent the night. Two more of these little ships ghost their way out of Dyer Creek on the light, early-morning air as another, oars outstretched like some miniature Phoenician galley, slides quietly in the opposite direction to explore the creekhead.

Dyer Creek is one of several enchanting little backwaters of the Eastern Shore's Sassafras River that a fleet of 10 Dovekies explored during a three-day weekend last spring. The event was one of a series of Dovekie rendezvous that take place rather informally each year.

In 1980, five Dovekies explored the nooks and crannies around Crisfield, and last year seven met at Kent Harrows for a cruise to Wye Island. This year, the Sassafras River expedition, organized by Rosen, drew boats from as far away as Massachusetts, Connecticut and North Carolina.

Possibly the most significant statement about the Dovekie was made silently that weekend in the parking lot of the Duffy Creek Marina in Fredericktown, Maryland, where fuel-miserly subcompacts bearing license plates from those far-off places waited with empty trailers.

The Dovekie was conceived eight years ago by Gloucester designer Phillip C. Bolger, partially to thwart OPEC both afloat and on the road. Bolger is generally regarded as something of an iconoclast among naval architects and he has come up with some surprisingly successful, if outrageous, designs -- like a 30-foot "folding schooner" that has a big hinge amidships so that it can be folded in half to carry on a trailer.

In 1974 Edey & Duff of Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, built the prototype of Dovekie, named by Bolger after a small, pelagic seabird. The firm went into production in 1978 and has sold 55 boats since. According to builder Peter Duff, most of them have found homes in the mid-Atlantic region.

What kind of person buys this striking, unique and -- well, odd -- boat?

Duff says his customers come in all shapes, sizes, personal interests and ages, including a 65-year-old woman who sails singlehandedly because her husband doesn't like boats, and a 75-year-old man for whom Duff rigged a winch to help raise and lower the mast.

And they keep coming. Duff says he gets six to ten inquiries a day and recently had a three-day run of 26 letters daily.

"I can see a market of 200 boats a year," Duff says, "but we can't supply it." The firm is now building at the rate of about 30 per year, but because it does not sell through dealers, potential buyers must either travel to Massachusetts to see the product or find a local owner who will show his boat.

But the direct purchase keeps the price down, too -- by about 20 percent, Duff says. A Dovekie sells for under $6,000 sailaway, with another $1,000 required for the specially designed trailer. And that seems to be where the spending stops.

"I defy you to spend any money on this boat," says Rosen, a procurement attorney with the Navy. "It doesn't need anything; it's all here and it's ultrasimple.

"I went into a marine store to get some things for my boat after I bought it last year and all I could buy were running lights; I didn't need any fancy hardware or other expensive accessories."

Perhaps the boat's biggest drawback is its unconventional appearance, a point Bolger makes in the chapter on the Dovekie included in one of his four four, books of boat designs. Written after the prototype was tested successfully, he wrote: "Whether Dovekie will be marketed in quantity is undecided . . . to say nothing of whether she'll sell if she is. The doubtful points are psychological rather than technical."

Now, though, the Dovekie may have the psychological advantage, too.

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Dovekie question

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Hi All, I have a new-to-me Dovekie. I am not very familiar with this boat or how to set it up. I am especially baffled by the leeboards. In particularly, how are they attached to the boat? I think that I am missing the parts that hold/operate the boards. Does anyone have any pictures of how the leeboards are attached to the boat? Thanks! Kevin  

Welcome to sailnet Kevin, Not a common boat here on the east coast of the USA, but if you google "Dovekie sailboat" you may get enough info /pics to get you started. Thinking last leeboard boats in my area was Henry Hudson 400 years ago or maybe a reinactment flotilla up the Hudson on the 400th anniversary. Let us know what you find out, as maybe what was old will be new again.  

I have sailed a Dovekie on occasion. The Dovekies are amazing boats for what they are and what they are not. Given the shoal draft, and unballasted hull, they sail very well and also row reasonably well. They are nicely constructed. I think that they were 'over-sold' as weekend cruisers, but if you are someone used to camping, the Dovekie would not be a bad 'camp-cruiser'. They are a little idiosyncratic to sail, especially at the lighter and heavier end of the wind range since they do not like to tack crisply through the wind at either extreme. My recollection of the leeboards is that there was a stainless steel weldment that had a plate on a shaft that was thru bolted through to a separate plate on the outboard side of the leeboards. The shaft came through to the interior of the boat and there was a handle on the interior of the boat that rotated the board into place. I really do not recall the fitting that passed through the hull. I think that the Dovekie was one of the boats that appears either in Philip Bolger's book "Small Boats" or in "The Folding Schooner and other Experiments in Small Boats". I will check when I am home this evening to see if there are any drawings of the leeboard connections. Plan b would be to build your own or have them built for you since Eddy and Duff are out of business since 2010. Jeff  

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1983 Edey and Duff 21' Dovekie

• Description

Seller's Description

21’ Dovekie made in Mattapoisett by Edey and Duff and designed by Phil Bolger. High quality craftsmanship, thick fiberglass hull and built to last. Mast, sprit, and rudder were striped, sanded and 4 coats of Varathane high gloss Ultimate Spar Urethane just applied. Original Edey and Duff trailer is in good shape. I just installed a new winch and 2 new tires and rims. Sail is in fair workable shape with 2 reefing points. The Dovekie is designed to be rowed for auxiliary power so no need for an engine or registration. It will float in 4’’ of water. Great for gunk-holing. Pretty cool boat! She has spent most of her life on a trailer and looks rarely used. The bottom has never been painted. Forward and aft danforth anchors with chain and 100’ of line each and dock lines included, new tiller tamer. May consider trading her with cash for a nice 13’ to 14’ center console with outboard and trailer.

Rig and Sails

Auxilary power, accomodations, calculations.

The theoretical maximum speed that a displacement hull can move efficiently through the water is determined by it's waterline length and displacement. It may be unable to reach this speed if the boat is underpowered or heavily loaded, though it may exceed this speed given enough power. Read more.

Classic hull speed formula:

Hull Speed = 1.34 x √LWL

Max Speed/Length ratio = 8.26 ÷ Displacement/Length ratio .311 Hull Speed = Max Speed/Length ratio x √LWL

Sail Area / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the power of the sails relative to the weight of the boat. The higher the number, the higher the performance, but the harder the boat will be to handle. This ratio is a "non-dimensional" value that facilitates comparisons between boats of different types and sizes. Read more.

SA/D = SA ÷ (D ÷ 64) 2/3

• SA : Sail area in square feet, derived by adding the mainsail area to 100% of the foretriangle area (the lateral area above the deck between the mast and the forestay).
• D : Displacement in pounds.

Ballast / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the stability of a boat's hull that suggests how well a monohull will stand up to its sails. The ballast displacement ratio indicates how much of the weight of a boat is placed for maximum stability against capsizing and is an indicator of stiffness and resistance to capsize.

Ballast / Displacement * 100

Displacement / Length Ratio

A measure of the weight of the boat relative to it's length at the waterline. The higher a boat’s D/L ratio, the more easily it will carry a load and the more comfortable its motion will be. The lower a boat's ratio is, the less power it takes to drive the boat to its nominal hull speed or beyond. Read more.

D/L = (D ÷ 2240) ÷ (0.01 x LWL)³

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds.
• LWL: Waterline length in feet

Comfort Ratio

This ratio assess how quickly and abruptly a boat’s hull reacts to waves in a significant seaway, these being the elements of a boat’s motion most likely to cause seasickness. Read more.

Comfort ratio = D ÷ (.65 x (.7 LWL + .3 LOA) x Beam 1.33 )

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds
• LOA: Length overall in feet
• Beam: Width of boat at the widest point in feet

Capsize Screening Formula

This formula attempts to indicate whether a given boat might be too wide and light to readily right itself after being overturned in extreme conditions. Read more.

CSV = Beam ÷ ³√(D / 64)

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Dovekie Identification

Dovekie photos and videos, nonbreeding adult/immature.

A small, chunky black-and-white bird. Appears rather tailless with no neck. Nonbreeding birds have a white throat and ear patch.

Breeding adult

Breeds in rocky terrain along high arctic coasts. Stocky with a no-neck look and a compact bill. Black above and white below.

Short-tailed and short-necked pelagic bird. Often sits low in the water. Nonbreeding birds have a white throat and ear patch.

Flight is rapid and insectlike. Body looks like a football in flight.

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The Four Keys to ID

A very small seabird with a chunky body, very short tail and neck, and a small stubby bill. The wings are short and narrow.

Relative Size

Larger than a Red-necked Phalarope, smaller than a Black Guillemot.

Measurements Both Sexes Length: 7.5-9.1 in (19-23 cm) Weight: 4.7-7.2 oz (134-204 g) Wingspan: 15.0 in (38 cm)

Breeding adults are black above with a black breast and white belly. They have white-edged wing feathers, a small white mark behind the eye, and gray mottling on the flanks. Nonbreeding adults lack the black breast and show a partial white collar. Immatures have a brownish cast to the upperparts.

Feeds by diving underwater, using wings to swim after prey in a zig-zag pattern as the bird ascends toward the surface. Often forages in large flocks, far out to sea.

Nests on rocky islands, cliffs, scree, and talus slopes. Forages in marine environments where small zooplankton concentrate: along sea ice edge and where upwelling brings nutrients toward the surface, usually over the continental slope or banks far offshore.

Species in This Family

Auks, Murres, and Puffins (Order: Charadriiformes, Family: Alcidae )

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