01/13 - 01/15 - Seattle Boat Show/C-Brat Convention

I just have to chime in and say what a great time Lorraine and I had at the big C-Dory weekend. What a great group of people C-Dory owners are! Of course we knew that from reading the forum. Speaking of which, I’m not sure which of the speakers at the dinner made the statement, but apparently all(!?) of the boats sold at the show were sold to people that read this forum! That’s some pretty powerful word-of-mouth advertising! That’s exactly how it worked in our case, we discovered C-Dory boats on-line, monitored this forum for quite some time, and then put down a deposit on …..one of the C*Ranger R25 tugs.

We also wanted to thank Roger and everyone else involved in organizing the party at the hotel Friday night, complete with live music and singing. It gave us a chance to meet a lot of great people, and to connect faces with the names we read on the different threads. Thanks also to the Andersons for hosting us at their brewery on Saturday, and yes, the IPA did make it all the way back to CA in check baggage.

And….what a special group of people the C-Dory factory folk are! The Livingston’s and Fluid Motion, LLC will fit right in. When C-Dory says they are a family owned business, they aren’t kidding. The whole evening felt like you were at a family function (although we don’t have a whole roast pig that often). A company with this level of rapport with it’s customers is just something you don’t see anymore. Having taken somewhat of a leap of faith with the R25, it made me feel confident that they will make sure that it will come out right.

The only downer to the weekend was overhearing all the C-Dory cruises being planned. It won’t be long (relatively speaking), and we’ll be able to join in on the fun.


Steve and Lorraine

P.S. How are you doing on that rainfall record up there? Come on, I know you can do it!
 
Well, here it is Tuesday morning (3 days since the gathering) and after having had time to decompress and reflect on all that went on I feel that the weekend was a great success.

There is no way for me to thank everyone personaly so one big THANK YOU to all that attended this years gathering and contributed to the fun and frivolity that makes these gatherings so special and creates good memories to carry for months to come

It was great to see so many old faces and even better to see soooo many new people that have decided to become family members....lol....(I hope yall know what you are getting in to)....lol....

Bill & Ell, it is always a treat to have you amongst our gatherings. A special thanks goes to Linda who helped us by keeping all the reservations straight and doing a spectacular job for us.

The friday night social was fantastic. I am glad that I opted for the larger room this year. I tried to get a count but was too hard to do. I feel that there were approx. 75 - 80 people there.Terraplane Tom was a hit with his banjo and spongs. Thanks to Pat & Patty for bringing the boxes of your special brews. and Norm, that German beer was soooo goood. there was a never ending assortment of goodies on the food table and that was great.it never seizes to amaze me how we end up with soo much food at our gatherings.

OK, a special thank you to the C-Dory factory (Jeff & Scott and all the rest) for the great party that they put on for us.It was also was great to have them introduce the Livingston's(Ranger company) and tell a little about their contributions to the boating industry for such a long time. I was Impressed....lol....
the garage style sale that you all provided for us to pick out stuff for our boats was such a great idea and a lot of people went home with some treasures.

I am so glad to have made some great new freindships this weekend and hope to see yall soon on the water(if the factory ever gets my boat fixed)...lol...

THANK YALL
 
Roger, thanks for the great hospitality! What a great gathering and great group of folks. Thanks for making us Right Coasters welcome. The Friday night bunch was terrific, finally got to meet my buddy Dusty! And so many new faces that I can put with posts now. The Factory fling was supurb, they really put on a good feed for all of us, there were lots more folks there than there were on Friday night, hope they're all members of the Brats!

Finally got home about midnight last night after a fairly uneventful two flights, was smart enough to upgrade to First, that really makes a difference in the Coast to Coast run!

Thanks too for the neat Hitch Cover, I'll get around to posting a picture of it soon and I'm sure, if you want to go into business Roger, you could retire as a farmer! What a great piece of structural art work. Now I'll have a C-Dory behind my truck 100% of the time (except when I've got a Kubota Tractor!).

Again, thanks to all and Pat, just wait till next year!!

Charlie
 
Yes thank you all for the warm welcome! MMMmmmm..Wildcat!!

And thanks for the West Marine gift cert...I need tack for my Lido :teeth
Who said I needed a Bayliner???? I have a bar of lye here for your mouth... :disgust We're not as young as we look really!!

Thanks to the Laurna-Jo crew for offering us a ride, I'll hold you to it :smilep We went into the boat show thinking of a 22 cruiser, but considering what we want to do with the boat..and how much more comfortable it felt, we're going to go for the 25. Composting toilet for sure, and I have plans already for a diesel water heater that will also use a motorcycle radiator fab'd in a box with vent tubes for front berth and defrost heat. Then I can use one of those heat exchanger water heaters where the diesel will give me hot water away from shore power...and shore power will give me heat!

Now..on to electronics! This will be the longest year ever I think :cry

Must...stop...buying...go fast...car...parts

Matt and Oanh
 
Sorry i had to leave on Friday in a rush..Had to make a ferry for Vashon.
We left on Saturday, so missed the great party at the factory...

I greatly enjoyed playing and singing, and hearing the fine voices at the Friday party...thanks to Byrdman, Terry, and all the rest for welcoming my banjo...Pat...thanks especially to you for asking for a Chesapeake song which is dear to me: The Ward Bros.

All in all, the trip West confirmed what i believe...this boat is not just a boat..it is a community. There is a Pete Seeger song, Somos El Barco...and it says..."we are the boat, we are the sea..I sail in you, you sail in me.." C.Dory epitomizes that feeling..

Hope to see as many of you as possible here in Maryland, in June.

tom terraplane
 
So many nice thing have already been said that it leaves little for the Western New York contingent of the East Coast Division to say to try to express their gratitude to the West Coasters for their hospitality during Bill(The Padre) and my (Terry) recent stay.
To put it in the the language we are accustomed----we had a HELLUVA GOOD TIME-----------and as part of our early warning system------WE WILL BE BACK!!!!
AGAIN---Thank you all very much!!!!
ROGER---You my MAN :thup
LINDA---You my WOMAN :wink
Terraplane Tom---I got your gloves (or I got somebodys elses gloves)
EL&Bill--- miss you already :love
Terry
 
Just got home about 30 min ago. Great trip. Sick as a dog now. Will go to vet tommorow and attempt to get a distemper shot or something. Flight back to Nahsville fine other than getting sick. I think I just stayed going too long. Slept about 15 hours, got up, sneezed, coughed, blew nose endless times, sneezed some more, took more dope, back to bed for another 13 hours.... Got up today and made the drive to Montgomery from Nashville....... IN THE SUNSHINE!!! but sneezed, coughed and all the way. Will bounce back soon. W O W..... we gotta do this again. ..... but maybe on the SE side next year. Atlanta Boat show had it's first 2 C-Dory boats in the show from Marc and crew down south. Southwest to Birmingham, AL is pretty cheap. About 2 hours drive to Atlanta from there....or shop around for cheap tickets into Atlanta. .... Or.... we could all just stage a Jan gathering on Lake Martin..... and take a van to the show and back. Gotta get in bed. WOOOOOWWWWW.... Thanks to all.
Byrdman
 
Damn Byrdman, had to disinfect my laptop! Don't sneeze on the site :shock:

Sure was nice to meet you and everyone else too. I came back relatively healthy and didn't appear to lose anything which is almost a first for me on a trip! :embarrased

Charlie
 
Charlie Man...great to meet you and be a part of you and the ol'Duster getting together in much more peaceful times. I do truly appreciate you and the others who served many a tuff day on the ships. It had to be great to just get together with shipmates for a few drinks and good ol laughs. Maybey all will put that ol Cambell boy from Auburn to work for the skins next year and who knows what could happen...grin.

It was a great time and sorry you did not hook up with the other 3 amigo's from the east side on Sunday...we had a blast.

Actually feeling almost human again today....and planing to go to stay on FreeByrd for a few days next week....and start measuring things....again. I loved getting on and spending time on Bob's boat at the show... I can not wait until my adoption papers go thru..... or for my current TomCat to sale if it was ment for me to have a new TC255... Time will tell.

Byrdman
 
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