How much boating experience before you bought your C-Dory?

[South of Heaven]

I started boating at age 33. I'm 36 now..... I grew up on the water and was an avid swimmer but my family never had boats. The irony in that is that I summered on the Cape on my parents waterfront summer home but we never had boats! Other than paddleboats and little dinks, etc.

Anyway fast forward to 2015 and one of my colleagues bought a Formula 37 cruiser. After being on his boat a few times I knew that I wanted to get my own boat. But there was no way that I was gonna "jump in headfirst". I started doing online searches for good beginner boats and such; then I came across a debate of open boat vs PH (pilothouse). I was hooked! I loved the functionality of PH boats and never looked back......

I started out looking at Parkers, Steigers, Defiance, Easterns and Arima's (I was actually VERY close to buying an Arima!!). Finally I found C Dory's and was mesmerized. Loved the lines, looks and features.

I wouldn't worry about your prior boating experience at all. I didn't have at any and survived (so far!). But as others have mentioned I would definitely make sure you do your due diligence. TAKE A USCG AUX COURSE. They are cheap and are very valuable to newbies (like you and me!). I learned a lot from that initial 1 month course. I would also buy some good reading material on basic boating and "rules of the road". The Chapmans book is the definitive source on recreational boating. No arguments here. BUT IMHO it is a boring read and I have not read it cover to cover. I do keep it onboard for reference however.

There is no substitute for just "getting out there". Just do it! I easily clocked over 100 hours on my CD 16 the first year and many of those hours were SOLO!! But I was also prudent too. I had my wired VHF, plus a handheld, all my CG safety equipment and usually always wore a PFD (back then I wore a cheapy but now I have mulitiple inflatable PFD's). I would also suggest you file a float plan if you're gonna be SOLO.

Good luck! C Dory's are the perfect beginner boat and as Thataway said, they could be your last boat too! Very economical and capable rigs.

[South of Heaven]

[journey on]

I certainly strongly endorse taking the Power Squadron/USCG Aux boating and navigation courses. Not only will you learn boating terms and rules, but they will save you money on your insurance.

However, take them after you get a boat. Then you'll understand a lot more of what is said. I took them after I got the boat and started to learn what I didn't know. Otherwise it's nice but theoretical.

Boris

[Esmi2]

Thanks, all, for the advice. Lot of wisdom here.

Two of the take-aways that particularly resonate came from Boris:

1) Take the Power Squadron classes AFTER getting the boat, thereby changing theoretical learning into practical learning, and,

2) If I am letting "good deals" slip by, maybe I don't really want a C-Dory. (ouch!)

It's this second one that I need to look further into, and that probably comes from introspection more than from asking y'all. But, please, do continue the conversation!

[thataway]

[Hunkydory]

This subject or variances of it has come up every few years, so here are some of my thoughts shared here over the last 12 years.

Posted Mar 2006

Saw our 1st C Dory in Bridge Bay Marina, on lake yellowstone in Yellowstone National Park in l981. Jo-Lee and I on that day made a pact that we would own a C Dory someday. It took 22 years for that dream to become reality. Even though we know the C Dory history we still named our boat Hunkydory. Websters got it right our boat is "just right”.

Jay and Jo-Lee

Posted Oct, 2011

Love that gentle rocking & surging along, yep a wonderful feeling, but not quite sure it makes up for the equally bad times the water can create. Not really into fishing so for our boating is all about where the boat can take Jo-Lee & I & what we can see & experience along the way.

Have always felt living without adventure or solitude not really living, but what I have found fairly late in life is with the right boat, solitude, adventure & the challenges I've sought throughout my live could be experienced without the pain & loneliness that came with most of my previous adventures in the mountain wilderness. From a canoe to RIB to CD 22, We’ve progressed to increasingly more comfort, while at the same time accessing more remote & wild places then ever in the mountains. Combine this with the diverse, intriguing, knowledgeable people one meets here & at the CD gatherings makes boating though started late in my life the best of all my endeavors so far.

Jay

Posted Feb, 2012

Our first boat of any kind was a 16 foot canoe in 1989 at age 41. Followed by a scanoe with a 3 hp Tanaka motor the same year.

Then in 2000 a 12.5 foot Sea Eagle RIB with 18 hp, 4 stroke Nissan motor. We had a fantastic time exploring rivers & lakes in the Canadian Northwest & Yukon Territories & some in BC. With one jaunt between Skagway & Haines Alaska.

None of our C-Dory cruising time has been anymore fun only more comfortable. Our grand adventures on the CD22 started in 2003 & should show others with similar lack of prior boating experience what a great boat the CD 22 is either in the hands of one starting out a novice like us or many year seasoned boating veterans like Dr Bob & Marie.

Jay

Posted Feb 2013

We started the boating chapter of our lives very late compared to many here who have been involved in one way or another with boating most of their lives. I know most here push the safety factor before most any other aspect of boating as perhaps it should be, but when we purchased our first boat (other than a small rubber inflatable & canoe) our 22 foot CD, we knew where we wanted to explore with it & because of our very limited boating knowledge knew that an elevated risk must be accepted in the doing or wait longer than willing to lower the risk. Fortunately for me I had time on the job to throughly learn all that I could from reading books & other information about cruising, seamanship, instruments & boating in Southeast Alaska. It was the actual hands on experience that we were sorely lacking. As those who have followed my writings of our various cruises in the Grand Adventure Forum, through this learning process know, we jumped in from the get go learning as we progressed from adventure to adventure. Our boating through the last 10 years (now 14) has been a phenomenal time & the most enjoyable period of a wonderful life with very few regrets. I'm now more happy then ever that we entered this boating phase of our life in the manner we did, because if we had waited until retirement & slowly gained experience, it most likely would have not have made up for the loss of physical ability & confidence brought on by the aging process & the concerns shared by the good hearted well meaning folk of the C-Brat community. At that time, we being mountain, not water people didn't know anybody evolved with boating to tell us our plans were just not realistic & much to dangerous for us & the others we might encounter due to our lack of experience & knowledge of boating in general & particularly the ocean waters of Southeast Alaska. Now at the present time, due in good part to this time accelerated learning curve during those wonderful adventures, we gained achievements & experience to counter the present loss of physical ability, endurance & declining drive, which is giving us the confidence to continue on exploring these & other waters as we continue the aging process.

Posted Oct 2016

Our CD22 is our first boat larger than a canoe or small RIB & it will likely be our last. For many years, when on travels in water areas, where the marina docks could be walked, walking them & talking to the boat owners was a favorite thing for us to do. Only the boats, that looked like they could be used to see places, we couldn't any other way & do so for extended time periods, really captured our interest, but with zero knowledge of boat cruising & boats in general & a more mountain area living & doing lifestyle with very limited finances for a boat cruising endeavor, any future boating idea was really just a fun day dream. Then in 2003 at 55 years old & back problems limiting my remote mountain endeavors, yet still having a desire to explore the wild places with Jo-Lee's company, we decided it was now or never if we really wanted to change our boating dream to reality. I think it's availability & our choice in choosing the CD22, has been the single most important link to us making the dreams become reality without creating some horrible nightmares in the process. It’s a niche boat & has been & still is a perfect fit for us.

Jay

[hardee]

I "grew up" on the water, starting in about the 2nd or 3rd grade with a tiny plywood flat bottom dingy. I was out rowing around rocks and claiming and naming them for "my own islands". Graduated to other paddlecraft, owned a fleet of Old Town and Grumin canoes at one time, then moved up into sailing. I helped teach sailing,paddling and water skiing in college along with swimming. I did have an outboard on my sail boats, but rarely ran them, and generally sailed from dock to dock.

My 22 Cruiser was my first power boat and it took 4 years after buying that before I was willing to make the final split from sailing and sold my last sailboat. The C-Dory was easy to adapt to, forgiving and simple.

Go for it IF you want to power boat.

The C-Dory family here has been a wonderful boon, full of helpful, useful, pertinent C-Dory information (as you may have noticed already). There are lots of good points listed above. Here's my pick:
1. To take a boating safety class AND a navigation class.
2. Get and read Chapmans, (Yeh, it ain't like a great thriller, but it has everything you need to know so take your time and digest it.)
3. Take an experienced person with you when you start.
4. Buddy boat if you can, especially at first.

Harvey
SleepyC

[ken35216]

I water skied in my teens but when I was 29 I went on a crewed sailboat trip in the BVI and was hooked. Buddy of mine lived in St Pete and bought a 32 Bristol sailboat and I spent at least two weeks a year on it for the next ten years.

Bought my own little 25 ft US Yacht sailboat (junker for 5k) and kept it for a few years. I liked going faster so I bought (at 42) a 25 Regal Bowrider. Both boats I kept at the beach. At 50 I thought I had things figured out and bought a 32 Nimble Wanderer trawler. Took a six week cruise bringing it back from Ft Lauderdale to Destin via the Keys. Loved the enclosed pilot house and that is was trailerable.

I didn't like the speed of the trawler. So I bought a Key West 2020 CC. That's when I saw a C-Dory up close at the marina. Didn't take me long to find a 2007 C-Dory 25.

They are fantastic boats.

[localboy]

Very limited. Some sailing with my brother back in Hawa'i'. Some fishing aka deep water trolling back in the 80's with a friend, also in Hawai'i. Then more cruising on a sailboat with the same brother up in Puget Sound.

Grew up on/in the ocean though: surfing, diving, spearfishing, ocean kayaking, paddling Hawai'ian canoes etc. Was spearfishing/surfing since I was a young kid. More comfortable in the water than in the mountains for sure.

[gulfcoast john]

Esmi2,
The most critical issue here is that it won't be a difficult financial hit for you. Buy at market value, later sell at market value, and maybe you'll have a blast or maybe the whole experience will be sour. Either way, since it won't be a serious financial blow for you is the MOST important issue compared to 99% of potential new boat buyers.

Our 255 is our 11th trailer powerboat over 35 years. No ' 2-foot-itis' for us... we had a 15 Cobia at age 26, and everything about it was a hoot. (Youth is SO wasted on the young!) Then a 16, 16.5, , 17, 18, 19, 20, 20.5, 21, 23 Mako, 26 Regal and TC255 (now age 62). We have known for a long time that 'messing about' in or on or within or under a trailerboat is more fun than anything else you can do with your pants on. YMMV.

They are fantastic niche boats, built in small numbers with passionate owners who will fly across the country with cash (or, in our case, to the Outer Banks of NC) to buy one at $8,000 over what our Surveyor thought was fair, and pay a pro $2/mile to tow it to our shed. Count on adding 30% more for outfitting it the way you want and $3.50/gal for ethanol-free gas.

You're not getting younger, and we don't know how many good boating seasons you have left, so don't waste another one, esp if finances are not a big issue.
Cheers!
John

[jbdba01]

re
===
Tell me your story. What was the lead up to your purchase like?
===

Hope you have a cup of Joe or beer...

I suspect like most folks here, we would need several pitchers of beer to get through all of it. Perhaps the condensed version is I'm Cuban, born in Hamilton, Bermuda, lived in Miami and Panama City Panama. It's not by choice that I boat - it's an addition that no rehab program can cure. I told my wife (of 30 years), there's only one woman I would leave you for and it's mother ocean...and she's knows it's true. Every day the ocean calls me....

I tarpon fish - it's a disease that only supplements my oceanic habit. The best way that I can describe it is in this video. It come close to explaining it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZoMPciCciY

I go to a Methodist church and always introduce myself to the preacher as follows "Hi I'm John. I sit in the second row - normally every week, but come May/June you may not see me. It's tarpon season. It's just the way it is." Then my wife rolls her eyes. The FL preachers get it - the Yankees (as I like to call them) don't.

I started wade fishing off the Deering Estate in the 70's and 80's in Miami, then canoeing, end up land locked in Atlanta for 20 years; in ATL in 2006 I sold the house, quit my lucrative Oracle consulting/contracting job, left all my job contacts all so I could boat and tarpon fish here in Tampa - right at the height of the real estate market. On paper I'm down six figures on my house, my salary originally dropped 30%, and my stock portfolio took a 30-50% beating - some which was a realized capital loss. A really big realized captial loss.

You know what - it's been totally worth it.

For $8,500 I bought a small 17' skiff to poon fish and we did pretty good. Here's a pic of her after I fixed her all up.



Sample "poonage"



Great boat and perfect for what I wanted to do. Here was my feable attempt to think I could do the great loop solo...it was blowing pretty hard that night and I had to secure the Captain's Quarters for fear of it blowing away.



Around 2007 my cousin built his own solar boat and cruised it from Pennsylvania to Ft Lauderdale. When he invited me for part of the cruise from Jacksonville to Vero Beach I jump on the opportunity. He introduced me to this thing called "The Great Loop".

Here's a sample video of what we did - I'm the deck hand in the GA visor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=015lluC4-co

After that trip I knew I was going to do a Great Loop - just a question of when and how. My cousin was the one who introduced me to the CDory.

Fast forward 8 or 9 years of poon fishing and getting two kids to college (one out, one going), and I finally talked to the spousal unit about a bigger boat...every day for about 8 years. Eventually she wore down and blurted out "Just buy the thing already." Truth be told the other option was to move on to a boat - which she wanted no part of. So the Great Compromise of 2015 was made. Sell the house - a condo for her and a boat for him.

I did a ton of research and the quest for a 25' Tomcat began. I found one and bid on it - things were pretty much done when my employment situation got dicey. So I had to back out of the deal. Which ironically turned out to be a good thing. It gave the wife more time to reflect on what she really wanted - and it became pretty clear that the Great Loop was not in her cards. 3-5 day trips maybe, but not extended trips. We'll that was why I was looking at TC's - so with the new parameters in stone I started looking at Glacier Bay's 2670. More of a fishing boat (reference previous paragrahps about poon) than a cruiser.

So with new parameters in hand for the next 18 months I scoured the internet - I bid on several boats but had a firm grasp of the market. I knew what I wanted and recognized good vs not so good deals. I walked away from several boats and was outbid on more. I pretty much threw in the towel and just happened to be looking in Craigslist in the Keys and found the boat I was interested in. I had her surveyed, and I drove from Tampa to Big Pine Key to check her out. The guy had 3 boats and was getting a bit older and was culling the herd - we struck a [really good] deal.

Things got complicated (as so many things do) and I ended up having to bring her to Naples. More gory details here:

http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?t=25277

So after 30-40 years I believe I have a boat to last me quite a long time. Like all boats there are compromises (and expenses). I can say I'm quite happy with my purchase. The question really is where is the next adventure...

Some boat/fishing porn to spur your purchase along...








So go buy a boat...one you can afford...but take the plunge. Your destiny awaits you.





"My name is John. I fish. It's what I do."

[BTDT]

60 years - Started boating when I was ten

Tomcat is loaded on trailer and almost ready for the 1200 mile trip to Hontoon Island for deicing

[gstraub]

Esmi2, with regard to your second point about letting the deals go by, I am an expert at that. When my wife and I bought our current sailboat, I let boat after boat go by. Finally when it was the right boat at the right price, after having done my research, I bought it. The broker teased me looking back in my file and said it took me three years to make up my mind and he also told me I wasn't his slowest client!

When I bought our C-Dory, I had been looking at smaller size power boats for a while. Looked at many and kicked myself more than a few times for letting really good deals go. When I found the C-Dory at a really good price, I just called my wife and said, "honey, I'm going to spend some money today" and bought it on the spot. (Luckily I have a very understanding wife who also loves boating!) It was probably the only time in my life I didn't have a bit of "buyer's remorse."

Do your research and trust your gut. You will probably know when it feels right. If you're hesitating, maybe you know that this isn't quite the right deal yet. You'll find it.

Good luck!

[kaelc]

I second what Gerhard said about letting a boat go if it doesn't feel right. With the right boat, you'll spend dozens but hopefully hundreds of hours on it a year.

I spent hundreds of hours on the water paddle boarding, canoeing, Kayaking and commercial fishing, before buying my first 18' fishing boat at 38 and then my first C-Dory 41 in January 2018.

I looked at Two C-Dory's and emailed with about Five owners over the course of 4 months. I ended up buying a boat with most of the features I wanted (Cockpit Canvas, Kicker). Hopefully, I don't spend 30% of the price outfitting it because I have lots of things saved from my old boat and this boat came with so many accessories that I continued to find after a week of going through the boat.

If you are single I would consider a 16-19 C-dory to make sure you like sleeping in, trailering and owning a boat. If you have a partner go for the 22 or 25, the biggest things are keeping them warm and having a bathroom if they are going to "enjoy" your hobby!

[PaulNBriannaLynn]

When I was around 14 years old I got turned onto water skiing by a friend whos family had a lake house. I was immediately hooked. I would beg for a pull on the lake for a couple years but dreamed of owning my own boat one day.

Around 16 or 17 years old, there was a boat on the side of the highway with a for sale sign on it. It was a flatbottom racing style boat. $200 was what they were asking. I saved up doing odd jobs and brought that thing home. I thought that was all there was to it. We worked on that old 1959 mercury for weeks, hoping to get it running but it was too far gone. Sold that boat for what I bought it for, to a couple unfamiliar with boats who thought they got the best deal ever

That summer I worked hard in construction and got my first real boat. A 1974 Fiberform 16' with the same year Johnson 100hp outboard. $900 was what they were asking. I may have had more fun with that boat than any other boat since. It was constantly breaking down, and I had to learn to fix it because I had no money for a mechanic. I learned a lot about mechanics.

Fast forward nearly a decade and a few boats later, I was a college student studying soil pits at Fort Ebey State park on Whidbey Island, WA. We were heading back across highway 20 towards Mt Vernon at the end of the long day and someone was towing a red trimmed 22' c-dory cruiser west in the opposite direction. Was the first one I ever saw, but I loved the lines. I thought maybe one day if I finally have a good job and have graduated from eating ramen noodles most nights Ill get on of those beautiful boats. One day.

Well about a decade after that, my daughter was born. At this point my wife and I were having fun in a 1979 19' fiberform with a only slightly newer evinrude 115 outboard. It was showing its wear but we had fun with it. Years before I had painted the cockpit with epoxy but it was starting to peel. We took our infant daughter out crabbing for the first time. The engine was smoking and sputtering out in the shipping channel off Anacortes. I look down at our baby daughter who is sitting on a blanket on the floor of the cockpit. She has chips of the paint on her head. That was it.

I'd seen C-dorys at the boat show for years and admired them. I was too stubborn to buy an expensive boat until a small child was involved. That really put it in perspective. It was either upgrade or quit boating all together. So that's what we did. We saved up for almost a year and took a personal loan out for the remainder of the balance and bought a used boat from Les at EQ marine. We loved that boat and really used the hell out of it as a family. When we sold it and bought a larger open cockpit boat, all I could think about was the one that got away. So we now have our 2nd c-dory and Ill be damned if I sell this one. Not gonna happen unless were upgrading to a 255 Tomcat. A guy can dream anyways.