Nautilus Sailing Dory 16
Description
The Nautilus Sailing Dory is a modern, versatile sail-and-oar dory designed by Clint Chase of Chase Small Craft in collaboration with French naval architect François Vivier, representing an evolution of Vivier's popular Doris dory for enhanced performance in both rowing and sailing. Introduced in 2024–2025, this compact, beachable daysailer emphasizes simplicity, portability, and family-friendly capacity, making it ideal for protected waters like bays, lakes, or coastal inlets. Drawing from traditional New England dory heritage—lightweight, narrow, and buoyant—the Nautilus incorporates Chase's innovative Tab-n-Lock system for strongback-free construction, allowing amateur builders to assemble the hull in days rather than weeks. It's optimized for tandem rowing (up to four adults) and spirited sailing under a balanced lug or sprit rig, with a refined hull for better tracking and dryness than classic dories. Currently in final development (prototype launched in 2024), kits are slated for release in late 2025, positioning it as an accessible entry into wood/epoxy boatbuilding with a nod to historical feats like the 1878 transatlantic voyage of the original Nautilus dory.
Construction Details
| Designer | Clint Chase |
|---|---|
| Length | 16.250 ft |
| LOA | 49.000 ft |
| LWL | 40.420 ft |
| Beam | 13.420 ft |
| Max Draft | 10.000 ft |
| Min Draft | 5.670 ft |
The standard boat dimensions
| i | 49 ft |
|---|---|
| j | 18.80 ft |
| p | 40.70 ft |
| e | 15.83 ft |
| p2 | 27.38 ft |
| e2 | 10.20 ft |
| i2 | - |
| j2 | - |
| I | J | P | E | P2 | E2 | I2 | J2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 49 ft | 18.80 ft | 40.70 ft | 15.83 ft | 27.38 ft | 10.20 ft | - | - |
Disclaimer. Boats are not all the same -- even when produced in the same factory of the same model. Sailrite does its best to publish accurate dimensions, but we often find it worthwhile to have our customers measure their boats carefully before we produce kits for them. You should take the same precautions, especially when the data is not from Sailrite. The information on this site is not guaranteed to be accurate. Sailrite offers this content as a service to our community, but takes no responsibility for the reliability of the data provided.