Recent content by outbackbill

I have EOH brakes. The toggle off switch is so that you don't have to adjust your brake settings when you pull the empty trailer. If you forget to lower your brake settings when pulling the trailer empty and have to make a hard stop the trailer wheels will lock up and wear a flat spot on your...

I have pulled my empty trailer long distances many times. I often make one way river or coastal trips by renting a car to get back to my truck and trailer. This Summer for example I launched in Trenton Ontario and did the Trent Severn waterway to Georgian Bay. We then cruised Georgian Bay to...

I keep a logbook with milage, anchorage and route information but I don't save my tracks. Bill

Sure you can do it. Last winter we did the south Florida loop, starting at lake Okeechobee we went west to Cape Coral and then were able to follow the inside channel south to Wiggins Pass, then outside to Gordon’s Pass near Naples. Once in Gordon’s Pass there is an inside channel to Goodland. We...

As a North Florida native, I think Florida is a great place to visit but you don’t want to live there. Seriously you should spend some time in August or September in any area you are interested in before making the move. I suppose putting up with the heat and bugs for 5 or 6 months and...

We launched in the small town of Suwannee to explore that area. There is a small public ramp next to Gateway Marina where there was no charge to leave our rig.This was about 5 years ago so you might want to check for current information. You can explore up River to see beautiful springs or out...

I find kayaks the perfect dingy solution to keep things simple. We have two 9.5 foot recreational sit inside kayaks that live on a Yakima rack that attaches to the cabin top rails of our 25. They each weigh about 40 pounds. We keep a bow line attached to them and I can easily pull them forward...

When our Bimini was first installed in Florida I followed the advice of the builder and what I had read here and booted it against the cabin top. We then headed to the Great Lakes and when we opened it for the first time we found two small holes and several worn areas where it had rubbed against...

When our Bimini was first installed in Florida I followed the advice of the builder and what I had read here and booted it against the cabin top. We then headed to the Great Lakes and when we opened it for the first time we found two small holes and several worn areas where it had rubbed against...

Another negative about all chain that hasn't been mentioned is that C Dory's tend to weathervane at anchor and unless you use a snubber at all times at the end of each swing there is an abrupt jolt and sound that makes sleeping difficult. Rather than adding the snubber each time you anchor, if...

In Florida Sea Tow seems to have better coverage but when we checked Boat US had better nationwide coverage. We chose Boat US and in the 7 years that we lived aboard and traveled full time we had 2 water tows and 3 truck/trailer tows. I am very satisfied. We recently switched to Geico for our...

I agree with John on his anchor suggestions. I had a 16 pound Bruce anchor with 30 feet of chain and could not get a good set in any of the shallow coves. I now use a 22 pound delta and although I haven’t been back to Champlain, it seems to hold better in grass.

We like to go slow so most of our hours are at 2000 rpm or less but we had just under 3000 hours on our 2007 Suzuki 140 before it started giving us problems last Summer in Alaska. We had a new Suzuki 150 barged up to Sitka. We now have a little over 400 hours on it.

Thank you for all the positive comments. We have met some great people through owning our C-Dory and look forward to meeting more of you in the future. We do have lots of pictures with captions on Facebook at Becky Ogilvie Smith. Living in a tiny boat was worth doing for all the great place’s...

After living full-time on our C-Dory since April of 2013, we recently rented a house in North Carolina. We had already made the decision to find a house this Spring before we knew that the CoronaVirus would be changing all of our lives. We found a small house in a rural area West of...