Hi all I’m looking at a 16… wondering if there are bad build years.. read a bit about ‘previous builders” so curious if 2007 is ok. Also noticed a crack filled with epoxy running right along the floor where the raised cabin floor meets the main floor is the common and should I be worried? Thank you
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Good years and bad years?
- Thread starter Velo
- Start date
I would not say there were specific years better than others, but with a crack in that place, I would definately use a moisture meter and sound out area looking for core moisture/core delaminating. There is currently a thread on replacing the core on a 16. Here.
This is an early boat, but still it can happen with newer boat many of which still have screw penetration for the seat boxes
This is an early boat, but still it can happen with newer boat many of which still have screw penetration for the seat boxes
Salish_Explorer
New member
Hi Velo,
I am a newer C-Dory owner myself, but will share what I have gleaned. The 16's are nice little boats, but most folks on here have 22's or bigger, so threads on the shorter hulls don't get much traction.
I'll touch on years first, then the crack you mention.
The biggest difference on the 16's is pre- and post-1987, which was I think the only year they made a significant update to the C-Dory 16 before they stopped making them in 2020.
Pre-87 boats are referred to as "Classic" hulls. What most people notice is the short pilothouse (post-87 they introduced a longer cabin) but the two biggest differences are in the hull. First, classic hulls have almost entirely flat bottoms, like a clothing iron. Second, they have no splashwell at the back; instead there's just the transom.
After 87, they introduced a version with the cabin two feet longer (and the cockpit two feet shorter) called the C-Dory 16 "Cruiser"; they kept making the one with the shorter cockpit, but post-87 called it the "Angler" (bigger cockpit = more room to fish). More importantly, they added just a little bit of vee in the main hull and added a splashwell.
Where those changes matter is in seaworthiness.
The C-Dories have plenty of good characteristics, but their two worst are their tendency to pound and the way the stern gets pushed around in a following sea (and "slides" in turns), with a close third perhaps being their tendency to dig a chine if not trimmed attentively. I have not personally ridden one of the newer hulls, but it's not rocket science that a touch more vee probably improves all three.**
The second addition, the splashwell, also isn't rocket science. The Classic hulls have a pair of low "seats" in front of the motor; post-87 they have a bulkhead there, so the seats are replaced by a self-bailing motor well. In a Classic hull, any water that comes over the relatively low transom is now in the bottom of your boat.
In my mind the splashwell is hands-down the biggest improvement. But again, what people gravitate toward is the 'cruiser' cabin, which in later years featured much nicer finishes, up to and including cushions in its dwarf-sized vee "berth" and a pull out camp toilet.
Some good threads on hull changes over the years:
http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?p=108472&sid=70c06c9988c8b1848f981ceee7539bec
http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?t=7882
http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?t=29025
http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?t=2523&view=previous&sid=b7958fd15c66cb7a800168eae0de101b
http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?t=896
**One thing that did change over the years, I think moreso on the 22's, was that the company played around with different arrangements of strakes, I suspect mostly to try to tame especially the tendency to slip sideways when trying to turn on a plane.
I am a newer C-Dory owner myself, but will share what I have gleaned. The 16's are nice little boats, but most folks on here have 22's or bigger, so threads on the shorter hulls don't get much traction.
I'll touch on years first, then the crack you mention.
The biggest difference on the 16's is pre- and post-1987, which was I think the only year they made a significant update to the C-Dory 16 before they stopped making them in 2020.
Pre-87 boats are referred to as "Classic" hulls. What most people notice is the short pilothouse (post-87 they introduced a longer cabin) but the two biggest differences are in the hull. First, classic hulls have almost entirely flat bottoms, like a clothing iron. Second, they have no splashwell at the back; instead there's just the transom.
After 87, they introduced a version with the cabin two feet longer (and the cockpit two feet shorter) called the C-Dory 16 "Cruiser"; they kept making the one with the shorter cockpit, but post-87 called it the "Angler" (bigger cockpit = more room to fish). More importantly, they added just a little bit of vee in the main hull and added a splashwell.
Where those changes matter is in seaworthiness.
The C-Dories have plenty of good characteristics, but their two worst are their tendency to pound and the way the stern gets pushed around in a following sea (and "slides" in turns), with a close third perhaps being their tendency to dig a chine if not trimmed attentively. I have not personally ridden one of the newer hulls, but it's not rocket science that a touch more vee probably improves all three.**
The second addition, the splashwell, also isn't rocket science. The Classic hulls have a pair of low "seats" in front of the motor; post-87 they have a bulkhead there, so the seats are replaced by a self-bailing motor well. In a Classic hull, any water that comes over the relatively low transom is now in the bottom of your boat.
In my mind the splashwell is hands-down the biggest improvement. But again, what people gravitate toward is the 'cruiser' cabin, which in later years featured much nicer finishes, up to and including cushions in its dwarf-sized vee "berth" and a pull out camp toilet.
Some good threads on hull changes over the years:
http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?p=108472&sid=70c06c9988c8b1848f981ceee7539bec
http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?t=7882
http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?t=29025
http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?t=2523&view=previous&sid=b7958fd15c66cb7a800168eae0de101b
http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?t=896
**One thing that did change over the years, I think moreso on the 22's, was that the company played around with different arrangements of strakes, I suspect mostly to try to tame especially the tendency to slip sideways when trying to turn on a plane.
Salish_Explorer
New member
Figured I would touch on your crack in a second post.
I tihnk you are talking about a crack in the cockpit sole (what you call the main floor), right where it meets the short bulkhead at the aft end of the vee berth.
My boat has this same crack. To my eye (new to c-dories, but not to fiberglass boats) it is clearly a stress crack, inevitable given the Classic hull design, but not anything to worry about. (If you're not familiar, stress cracks form at points of repeated flexion in fiberglass, and although disheartening, are not necessarily anything to get "big worried" about).
Bob has warned about core problems, and sounding around the crack would be prudent, but since that location is both protected and drained, I'd bet the core is fine unless it routinely sat with a cockpit so full of water that the crack in question was submerged.
Basically, the classic hulls have that vertical bulkhead that runs from side-to-side across the bottom of the boat. The rest of the bottom of the boat has a bit of "give" to it, but the bottom of that bulkhead creates a totally inflexible line -- think of pressing piece of two-by-four into the middle of a trampoline.
When the rest of the 'trampoline' moves, it moves as one, except at the 'hard' spot, where you've effectively created a hinge. At the hinge, you get stress cracks. This is very common at the interesction of perpendicular bulkheads, and even relatively minor flexing can cause this over time. Bob has done a good writeup on how to fix it, but honestly if it's not getting any worse, you could probably also just leave it alone.
A thread with a similar issue and bob's writeup on fixing:
http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?t=12160&sid=1aed828f6931f8b270aecd40ea603ee2
I tihnk you are talking about a crack in the cockpit sole (what you call the main floor), right where it meets the short bulkhead at the aft end of the vee berth.
My boat has this same crack. To my eye (new to c-dories, but not to fiberglass boats) it is clearly a stress crack, inevitable given the Classic hull design, but not anything to worry about. (If you're not familiar, stress cracks form at points of repeated flexion in fiberglass, and although disheartening, are not necessarily anything to get "big worried" about).
Bob has warned about core problems, and sounding around the crack would be prudent, but since that location is both protected and drained, I'd bet the core is fine unless it routinely sat with a cockpit so full of water that the crack in question was submerged.
Basically, the classic hulls have that vertical bulkhead that runs from side-to-side across the bottom of the boat. The rest of the bottom of the boat has a bit of "give" to it, but the bottom of that bulkhead creates a totally inflexible line -- think of pressing piece of two-by-four into the middle of a trampoline.
When the rest of the 'trampoline' moves, it moves as one, except at the 'hard' spot, where you've effectively created a hinge. At the hinge, you get stress cracks. This is very common at the interesction of perpendicular bulkheads, and even relatively minor flexing can cause this over time. Bob has done a good writeup on how to fix it, but honestly if it's not getting any worse, you could probably also just leave it alone.
A thread with a similar issue and bob's writeup on fixing:
http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?t=12160&sid=1aed828f6931f8b270aecd40ea603ee2