Searching for Joe Dobler's original plans

[Nick Bletsch]

Hi Everyone, 

 

This is my first post here. Some years ago Joe Dobler's son in law, Tom Setum, inherited Joe's archive of 300 or so plans. Tom passed away last year, but before he died he donated Joe's plans to a school or maritime museum, most likely in the Pacific Northwest. Unfortunately the name of that institution has been lost, and no one seems to recall where they went, including members of Tom's own family. Duckworks does have 14 plans on their site, but these are copies given to them by Tom and are just a small percentage of the total.

 

Craig O'D of the Cheap Pages and I and I have been trying and failing to hunt down the location of the plans. We don't have any commercial interest in the plans, we just think it's a shame that the plans are lost at the moment and we are hoping to find them and determine if they are accessible though the institution holding them. We also want to make sure they are not in danger of being discarded, which may be a possibility if they are at a non-maritime school that does not value them. If anyone has any bright ideas please let us know!

 

Joe was an aeronautical engineer who worked at North American Aircraft and designed small boats in his spare time. Many of his later boats, from the mid 60's onward are stitch and glue. Bob Hicks of Messing About in Boats magazine says Joe is responsible for introducing stitch and glue construction to the US.  Jacques Mertens-Goossens said Joe was "a real pioneer in hull shapes and building materials" and freely admitted to knocking off Joe's Lissa pulling boat almost verbatim. Thomas Firth Jones built a Dobler 16 and said it was the "best all-around day boat" he'd ever come across. 

 

I know Tom was originally considering donating the plans to a maritime museum from conversations I had with him at the time. I had encouraged him to donate the plans to Mystic (Tom said they declined) or to give them to duckworks so they could remain accessible, among other things, but I couldn't interest him in any of my ideas. Last time I talked to him he had moved to Bellingham WA and I believe he said he had donated the plans to a school in the area , but I do not recall where (admittedly the school part of this memory may be incorrect). All we really know is the plans moved with him to Bellingham and were then donated somewhere. We did encounter curators at Columbia River Maritime Museum and Puget Sound University that seem to recall talking to Tom. Below is a list of places that Craig and I have contacted so far in our search.

 

Pubic 4 year in WA

University of Washington

Washington State University

Western Washington University

Eastern Washington University

Central Washington University

Evergreen State College

Random Museum/Maritime

Mystic Seaport

Columbia River Maritime Museum

Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society

Puget Sound Navy Museum

RiversWest

MOHAI

Northwest Maritime Port Townsend

San Diego Maritime

LA Maritime San Pedro

SF Maritime

Whatcom museum

Oregon Maritime Museum

Center for Woodenboats Seattle

NW school for wooden boatbuilding

Wooden Boat Foundation Port Townsend

Private 4 year in WA

Pacific Lutheran University

University of Puget Sound

Walla Walla University

Whitman College

Whitworth University

Antioch University

Bastyr University

City University of Seattle

Cornish College of the Arts

Gonzaga University

WA Museums (unfiltered mostly maritime from wikipedia)

Whatcom Maritime Association Bellingham

Foss Waterway Seaport

Public primarily two-year institutions that also grant four-year degrees

Bellingham Technical College, Bellingham

 

 

 

 

 

[Jonathan M. Cohn]

Any luck? Any avenues pf research that have been eliminated?