Cape Cruiser ????

Cker

New member
Oops, confused again - looking for experienced boaters. Saw a Cape Cruiser 23' w/135 Honda in my area. Any opinions about this craft as opposed to C-Dory? Prices are getting near what I can buy one from Wefings but want to get the most boat for my money.
 
The CC is the design of Toland, same person who designed the C-Dory. In a lawsuit C-Dory won and the molds went back to C-Dory. You now see the Venture 23. Same mold with a plusher interior. The Hull has a 4 degree transon, a tad bit steeper than the 22 cruiser.
 
As Don stated, what was Cape Cruiser went under in a lawsuit and became the Venture line in C-Dory. Some of us (me in particular) think that the 23' Venture/Cape Cruise design is an improvement over the CD 22. In order to differentiate the 22/25' "Classic" C-Dories from the 23'/26' Venture C-Dories (hull molds obtained from the lawsuit with Cape Cruiser), C-Dory made the Venture series with a slightly plusher interior. However, the Venture series has a hull shape that provides a little softer ride and has some other nice features that are an improvement over the "Classic" design. In addition to the slight change in hull shape, the Venture(AKA Cape Cruiser) has midship cleats at a 45 degree angle, a full height transom and slightly larger steps molded into the hull.

As I said before, I think it's a bit confusing and probably a bit more expensive for C-Dory (now SeaSport) to offer 4 models of boats in which 2 are close replicas of the others (22CD/23Venture and 25CD/26Venture). If it were up to me (which clearly it ISN'T :lol: ), I would just offer the 23 and 26 Venture hulls but offer them at different trim levels. One like the classic and one like the Venture.
 
rogerbum":3vlyybvw said:
...

If it were up to me (which clearly it ISN'T :lol: ), I would just offer the 23 and 26 Venture hulls but offer them at different trim levels. One like the classic and one like the Venture.

Roger, this is close to heresy and blasphem :wink . I think you're going to get two weeks in the electric chair. Now if it were up to me, which like you, it clearly isn't... I would sell the Cape Cruiser molds to Bayliner :lol:

Actually, I think they are nice boats, but Constant Craving is paid for and doing just fine, so at the moment I have my NBL (New Boat Lust) under control. Except when I am around a Ranger tug...
 
Correct me if I'm wrong...but aren't the C Dory 22's and 25's still balsa core, and the Venture series still foam core?
 
We have a 2006 23 Cape Cruiser with a Honda 135 and we've cruised about 8000 nautical miles on her and we're very happy with it. However we have only briefly been on a C Dory so we don't have enough experience to compare .I do think they are both quality boats.
 
snal":1tt3avc8 said:
Correct me if I'm wrong...but aren't the C Dory 22's and 25's still balsa core, and the Venture series still foam core?

"Still" is a moving target around here. I believe the Cape Cruiser Venture 23 is/was balsa, while the C-Dory Venture 23 may be foam. So far. Don't know what Sea Sport plans to do.

And I don't know about the 26's.
 
When visiting the cape cruiser factory which was the old c-dory factory in 06 They said the bottoms were balsa cored Im not sure of the transom or what the new ventures are like ? The cape cruiser is a little wider with more deadrise and reverse chine and small keel .The c-dory has the same only smaller. The downside to the cc-23 is the weight needs just a little bigger tow vehicle but every thing else is the same engine size 90-115hp ,similar trailer tandem axcel with brakes , and they get very similar mpg . I've owned both the c-dory 22 cruiser with a 90hp suzuki (100hp)and the cape cruiser has a f-115 yamaha
The real difference is in the ride you dont have to slow down as much in a chop also better balance and same size cockpit as the c-dory 25. I like both boats but the cc-23 a little better.Go ride both boats then decide.
 
NORO LIM said:
Don't know what Sea Sport plans to do.
quote]

Rumor is that Sea Sport may (MAY!) switch to foam core on all boats down the road.

Apparantly nothing has been decided, and some molds of interior components might have to be changed because of the differences in thickness.

But this is just rumor and loose talk at this point.
 
Lets say that balsa is still not a bad structural material. I have been talking with one cat builder who is currently using Nadi-core, and they are probably going to switch back either to Baltek Balsa or Airex Core materials. In our conversation, I pointed out that many of the softer foam cores, do not do well in compression. I have seen a number of boats with foam core, and where they have hit a piling or dock, there has been a "dimple" of damage to the outer glass and compression of the foam core. Balsa end grain tends to resist this type of compression injury better than foams. Part of the problem is that builders put less glass on a pannel (ie hull side) when they use a core material. This makes the core more susceptable to damage. One of the positive features of the C Dory is the thick outer skin over the balsa core.

For one, I would rather that the builders stay with balsa, and do proper sealing of the core material, where-ever fittings or fasteners go through it.
 
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