WTB Angler Cruiser or Venture

[LCCRUISER]

Wanted to Buy C-Dory 25, 23, 22 or 19 in any state east of the Mississippi. Please contact me if you have one available or are seriously considering selling soon. Thanks! LC

[LCCRUISER]

[LCCRUISER]

We looked at C-Dorys in Georgia, the Florida Panhandle and St Petersburg, FL on the way from NH to our new winter home on the East Coast of Florida. The only one that the owner would let us sea trial was the last one in St Pete. The other two sellers wouldn't even start the engines and they were both asking in the $30K plus range. The one in the Panhandle had a trailer that no one would want to take over the road and after nearly a week that owner hasn't contacted me with info on the availability of a suitable trailer in his area. The one in St Pete ran so badly it wouldn't rev up enough to get on plane. It is disappointing after driving nearly 1500 miles and making detours and spending extra time and nights on the road to see these boats.
We would have bought the 22 Angler in GA if we had been able to see trial it and were in the process of of scheduling a trial this weekend even though it was another 2 days round trip with an overnight. Then the unbelievable happened.
We found a C-Dory 22 Classic (similar to the 22 Angler in cockpit and cabin size) only 2 hours away from our winter home. We popped over there yesterday and had a sea trial. My wife even got her first experience going through a lock on the Caloosahatchee River while I shuffled the towing vehicle down river to the boat launch for pickup.
We struck a deal and we are now official members of the C-Dory community at an investment level that will allow us to enjoy the boat without worrying about unexpected costs or a resale if we find that this isn't the boat for us. Plus more money for upgrades.

[thataway]

Congratulations on finding a boat. Then buying a boat. What year is the boat? Ask TyBoo or Da Nag for an album(No 2 and 3 on the member list). Then post photos of the boat.

Formally, Welcome aboard! A "new" house and "new" boat--what a score by the 6th of the year!

Ouch on your experiences--especially on a boat which didn't run properly. Maybe a carburetor issue? Ethanol fuel, if you have an engine with carburetors, needs to have the carburetors drained unless you are going to use the boat again in about 2 weeks. (Ethanol laced fuel). In Florida it is fairly easy to get ethanol or "marine" fuel. We have a couple of service stations within a couple of miles of our house which sell the non ethanol fuel.

Incidentally, when buying a boat, the sea trial is usually after a contract is signed with a 10% deposit. Every once and a while you may find (as you did) a boat already in the water with a seller who will give a sea trial.

[LCCRUISER]

We are VERY happy with both acquisitions, thanks!

It was a fuel injected Suzuki, ran fine 3 months ago according to the owner and he drained all the fuel and put in fresh. He's still working on the problem as of a day or two ago. He was a nice guy and very apologetic about the motor issue

The GA boat was stored for the winter and the owner is physically unable to do much and relies on his son who, unfortunately, was 2 states away at the time. We had requested that we hear it run at the least and would prefer a sea trial but apparently they weren't able to coordinate that for us and didn't communicate that back to us. The son told me this week he will now be unavailable to show the boat after this weekend until sometime in February. I will say they are very nice people, but they missed an opportunity to sell.

The other gentleman in the Panhandle just seemed grumpy about showing it again and didn't ask for a deposit. He had showed it previously without deposits. A friend of mine had looked at the boat 2 weeks previously so I had some background info. He told my wife that our friend looking at it had been our only chance to try it out. I didn't hear him say that, otherwise I would have told him that my friend wasn't the one spending $30K on a boat plus needing to spend another $5K on a new trailer. My friend also wasn't the one who drove 250 miles out of his way and had to stay an extra night in a motel. I did tell him I hadn't driven the extra distance and spent money on a motel to not be seriously considering the purchase. I actually drove to a local custom trailer shop after I looked at the boat and relayed the info I received back to the seller so he should have further been reassured I was serious.

Maybe I'm naive, but IMO anyone who drives hundreds of miles to look at a boat should be viewed as a serious buyer and you should be prepared to show it.

I had a 23' Seaway that I sold a year or so ago to a gentleman who drove about 300 miles from NJ to NH. The tires on the trailer didn't meet my standards and I offered to take the boat to a truck tire store 20 miles away that would have required my making two trips due to the size and type of wheel. I didn't give it a second thought as I believed it was the right think to do at the time.

In any case, it all worked out in our favor. I didn't get mad or get into a verbal exchange with anyone. My usual bad Karma (my wife's opinion) was reversed and I found a very affordable boat near me that wasn't a big hassle to obtain. I'm very sure it will fit our needs to a T.

On the plus side, In doing research last night I discovered the 2005 4 stroke fuel injected 70HP Johnson on the boat was actually made by Suzuki and has a great reputation. It is as quiet as a mouse and has about 400 hours so I should get quite a bit of service from it. It is very economical, the owner claimed only 1.5 gallons an hour at cruise. I will be verifying that but even twice that consumption wouldn't be bad. He recently bought a 25 Cruiser and was lamenting the high fuel consumption.

Thanks for your input!