C-Dory Quality Control

seahooked":gp37k786 said:
I would not hesitate to buy another boat from these guys.
Click to expand...


Same here, and under no circumstance would I make it a dinghy for a Sea Ray! :roll: C-Dorys deserve better.
 
Just back from the Gulf Coast Gathering--and found excatly the same problem on the galley fiddles on a CD 25, as were on my Tom Cat--the cause was exactly the same--the trim for the hole for the Wallas was cut too high, thus the fiddle could not be put down against the counter. And there was no bedding compound between the counter and fiddle. If this continues water will get into the end grain plywood and swelling will cause damage. That same boat had another trim piece put on with the same staples, which had come loose--and was put back on with screws, but no plugs over the screws--and probably no bedding between the teak and side of the plywood/plastic faced plywood. Don't know how these doors etc will hold up with time--but I suspect that there may be problems.

Having said all of this--after spending several months getting the boat ready--and running it 400 miles in the last 5 days--including a 200 mile run today (3 hours after dark)--we had absolutely no problems on the trip with the boat.
 
Just when I thought I had found all of the problems...The hose clamp on the raw water washdown pump output hose was not fastened properly. Consiquently the port aft hanging locker (where the pump is located) was flooded with salt water. This soaked the several dress shirts plus ruined a $180 Gortex jacket and filled up Marie's boots with salt water! We were not happy campers--again a careless gesture by some C Dory employee!

Fortunately I carry an assortment of hose clamps; tightened the factory clamp and double clamped the high pressure hose. Incidently stadards call for double clamping any hoses under the water line--I'll have to check the intake!
 
Does Saltwater ruin Gortex? I am thinking of purchasing a Gortex jacket soon. John
 
drjohn71a":18hkigy8 said:
Does Saltwater ruin Gortex? I am thinking of purchasing a Gortex jacket soon. John
Click to expand...
Long-time user of Goretex paddling jackets, on the salt: No, but you need to rinse the salt water off daily to preserve the water repellency of the DWR coating, and to avoid salt crystal buildup. Kokatat claims no degradation in salt water if rinsing is observed.

Treatment with some of the aftermarket DWR-restorers is advised. I have used Revivex, and Granger's G-Line. The latter is preferred by the hiker/climber crowd, but I don't have much experience with it.
 
Thanks for the heads up, Dave. John
 
Yes, Salt water can ruin Gortex. We will see on this jacket if it retains it water repelancy or not. We washed it in fresh water today. There are all sorts of Gore-tex PTF membranes--some of the garmets are specifically designed for salt water (Ocean Technology), in others the pores will be clogged with the salt and very difficult to get out. I had a new Gortex jacket ($500 in those days)I loaned to one of my crew on a Transpac delivary return--and it came back--no longer water proof. There have been many changes in the GoreTex membranes thru the years.
The PTF Gore Tex membrane is only a small part of the construction of the garmet. There are many factors including types of outer and inner layers, fabric, seals, breathing mesh etc which go into the garmet design--and the cost involved increase with the more complex gear.

If you are ordering foul weather gear, and it is Gortex and to be used in Salt water, be sure that that perticular item is designated for salt water. This jacket was a LL Bean, not a specifically designed salt water garmet, but as a light rain jacket.

As Dave noted, read: http://www.paddles.com/users/wildcamp/goretex.html, including the GoreTex basics. I have several Gortex outfits--including a cycling outfit and hiking gear. Incidently DWR is "durable water repellant", which is built into the outer fabric at manufacture. This wears off and is replaced--but never as well as the initial fabric. Also it is fairly easy to damage the PTF membrane with chemicals and the wrong soaps etc, so look carefully at instrucitons before doing washes or "restoration". As Dave noted there are several various sprays which can be applied to the garmet to increase the balling up and shedding of water from the surface fabric.

But for offshore salt water work consider only Gore Tex Ocean technology gear--this will cost in the neighborhood of $1,200 or more for a full suit. The top of the line jackets go for about $800 from Henri Loyd, Musto or Mustang. There are other "Breathable" jackets--and a lot of the comfort of the jacket depends on the design of the other layers as well as the membrane.

I use a PVC North Sports two piece suit (full bib pants) or a one piece PVC Line 7 suit for offshore use. These are still usable after many years of ocean racing and cruising. But they are hot and heavy, so I save them for cold and very heavy weather. The light Gore Tex jackets I use are for rain in hot weather in Florida, and are not salt resistant.
 
Thanks, Bob. We use Gortex membranes for bone grafts, so the thought of saltwater ruining the membrane sent chills down my spine. 'Guess that is why the bone graft membranes are so expensive. Also, at $1200 a pop, I don't htink I will be Gortexing soon.

John
 
Gore membranes were also used in hemo dialysis at one point--and one set of my Gore Tex foul weather gear was courtesy of Gore's dialysis division.... There are a host of various membranes made by Gore. Currently Gore Medical Division lists 41 specific products--but apparently they no longer make dialysis membranes, but do make both hemodialysis access materials and peritoneal dialysis access materials. The Gore medical products are also used in vascular grafts, as well as a host of other applications--and I suspect that there is a world of difference between the various materials.

My jacket looks good, we will just have to wait to see how it works now....
 
Well--another problem--that we knew partly about. The water pump kept cycling on at 12 second intervals. I tightened all of the hose clamps, then put a plugged hose on the pump output. The pump didn't cycle with the plugged hose, so that eliminated bad valve or pressure switch. Finally I started listening at each area--and found the small leak. It was in the fitting which attatches to the cold water for the shower valve in the head.
They did the same thing which they did in the head--gooped Bostic (or what ever) sealant on the threads of the brass pipe, and screwed in a nylon female fitting--there is susposed to be a compression seal, with a rubber gasket. However the nylon threads seem softer than the gasket's compression--and either the pipe threads had stripped or been put on cross threaded. I have never seen nylon to brass for a compression fitting before--and do not consider it a good idea. I used the same brand of shower on the transom and used brass to brass fittings. So now we have to get a new shower and female to 1/2" pipe barb fitting. It is almost impossiable to clean this sealant out of the threads (I tried for an hour--and could not get a good seal)--exactly the same thing which was done in the leaking head input!

Also found that the hose clamp on the macerator was not tightened adequately--and there was a little pool of faecal material under it. This is under the galley, where we store our pots pans, dishes and food. I will have to admit I have never seen a macerator and Y valve installed in a galley cabinet before.....
 
I put two photos in the "Thataway" Album (sorry I forgot how to post them directly). Basically the sealant is smeared from the top of the valve input pipe--but the pipe is clean where the nylon fitting screwed on. The sealant serves no purpose--and does not work.

The nylon fitting has some "lumps" of sealant in its threads in the first of the two last photos. I tryed tightening the nylon tighter and it appeared to slip a set of threads--and yet would not compress the rubber washer enough to make a good seal.

This is exactly the type of plumbing which is used in many household sinks. I have always used brass instead of plastic or nylon for the compression washer to press against a shoulder.

Hope that the photos explain the issues.

Jeff assures me that he will be sending repair parts and that techs will be instructed in proper installation of this type of plumbing. I have to assume that this was done by the same person who did the head plumbing. Also they will look at lowing the macerator discharge in future boats. (I have always had the discharge near the waterline, with a loop to prevent back siphon--but the head bown and tank are well above the waterline--so there should be no issue with direct discharge near the water line, instead of above the hull to deck joint.

Incidently the SS gas cap is rusting--so I suspect that it is a Chinese product. This is only cosmetic only.
 
thataway":1ui7pdx3 said:
Incidently the SS gas cap is rusting--so I suspect that it is a Chinese product. This is only cosmetic only.
Click to expand...

Magnetic?

Mike
 
Not magnetic as the L brackets are which are used to assemble the cabnetry in the boat. I will take a compass needle and see if it deflects. There are a number of the SS products which I have seen thru the years from China which were non magnetic, but developed rust streaks.....
 
We had the hot water out fitting from our hot water heater fail this past summer. It is a plastic right angle fitting, and it was cracked, spraying a fine mist of hot water all over. When we investigated, we found both the plastic fitting for the hot water out and the hose to hose barb were also "sealed" with this white goop...the failed plastic fitting was replaced with proper parts (brass and nylon) and teflon tape, the hose was fitted over the barb and clamped. We viewed this as a minor irritation, not a major defect or anything. Folks might want to check their fittings before they fail like ours did...
 
I also had this hoaky right angle fitting fail and worse yet on a separate occurrence the hot water hose to the shower popped loose while underway - didn't notice until I slowed down to heat up a cold cup of coffee and stepped down into several inches of water on the floor (bilge). First panic thought - I'm sinking! Fresh water tank had been pumped completely dry spraying hot water on the underside of the galley and the attached electronics were well hosed. Also since the cabinets are not sealed to the floor much of the contents of all storage cabinets were wet.

The factory used polyurethane sealant on all of the clamped hose to barb fittings which is totally unnecessary. It fills the grooves and doesn't stick well to nylon or vinyl acting more like grease. Polyurethane was also used as a thread sealant which is a poor choice. Solution is to replace nylon angle fittings on hot tank with brass and, secondly, to double band clamp all fittings. Small size band clamps were used which better conform to the radius of 1/2" diameter tubing rather than the larger width clamps.

Thirdly, I sealed the cabinets to the floor so that any possible future leaks would be contained at least to the height of the sill.

New signature image courtesy of Fred & Robbin of Anita Marie - thanks.
 
Thataway,
Did your boat come from the factory with that white glop smeared all over the fittings as shown in the picture?
Also, what is the purpose of the black plastic fitting with the white hose running through it?
 
thataway":2vfyjtdz said:
I put two photos in the "Thataway" Album (sorry I forgot how to post them directly). Basically the sealant is smeared from the top of the valve input pipe--but the pipe is clean where the nylon fitting screwed on. The sealant serves no purpose--and does not work.

The nylon fitting has some "lumps" of sealant in its threads in the first of the two last photos. I tryed tightening the nylon tighter and it appeared to slip a set of threads--and yet would not compress the rubber washer enough to make a good seal.

This is exactly the type of plumbing which is used in many household sinks. I have always used brass instead of plastic or nylon for the compression washer to press against a shoulder.

Hope that the photos explain the issues.

Jeff assures me that he will be sending repair parts and that techs will be instructed in proper installation of this type of plumbing. I have to assume that this was done by the same person who did the head plumbing. Also they will look at lowing the macerator discharge in future boats. (I have always had the discharge near the waterline, with a loop to prevent back siphon--but the head bown and tank are well above the waterline--so there should be no issue with direct discharge near the water line, instead of above the hull to deck joint.

Incidently the SS gas cap is rusting--so I suspect that it is a Chinese product. This is only cosmetic only.
Click to expand...



Yep that is a good example of a bad example. It is being sent of my local plumbing company and entered into the "Wall of Shame" contest. I hope I win.
 
lso, what is the purpose of the black plastic fitting with the white hose running through it?
Click to expand...

That appears to be the shower hose that feeds into the head.

BTW, on the first cruise with the 25 to Blakely Is. to a C-Brat GTG I came back to the boat and found the bottom of the cabin full of water. (shouldn't have left the water pump powr sw. on) Panic for a few seconds until I tasted the water and it was fresh. The hose had blown off the water heater and the water tank had emptied out into the cabin. They had used the white sealant on that fitting also. At least I had someone from the factory there to help me clean it up. Thanks C-Puffin.
 
Back
Top