C Dory cancelling dealers

Cfoster · Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 3:10 pm Post subject: C Dory cancelling dealers

Does anyone what is going on with C-Dory terminating dealers and adding a new one. Wefings and Mobile East Marine are no longer listed as dealers and a new one, Three Rivers Marine, has been appointed in Crystal River, FL. Seems like they terminated two very popular long term dealers to try their luck with an unknown.

rogerbum · Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 3:48 pm Post subject: Re: C Dory cancelling dealers

Cfoster · Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 3:55 pm Post subject:

Roger,
It's more than that. The C-Dory website has been changed as Wefings and Mobile East Marine were listed until recently and Three Rivers in FL has never before been a C-Dory dealer.

thataway · Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 4:18 pm Post subject:

rogerbum · Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 4:21 pm Post subject:

Jack in Alaska · Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 5:01 pm Post subject: dealers

Three Rivers Marine has been around since the early 2000's.
I tried to buy a used CD in 2005, the one I own now. The deal fell through but I found the same boat on EBAY 4 yrs later with only 30 more hrs. on it as well as $40k off of the price. It was in a repo yard in W. Palm Beach, Fla.
Turned out to be an excellent deal.
They were a CD dealer then.

Cfoster · Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 5:45 pm Post subject:

Okay that explains Three Rivers but why have they dumped Wefings and Mobile East Marine? Anybody have a theory on that?

thataway · Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 6:50 pm Post subject:

I just got off the phone with Marc Grove from Wefings. They are no longer a stocking dealer--their choice. Marc has a number of brands he is selling. He still wants to be the "Go to" for used C Dory sales. I believe he has had more sales of used C Dorys than new ones in the last few years. He does have the knowledge and resources to sell the used boats well. He is also a dealer for Suzuki, Yamana and Honda for the re-power fans, and has very competitive pricing.

I feel that part of the switch has to do with lack of support from the C Dory Factory. It falls on the dealer to buy boats (or floor them) and either is a significant part of the cost of selling a boat. The dealer has to do all of the advertising, take the boats to boat shows, answer questions, and probably has contacts from half a dozen people asking questions for every boat he sells.

Marc will remain as a very supportive member of the C Dory community. We talked about a gathering again "of old friends" toward the 3rd week of Oct. Nothing solid about that yet.

Marc remains a person that all of us in the C Brat community can depend on!

ssobol · Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 7:10 pm Post subject:

It would seem to me that there are few dealers out there. Unless the factory wants to start selling direct, they might want to keep the dealer network they have.

On the other hand, maybe the manufacturer is not all that interested in making more C-Dory's if they have other brands that sell better.

Most of the dealers for C-Dory listed on the C-Dory website, I have never heard of or seen any participation from on this website.

I wonder what the recent sale numbers are for C-Dorys. Perhaps making new ones is not worth the trouble anymore.

It seems that all the activity around C-Dorys is organized by the owners with little to no participation/support from the manufacturer.

FWIW, I have never been to a boat show that has had any C-Dorys (new or used) on display (I attend some East Coast boat shows). Everyone I talk to at these shows know what one is (or at least act like they know), but no one shows them.

On the other other hand, while they have made 2K+ boats, the boats they have made are tough and durable. A 20 or 30 year old C-Dory is pretty much the same as a brand new one and perfectly usable. You can't say that about a lot of other manufacturer's boats. You'd probably have to pay someone to haul a 30 yr-old ***liner away. Perhaps the C-Dory manufacturer has designed themselves out of a job and are planning on moving on.

Cfoster · Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 7:17 pm Post subject:

Well said Bob. I have found Marc to be a man of the highest integrity and a man of his word as I have dealt with him on the purchase of my Sea Sport. The industry would do well to have more like him in the business. I look forward to taking delivery of my 26 Aleutian within the next month and Marc has made it a very pleasant experience dealing with someone with his level of expertise and knowledge. He goes above and beyond to satisfy the customer and do things the right way!

SEA3PO · Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 7:46 pm Post subject:

This is no shock to me....the new company could not care about anything but selling boats...I doubt they really have the quality build of the earlier companies as before there was a sense of building boats for friends...we all liked one another and we knew the company had our back...now they could care less who we are ....other than we sell lots of boats for them...I think they are worthless bunch of bums...

I never thought the company treated their dealers well, making them pay for the boats before delivery...not like all the other boat companies...bet that changes once people figure out who they are...

Yes... I am upset that they have dropped my friends the dealers I like and that have stood with us... I will always buy my boats from the people I trust...and that would be Wefings..... If I were a dealer of boats I sure would stand clear of the new company....they appear to be only interested in their bottom line and not the quality or tradition of the C-Dory brand...

JamesTXSD · Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 7:53 pm Post subject:

thataway · Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 8:37 pm Post subject:

Sorry about putting that "Dory" in there Jim...you are absolutely right...

I do believe that the boats are well built--that does not mean that there may not be quality control issues--they seem to happen in many boats.

Flooring is pretty common in the boating industry. There may be an exception where the dealers are owned by the building company--or there is a close relationship. An example of this might be MarineMax where Brunswick owns a portion of the company, and the model includes buying marinas. This at least an 800 dollar a year business....not C Dory's...which I suspect is pretty much a hand to mouth operation...

Casey · Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 8:56 pm Post subject:

Whatever you want to call it, I Love
"Dessert 1st," my Cape Cruiser 23 that
I bought in 2009 from 3 Rivers Marine!
Best,
Casey
...currently in Sitka, headed to Petersburg
(On the AK Ferry)

South of Heaven · Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 10:47 pm Post subject:

This sucks. We have a huge group of ACTIVE enthusiasts who love the brand and the brand itself is dwindling slowly but surely. Its frustrating to see Ranger Tugs/Cutwater booming and we're in the dark recesses! Lol

I know for a fact that the 22 and 23 would sell very good in Maine and Mass. It's the perfect coastal rig for up here. The only problem is that NO ONE knows about C Dorys in New England. There is zero marketing and no dealers here. So no boat show exposure.

The 25 and 26 I think would be a harder sell in New England because for the price ($110-120k +) you open up a lot of different options.

Too bad about Wefings but Im sure Marc had to do it. He's a great guy and helped me several times last year. I'm sure the used C Dory market will thrive.