Done the Great Loop Trip with your C-Dory?

R

Riverexplorer

New member
I was wondering--I am sure that there are some if not many who have done the Great Loop trip with their C-Dorys??

What model and how did it go???

I am glad to hear the stories on here about how CDs can take "heavy water."

One of the reasons I have narrowed down going to a CD for my future boating years.
 
So Belle,
The Burks started the loop from my home in 2011 and did half of it then. This spring/summer, they started where they left off and finished at my home.
 
I would like to hear from any Loopers, or other long-distance cruisers, about how they handled outboard service along the Loop. How often, how expensive were haul-outs, etc.
The 100-hour outboard service intervals seem to be a problem for anyone using their boat to cruise away from home for months at a time and I'd love to hear how people are handling that issue.
 
Many boat yards and certainly those with dry stack storage have temporary racks to put a trailerable boat up on for maintenance. Unless you are doing it yourself, just arrange for an outboard shop to come and do the maintenance while it is out on the rack.

You can sometimes even live on the boat for the day or two that this takes.

If you are doing it yourself most maintenance except the lower end can be done in the water.

David
 
David, not ONE local drystack outfit in my area, and there are four of them, would take my C-25! They all thought it was too heavy and were afraid of it.
 
It was mentioned in the Anderson's Great Loop blog that they serviced the engines by having the boat lifted out on a travel lift for a couple of hours. No need to put it on a stand. If you're practiced, you can probably change the engine oil, the lower unit oil, and the impeller in an hour or two (tops). The major work in the 100 hour service is oil changing.

Also, if you are cruising at low constant speeds, it has been suggested that longer than published intervals for oil changes are acceptable.
 
The Evinrude e Tec engines use a 300 hour interval for changing lower unit oil The engine oil filter could be changed and add a Quart .
 
Jim, still not sure about those E-Tecs. A repower of a RF-246 with a G2 300hp did not please the new owner, he was less than pleased with it's low speed performance, which is where I thought that they might shine. Perhaps twin 90s and run just one at slow speed? The first generation has 300 hour service intervals, so if you ran on one and alternated you could go 600 hours before service.
But I would want to like those motors for more than just the service regimen.

Did you get your motor issue worked out?
 
Service on long trips and great loop:
As suggested you can increase the service interval by 2x if you are just going displacement speeds. Also synthetic oil would help in increasing the interval. The issue is not the engine oil, however, since an extractor or vacuum pump can change the engine oil when the boats in the water.

For the lower unit you can either borrow a trailer our go with the travel lift. Also you boat in area of significant tides you can block the boat at high tide and do the lower unit or impeller at low tide. Float off on the next high tide!

A C Dory Venture did the loop a couple of years ago. I know of a number of 22's which have done the loop--one of them 3 times, a 4th one coming up. The loop is mostly protected waters. Where there may be weather exposure--there are plenty of places to hole up until there is a better weather wimdow,
 
The biggest difference between long distance or loop cruising on a C- dory compared to most other cruising boats is that it is trailerable. My wife and I have been living aboard and full time cruising on our 25 for 5 years and have completed most of the loop and lots of inland lakes and rivers. We find it’s way more convenient to cruise for a week or two in an area then put the boat on the trailer and go to a campground for a few days. While on land we explore the area by truck, resupply groceries, and do oil changes and any needed boat maintenance. Once we have researched our next launch site we wait to fill the boat gas tank until we’re near the ramp saving around a dollar a gallon from marina fuel prices. You also have the ability to skip any sections that don’t interest you. We chose to skip a few long strait cuts on the I.C.W. and don’t have much desire to boat the length of Lake Michigan. For those that choose to do the entire loop nonstop I’m sure it’s an accomplishment and a grand adventure, I’m just saying that cruising is supposed to be about enjoyment and with a C-dory there are options to the traditional big boat routes.
 
We cruised slow (2000 -2200 rpm) and extended the service interval to 200 hours on Daydream. Pete at West Coast Marine in Bellingham had put a bin of service parts together for me. It included the stuff he knew I would need, like oil filters and fuel water separators, but he also set me up with a water pump rebuild kit, spark plugs, zincs and some other stuff, since he reasoned, correctly by me, that it would be better to have this stuff with us than to have to sit around days or weeks if it turned out we needed these parts.

I did all the services myself (well, Benton Blalock really showed me the ropes on the first service) except the service in Harbor Springs, MI, where a filter deep down inside the outboard needed to be replaced, and watching the mechanic at Irish Boat Shop do this work, it was apparent I made the right choice to have them do it.

Benton pulled us out on his trailer in North Carolina for the first service. The second service was at Rondout Yacht Basin in Kingston, NY, where I was able to use the Travelift for $150, and the owners went to town to buy the oil for us and disposed of the used oil, so all in all, a very good deal. The third service was at Irish Boat Shop in Harbor Springs, MI, where we also bought a new prop. This was the most expensive but not out of line. I did the final service at Aqua Yacht Harbor on Lake Pickwick right before Yellow Creek and the Tenn-Tom Waterway. I used the Travelift there for $250, and counted myself lucky that they let me use it, because they were very busy there. I used a Mighty Vac fluid extractor and think it worked pretty well. I never changed oil on the water, but could have. As Dr. Bob said, you have to get the boat out of the water to change the lower unit lube.

Jonathan Arthur has done the Loop three times on his CD22 Cruiser Salty, but although we crossed paths a number of times, I never asked him what he was doing for engine service. Likewise, I am not sure what the Burkes or the Aussies who chartered Flint and Leslie Firestone's Venture 26 Grace Full did for service.

I was worred about it at the start, but it really turned out not to be a big hassle!

 
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