Anybody noticed?

C

Captains Cat

New member
This is purposely posted on this forum so as not to be visible to "guests".

Has anyone noticed the TugNuts site and their "Ask the Factory" forum/thread?

Folks ask questions, the factory posts answers, diagrams, part lists and answers question after question, most within 24 hours. Maybe there are too many C-Dorys out there and too many owners with questions for our factory to answer.

I would think it would go a long way however, to lay concerns to rest, but I understand with the long lineage, changes of ownership, etc, that it could be difficult or awkward for the factory to respond.

I wonder if the new owners have considered this and what they would do if we established an "Ask the Factory" forum. If they responded positively, it would be great, if not, it may be a disaster.

What do you Brats think? Take a trip to Tugnuts (lower left of home page link) and look at all the diagrams, info posted for owners.

Rich, it was nice meeting you at SBS09, we really want you to succeed, do you have any comments?

Wistfully...

Charlie
 
Charlie,

but I understand with the long lineage, changes of ownership, etc, that it could be difficult or awkward for the factory to respond.
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I think you said it!

The current factory management is trying hard to build boats and stay in business. Without tooting our horn to loudly, we Brats collectively may know more about C-Dorys and their problems than the current factory owners do.
 
Ranger has the luxury of starting with a clean slate, basically. C-Dory has a lot of legacy baggage to deal with, so it would be much harder for them to match the Ranger site. That said, I am sure that there are many things that could be put online that are not. However, they may not want to put it on a 3rd party site, but on their own site. I get the impression that Ranger contracted with Mike and Bill to run a site for them, which is different from the C-Brats relationship to C-Dory.

This is all speculative, but it's how I see it.

Warren
 
Warren, you're spot on. Ranger, however advertises that they have been in business for 50 Years :shock: . I have seen some R-21s (Not the EC version) that were built in the mid 90's. Not sure about older ones or what they did beginning in 1960. I think C-Dory started a short time after 1980 and have changed hands several times and have had all the troublesome things involving Cape Cruiser, etc.

Still think it would be better for them to have a presence, more than they have now, here. I'm sure Bill and Mike would like a more permanant sponsor but these are tough times and probably not a very good business decision.

Still wistfully!

Charlie
 
I found this bit of Ranger history on Craigs List this weekend and went and had a look at it.
It is a Ranger "tug" that was built in 1981, with the double ender hull and the 21 tug deck and house.

1981_ranger.jpg

I think they built about 12 of the Bristol Bay type hulls,(18 feet long), some open, some with the Tug house, some with sail rigs. This one is for sale near Seattle, and has a sail rig, and is powered by an outboard in a well.
Same hull at the one on display at the Seattle Boat Show.

Robbi
 
Ranger built sailboats in the 1970s -- I was a dealer in the midwest focusing on R20 trailerable 20 footer with neat cuddy arrangement some said the boat looked like a wooden shoe.

Bill Uffelman
In Carson City NV until June
 
Da Nag did a nice job of setting up The TugNuts site. Oddly, I get a queezy feeling when I say TugNuts, I'm sure this will pass. :|

Jeff is the moderator of their site, as well e.g. owner of Ranger Boats. Very much unlike C-Brats site, I don't believe anyone from Fluid Marine is a moderator on C-Brats. This may change as Da Nag moves the current site. In fact, they may be in negotiations/communications regarding the re-vamping of the new C-Brats site - determining (aside from layout, etc) the messaing format, moderators, etc.

Thus far, the new Fluid Marine site, IMO, is miles & miles ahead of the previous C-Dory site (while even a small leap forward, the layout, the design, formatting, information, pictures, etc is a FAR IMPROVEMENT compared to ANYTHING the previous owners of C-Dory had going - which essentially - was NOTHING).

So, I suspect we'll see some significant improvements on both the C-Dory website and the C-Brats site moving foward. If it weren't for the current troubling financial state of our economy, things might be moving along more rapidly; but again, these little improvements are in the right direction.

m2cw
 
Thanks Robbi. Neat boat. I went through the ads for last weekend before asking but couldn't find it for some reason. For that kind of money you could almost have an extra boat parked at home.
 
I don't think Jeff is the "moderator" per se, he does play a part for sure but doesn't "police" the site as a moderator is supposed to. He is a sponsor for sure!! As is his company. There's no place there for a "tip jar" as there is here. Took Mike and Bill long enough to ask, we kept pushing it at them until they finally relented!

The C-Dory company does run ads on the Brats site, upper right hand corner pop ups, as does Byrdman, and Marinaut, etc.

I just wish they'd take a bigger part in our site, I'm sure they could add to the content, no matter how new they are. They put on a nice party but the boats on the floor to look at were a lot fewer than past years, a reflection on the economy for sure.

There are still some problems with TugNuts, the dreaded "Forbidden" keeps popping up. We have learned how to deal with the vageries of ours, they are still "messing about" (which on boats, isn't all bad!! :P ) They are a nice bunch of folks over there, I joined early on and will try to contribute through making previous Ranger info that was posted here, available to them. I note that Dr. Bob has joined in as well. It's interesting to see the posts on the Yanmar and Cummins diesel engines and to look at the info the factory makes available.

I look forward to our new site and the improvements we'll surely have and the continuation of this great resource!

Thanks to Bill and Mike for all their hard work..

Charlie
 
In fact, they may be in negotiations/communications regarding the re-vamping of the new C-Brats site - determining (aside from layout, etc) the messaing format, moderators, etc.
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Not at all. While the folks at the plant are welcomed and encouraged to participate on our forums, the C-Brats remain completely independent and whatever sponsorship we may have is limited to the few ad slots we offer. That has worked very well and proven mutually beneficial to our group and to the C-Dory folks no matter who they have been.
 
Bill Uffelman":qlxu8c1u said:
Ranger built sailboats in the 1970s -- I was a dealer in the midwest focusing on R20 trailerable 20 footer with neat cuddy arrangement some said the boat looked like a wooden shoe.

Bill Uffelman
In Carson City NV until June
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That is a sweet boat. I considered buying one some years back but living in the Columbia River Gorge I needed something stiffer.
 
Bill Uffelman":1kuj5jw4 said:
Ranger built sailboats in the 1970s -- I was a dealer in the midwest focusing on R20 trailerable 20 footer with neat cuddy arrangement some said the boat looked like a wooden shoe.

Bill Uffelman
In Carson City NV until June
Click to expand...

That is a sweet boat. I considered buying one some years back but living in the Columbia River Gorge I needed something stiffer.
 
There is a photo of one of those "Ranger 20's" in the SleepyC album in the sub album called "Other boats we've Seen" with a comment about it and I belive that came from Robbi. that particular one is named Blew By You and does very well in the Sequim Bay Race program.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
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