Boats! (Dories, actually.)

As many of you know, I have somewhat different standards for what makes a research project successful or prestigious than most other political scientists (indeed, most researchers in general).  Specifically, I have one condition that needs to be met for me to consider a research project important, worthwhile, scientific, or useful.  That is, it has to get have a boat.  Doesn't matter what kind of boat.  And doesn't really matter what kind of condition the boat is in or how expensive it is or anything like that.  Just.  A boat.  A. Boat.  J-boat, sneakbox, dugout canoe, whatever.

So far, therefore, my research career has basically been a failure.

Nevertheless, I did see a whole bunch of boats today.  I'm in Jinja, East of Kampala, which is at the source of the Nile--where the Nile river comes out of Lake Victoria.  There's boats here.  Lots of them.

The boats here in Uganda have flat bottoms, conical sides, with a transom and a slightly raised bow.  Basically, they're dories.  Amazonian riverboats are usually dories, too.  Wooden, planked dories.  Usually, they're carvel planked, but sometimes they're lapstrake.  Whatever their planking construction, they're awesome.

Dories are great boats, and tremendously versatile.  The famed Grand Banks cod-fishing dories could carry thousands of pounds of fish (in fact, didn't feel stable without them), Swampscott dories were great pleasure rowing and sailing craft, and Maine Bateaux's are dories that were used for logging.   John Wesley Powell, one-armed Civil War vet and pioneer used the dory to explore the Grand Canyon.  They're very seaworthy, can carry a huge load, and they're cheap.  They're also easily driven, and can be moved by oars or by an outboard motor--the presence of a transom is one of the things that keeps the design alive.  Dory hulls are one of the more popular designs in Southeast Alaska.  

The boats here are planked with wide, rough-cut planks.  Not quite as wide as the ones you see in Peru (some of which are 3 or 4 feet wide), but these here are still planked with lumber that would be very expensive to buy in the US.  If you could even find boards that wide.

Regular (propeller) outboards are moving most of these--as opposed to Alaska, where dory-hulls are often moved by jet outboards, and Peru, where they're driven by long-shaft motors.  Nary an oar to be seen.

Dories are awesome.  I want one.