Caveat emptor

M

machanes

New member
We bought our C-Dory last summer. Thankfully, last summer was chocked full of perfect weather days. That said, we ran in to every functional problem imaginable with our boat. The former owner swore right, left and center that he maintained the boat to Nth degree. He was kinda like my dad. Seemed to know a lot, he had the least amount of knowledge of any boater I've ever met. (Wait for it). I'm a sailor who just transitioned to motor boating with this boat. Consequently, I ran through every system. The radar, steering hydraulics, trim tabs, battery maintainer, Chart plotter, radio, fuel filter, engine props and both lower units leaked and both power tilt motors were burned out. Even the trailer lights and brakes were all dysfunctional in way or another. I replaced every single o-ring I could find because every single one of them was cracked and leaking. I pulled at least a half gallon of water from both fuel tanks. It's taken me till yesterday to get everything up to good safe working condition. I'm no expert and certainly not a mechanic but thanks to the suggestions on this and other forums I've managed to retain my sanity. Enjoy your summer. See you on the water. :monty :monty
 
machanes, welcome to the world of C-BRATS and to your now, new to you CD. Enjoy it, and stay safe and stay healthy. Down here, we are trying to dodge the bug. Hoping for some good water time yet. I know some are out there, but personally I question the advisability of gathering yet.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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Sounds as if you got rid of several issues related to sitting up and not being used and not properly stored. It also sounds as if you have the mechanical side under control or at least identified. Just like sail boats, things have to be used and maintained, and if not used, and if not stored properly, things go sideways. Hopefully you were not stranded with the issues. Good luck on the continued use of your boat.
 
machanes, once you have your C-Dory in good running order I know you will enjoy it for many years to come. Three things I like to do on our C-Dory to keep it in good running order (I know others have theirs too and it would be good to hear from them) is: one, if you have a Wallas, run it once a month for 15 minutes to keep the fuel from gelling in the lines and to keep the unit exercised. Two, run your main engine, twins or kicker once a month to keep the impeller limber so that it does not harden from lack of use. Three, if you use your boat infrequently or if you have an older motor that has carbs, don't use ethanol fuel because of the fuel separation issues in your tanks which will lead to gelling and cause problems in the running of your motor. Newer fuel injection motors are more forgiving but I prefer to avoid ethanol fuel at all costs based on principle. With your experience and being a sailor, you probably know this already. Enjoy your new boat.
 
Super big thanks to everyone for all the advice. I've fixed all the problems mentioned in my post except one, a stuck window. But that post to yielded a great deal of sound sage advice. This is my 1st motor boat and 4th boat in all. The others were sailboats. Owning sailboats taught me much about the best way to get know a boat. 1. Ask lots of questions of other owners. 2. Clean it. 3. Work on it myself, and ask lots more questions so I fix things that break while out to sea on our adventures because things on boat break.

I love the water and our new to us C-Dory. We put about 900 miles her last summer and 200 so far this year and hopefully worked out most of the kinks. Hopefully, the worst of it is over, The best is just beginning. The season has just begun here in Alaska. And prince William Sound has so much to offer.

As always, thank you all for your advice, kindness and generosity,

The Merry Wanderer.
 
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