OffLeash,
I advise searching for, and reading, everything Bob Austin has written about the TC 255 on this site to put his comments in full context. I have, several times, and I learned a lot, although I am a slow learner.
I assume the TC 255 designer had target buyers looking for a:
expedition-quality, stable cat in true seas up to 3 feet (small craft warnings here) with simple and easily traced but non-luxury systems, trailerable with a standard production but high end HD2500 diesel truck (max towed wt 12K with typical pickup bed payload and PAX) anywhere in the nation without a permit, with a near-custom but non-gooseneck trailer under $12,000 delivered, with a trailered height under the 13.5 ft federal standard, with a simple rooftop RV Coleman type AC for tropical use, (favored by both Dr. Bob and me over the complex raw water/thru hull jellyfish attracting marine AC's) and a dinghy plus radar dome above that for the NW buyers, plus maybe a rack for kayaks like the Ranger-27 competition, or he-man antennas, hailers and such, that appeals to both cruisers and fisherpersons, and priced so that every single rich family can afford one.
Sure, I wish the stern bridge deck was higher off the water when anchoring out. But if you can afford a TC 255, you can afford a calm marina (or mitigate as described elsewhere). Sitting in our cockpit trawler chairs only 1 inch above the water is special compared to our Regal cruiser (and at 45 SF almost the same as the Ranger 27 @ 50 SF ). If you don't deliberately go out in SCA conditions when the USCG and NOAA says you shouldn't, you don't need 6" deeper sponsons on the TC255. How much extra weight would all that extra fiberglass add at 25 ft x 2 sponsons x the thickness x the width? How much more diesel truck do you then need...a custom HD 3500 or 4500? Are you going to take this truck to WalMart all the time? Do you now need an even beefier trailer that's so high you can't put on an RV AC or a radar dome? Is there any launch ramp near you that you can back into deep enough for that rig?
We have found the TC 255 to be perfect for us. A Ranger Tug 27 was a very close second, except you can 't get the drive and prop out of the marina water when away. A TC 255 is tougher than the competition, it rides through chop like it's on rails getting 1.8-2 MPG combined at 3,000-4000 RPM, stable like a barge at rest, it's competent beyond belief, it's trailerable anywhere at 60 MPH through a thunderstorm while getting over 12 MPG in a GMC HD2500 diesel with a commercial Allison transmission (and heated leather seats, of course..you can't have one without the other).
Marc at Wefings bent over backwards to get us a Float-On 255 trailer delivered on the day we were trailering back from a Moorings Sarasota adventure last year...You won't find a better dealer to work with.
Don't take a used TC 255 off your list til you talk to Bob via PM or I bet he will give you his contact phone #... all C-Brats have found him to be a fount of marine and historical and C-Dory knowledge. If he doesn't answer you can talk to me, at 5% of the knowledge and 1% of his experience, but 75% of his enthusiasm.
I'm not saying 'all boats are compromises', just that 'all boat builders must make compromises if they build a boat they can sell to enough folks to pay the bills and stay in business." Bob is familiar with them all. I concur I haven't heard of any significant build quality issues after the 2006 debut.
Happy hunting, and don't let Anytime Baby escape a survey!
Cheers!
John
