Looking for a C Dory 25 Cruiser

D

DavidM

New member
I am seriously looking for a used C Dory 25 for under $50K. I have seen several on Yachtworld- one in Pensecola, one in Maryland, one in NC and one listed on boattrader in SD which is a little far out for me. Since I live in the NE the first three are the boats that might work.

The one in Pensacola while otherwise well equipped for my needs has a non standard dinette layout that turns me off. The one in Md is older and would need a bimini and autopilot. The one in NC has no trailer and as it is priced at $55K is probably out. So my favorite without seeing it is the one in Md.

A couple of questions:

Does the standard dinette layout have a forward seat back that flips back and forth so you can use it as a passenger helm seat?

Since all of these boats have hydraulic steering (right?) I would need to add a small hydraulic autopilot. Any brands to consider? Both Garmin and Raymarine make packages for less than $2,000. I would install it myself.

What is the reputation of the Honda BF135 outboard? I would cruise at about 15 kts half of the time and 6-7 kts the other half.

In browsing this site I found data that indicates a well equipped for cruising C Dory 25 will weigh about 6,000 lbs and with an aluminum trailer the tow weight is about 7,000 lbs and with a steel trailer about 8,000 lbs. About right?

Anyone know anything about the SD boat? It is a 2003 and priced $10,000 above the one in MD with basically the same equipment. Should I investigate further.

Thanks,

David
 
Does the standard dinette layout have a forward seat back that flips back and forth so you can use it as a passenger helm seat?
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The seat encompasses a fiberglass back with a cushion slid over it. You pull the entire thing out and "flip" it to face backwards. Each side of the base has a wooden slot/bracket that the fiberglass frame slides in to.

Since all of these boats have hydraulic steering (right?) I would need to add a small hydraulic autopilot
Click to expand...
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We have never had auto-pilot. I can see the value but right now the benefit does not outweigh the cost.

What is the reputation of the Honda BF135 outboard?
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Most of what I've heard/read is the 135 is underpowered for the boat. We have a 150 and could use more power. I know of at least a few who have re-powered with new 200s.
 
I would go for the '06 FL boat. It is newer (new cockpit arrangement), in better shape, and is better equipped (already has an autopilot and AC). This boat also has a lot of the convenience things added that most people end up adding to their boats (fans, handholds, solar power, etc.). It is in your price range and includes a trailer.

It looks to me like the difference with the dinette is primarily a smaller table. The cushions along the wall in the picture go elsewhere and seem to be stuck there for storage. If you really can't live with the dinette set up, you can always change it (that's one of the best parts of these boats and this forum).
 
Hi David, welcome to the forum. Regarding the 2006, 25 in FL. Make sure you read this thread that discusses that boat - http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?t=25983.

Lots of great information on this site. Others more experienced with the 25 than myself will pipe in. We purchased a 2006, 25 last year. Great boat. Take your time, the perfect 25 at the right price will show up.

On edit... maybe the perfect boat just found you below on the next post. Wow a 150 HP.

Good luck with the search.
Kevin
 
We are selling our 25' C-Dory cabin cruiser. It is fully equipped including air conditioning, bimini and cockpit cover, has a 150 HP Suzuki outboard and trailer, all built in 2007. Nadaguides value is $60,000, but we would let it go for $50,000. It is currently on Lake Hartwell in South Carolina upstate. If interested, send an e-mail message to acock@bellsouth.net and we will send you a detailed list of fitted equipment. Basil and Mary Acock
 
I will follow up with acock. His boat does sound perfect for my needs.

I did read the thread about the Pensacola boat. I does not have a passenger helm seat and I am not sure that the dinette makes into another berth. That big cabinet aft doesn't begin to make up for the others losses.

Someone also said that the Honda 135 is underpowered. I have read a few reviews of 135 and 150 hp engines in that boat. Both said that at 15 kts it would burn 5-6 gph at 3,500-4,000 rpm which is less than 75 hp. That doesn't seem to be stressing the engine too much.

I would cruise at 15 kts like offshore from Key West to Marco Island (but only in very nice weather) but most other times go slow at 6-7 kts.

My mission is to keep the boat in Oriental, NC where I used to live and trailer it down to S Florida for the winter living aboard.

Keep the thoughts coming.

David
 
Hi David,

I have a 135 on my 25. Although I don’t have anything to compare it to, I don’t think I’m under-powered. From what I understand, the 135 performs the same as the 150 under 4,000rpm. Like you, I generally cruise at 15mph @ 4,200rpm,but depending on the current here on the Intracoastal, I can range from 12-20mph at the same RPM

As for the autopilot, I had a Raymarine unit installed last year. I had a few issues in the beginning, but Raymarine was outstanding with their customer service. I wouldn’t want to undertake the installation myself; you need a bubbler to purge the air from the system, and I wouldn’t want to be cutting into the lines and risk making a mess.

Best of luck with your hunt

Ferg
 
Ferg:

Well, 4,200 rpm to make 15 MPH is somewhat worse than what I expected at worst case which was 4,000 rpm to make 15 kts (a 20% difference overall). How fast does your boat go and at what rpm at wide open throttle?

But in any case, if I put 20 hours each year on the engine to go 15 knots, it will take lots of years to wear it out. Then I can put a 200 hp on it.

Installing an autopilot shouldn't be that bad. I don't think you have to cut any hoses, just break the connections at the helm and hook them up to the autopilot pump, hook up power and mount the components and you are there. Bleeding isn't tough to do- I have done it on other boats. Seastar sells a kit.

David
 
Top speed @ ~5,600 really depends on our heavy current. I’ve been up to 32mph.

Again, I point out that I typically cruise in the ICW, where we can have 5-6 knot currents. Don’t hold me to that 15mph, that’s just the speed I like to cruise at, but it’s all about the current here.

Also, I’m not convinced that I’m properly propped
 
#1. If you can find any 25 for under 50K you are lucky.
#2. If it is in any kind of decent condition, pay your money and take the boat.
#3. If it is in your half of the country, the C-Dory karma is smiling on you.

I think your price range is not far off a nice 22. NADA has not a clue what a C-Dory is really worth. A 25 in that price range would, for me, warrant a very thorough inspection, unless there is no trailer and the OB is topped out hour wise. I would also suggest that your expected towing weight is on the light side, and you might be more realistically into the 7-8,000 bracket. There are folks on the site who have plenty of towing experience with the 25 on long distances who might give real numbers, but for comparison, my 22 all up for cruising scales at 5,000 on the trailer.

Welcome and best to you in your search. Merry Christmas.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
David: Since keeping your budget is important to you then the MD boat looks like it could be a good purchase for you. More than likely you can probably get it for even lower than the asking price after you survey it. But talk to "acock" too. His boat may blow the MD boat out of the water.

The MD boat definitely looks bare bones. Maybe used for fishing more than cruising. BUT that can be a good thing too. Now you can add what you like and won't run into any spacing issues with old electronics and systems.

The biggest thing that stands out to me is the cockpit. What's the deal with that tan colored floor and it goes up the sides too? Was that some type of protectant/sealant? Or was there some prior water damage to the cockpit sole?

Make sure to really check out the fuel tank and fittings. Also if the boat has been for sale for a long time and on the hard then I would really want to verify the condition of the fuel too. Lots of not properly treated fuel will be a disaster and need to be pumped out.

As to the 135 hp debate, I personally think the 135 is "underpowered" for the 25. But many brats will say the opposite and love them. I think it's just a personal preference rather than it being truly underpowered. If it couldn't safely get the hull on plane in different scenarios then the factory would have never put them on to begin with. So I trust the factory on this one. You've already mentioned that you'd like to go at slower speeds so that's good!

Get a good survey done. This is critical.
 
We had our CD-25 for 8 years, purchased new. The factory recommended the Honda 135 at the time. We were very pleased with that motor - the only time we wished for more horsepower was at higher elevation lakes (Yellowstone Lake, Jackson Lake, Lake Tahoe, Lake Powell), where a change of prop would help.

Long term average was around 3.5 mpg, with most of our cruising at 6 knots or 16 knots. Slow cruising fuel burn at 5 to 6 knots was around 1 gallon per hour. In the mid to upper teens, with everything trimmed out right, the fuel burn would be around 2.2 miles per gallon.

The boat was very comfortable for a couple who were good with close quarters traveling.

The regulars here have heard this before: our towing weight came out at 8,700 pounds (as per a truck scale), with around 700 pounds tongue weight (King Salt Water Series galvanized trailer). This was with the boat set up for extended cruising, but with some gear (generator, dinghy, dinghy motor) in the bed of the truck when towing. Less than 1/4 fuel, full water tank. We used a GMC Sierra HD2500 diesel truck for towing - it was a good match for the load, and loved that Duramax and Allison transmission.

Our boat was the first of the 2007 models, made in July 2006. It had the DecraGuard wood interior; not long after ours was made, the factory changed to a molded fiberglass interior. That era was around the peak of production for the factory, but I am not aware of any years to avoid.

Good luck with your search. Finding the right boat will give you years of great cruising.
 
Again, this is just my opinion. These boats are stern heavy. Main, kicker, batteries, fuel, water, cooler...all in the stern. (our boat has the water tank under the splash well) Getting it up, on plane, is the issue, even with the Perma-Trim.

We are not usually "fast" cruisers. We run between 3500-4500 rpm. At the high end we are doing perhaps 14-16 knots, depending on current/weight etc. Max rpm on the Suzuki DF150 is 5500. We usually cruise at 10-12 knots. Plenty fast for us and still faster than trawler speed. I find 4000 rpm a good spot, usually. I slow down for any chop as the flat bottom does not like it and neither does my body.

If I were to re-power (we're not) I'd go for a 200. The newer ones are weight comparable to our 150 and the extra power would be nice. Fred (Anita Marie) just put a new Yami 200 on his and loves it. He said his ability to get up on plane is vastly improved and his is an earlier model with water tank up front, under the berth.
 
Thank you all for some very valuable input and particularly Basil for jumping in and providing info on his boat that is now for sale.

For a number of reasons, few of which have anything to do with the boat, we have decided to drop consideration of a C-Dory 25.

We will focus on buying a condo in Punta Gorda Fl. Once that is done I will be looking for an overnight cruiser that we can use to go down to Boca Grande, Cayo Costa Park and Ft Myers Beach for a night or two. The C-Dory 22 is almost perfect for that mission with the exception of the porta potty. But nothing else has the comfort and living accommodations and can be towed with our Nissan Pathfinder. So I will be looking for a 22 cruiser in about 6 months.

Thanks again,
David
 
DavidM":23ir7w81 said:
Thank you all for some very valuable input and particularly Basil for jumping in and providing info on his boat that is now for sale.

For a number of reasons, few of which have anything to do with the boat, we have decided to drop consideration of a C-Dory 25.

We will focus on buying a condo in Punta Gorda Fl. Once that is done I will be looking for an overnight cruiser that we can use to go down to Boca Grande, Cayo Costa Park and Ft Myers Beach for a night or two. The C-Dory 22 is almost perfect for that mission with the exception of the porta potty. But nothing else has the comfort and living accommodations and can be towed with our Nissan Pathfinder. So I will be looking for a 22 cruiser in about 6 months.

Thanks again,
David
Click to expand...

Okay, lol.
 
Since some seem a little upset that I started this thread and within 24 hours changed my mind about buying a C-Dory 25, let me explain a bit.

I had been considering buying a "trailerable trawler" as one thread started a few weeks ago on Trawler Forum termed them. The ones I considered were the Rosborough, Acadia 25 and less so the Ranger Tug. For some reason the C-Dory never came up on my radar initially.

My concept was to keep the boat in Oriental, NC where I used to live (now live in NW Connecticut) and trailer it down to S. Florida for a few months in the winter and back to Oriental for a few weeks and then leave it there and start the cycle all over next year.

The three boats listed above are only diesels on the used market. I really wanted an outboard for the simplicity of it. I am no stranger to diesels having owned about 7-8 diesel powered boats over the years, but for the mission described above, the diesel's virtues of low fuel consumption and long life don't count for much. And all were very heavy boats for towing.

Then the C-Dory popped up somehow. I searched Yachtworld and Boattrader and looked at the factory site. All looked good for that mission: O/B power, decent cruising accommodations, light towing weight- well not so light as it turned out.

My initial towing weight estimate was 3,600 lb dry, 300 lb fuel (half tank), 350 lb engine, 250 lb gear and 1,000 lb aluminum trailer for a total tow weight of 5,500 lbs. That was 500 lbs under the tow limit for our Nissan Pathfinder. But based on the feedback from this forum, I now understand it will be closer to 7,000 lbs with an aluminum trailer, 8,000 with steel. That required buying a used 3/4 ton truck with all of the logistical problems involved as my wife won't have a pickup or larger SUV as her day to day vehicle.

We had been thinking about buying a condo in SW Florida for some time and the ease of keeping a smaller boat like the C-Dory 22 in Florida and launching it for a one or two overnights in nice places like Boca Grande finally struck home. We wouldn't be living aboard and couldn't go to far away places like No Name Key in Biscayne Bay, Marathon or Key West, but hey you can't have everything.

So this forum told me about how the dinette works (and why I didn't want the one in Pensacola with the non standard layout), what I could expect in cruising speed and fuel consumption and what the real world tow weight would be.

I know it seems weird that in 24 hours all of this info came together and changed by basic approach, but that is exactly what occurred.

And I thank all who responded with useful information that made that happen. I hope to be a regular contributor when we find the right condo and buy a C-Dory 22.

David
 
David, That is the great thing about this site. A lot of good info. from people that have walked in the situation and have the experience. In wrestling with big decisions like you are sometimes it is the little points that make the difference. Being retired myself I understand the real decision looked like condo and smaller boat or larger boat and try to live aboard(in which a trailable boat wasn't enough) The live aboard even for the winter is almost a life style itself. Good luck in your decision.
 
"A little upset"?? Nah. I can't speak for anyone else, but I thought it was amusing that you went from "seriously looking for..." to "nope" in one day. Perhaps it is semantics? The difference between looking into and looking for. Folks here were giving you good input to your questions based on your initial post.

C-Dorys are great boats. For the mission you initially described, the CD-25 would work; no mention in that post about what tow vehicle you'd be using. For your revised mission, the 22 would fit. While they look similar, the two are very different, with the 25 being more than a ton heavier.

With the 22 having been produced in greater numbers than the 25, there will likely be more on the market when you are ready to start your search again.

Best wishes.
 
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