davewilke1
New member
Over the past few weeks I have come to know a couple of C- brats from the northeast. I contacted Jacque and Linda in response to their ad on the C-Brats site offering their CD 25, E-Sloane for sale. My wife and I have been planning to upgrade to a boat we could overnight on and explore new waters. We had not had the opportunity to see the boat in person however. Out of kindness Jacque and Linda reserved their boat for me to have first look. This past weekend I flew to Maryland from Chicago to check it out on the water. My wife has been ill for a few weeks and was unable to go with me. I took lots of pictures. What I saw was a well maintained very clean boat with just 70 hours on the clock. The boat has been stored inside at a first class marina. It has several thoughtful additions including electrical outlets and shelving. The head compartment has been very lightly used (no solids) and still has “new boat smell”. It comes with a generator and an aluminum tandem axle trailer (Load Rite) that has less than 1000 miles and has never been in the water. They took it out of dry storage to bring it down to show me. Canvas and cushions are like new and the 150 hp Honda is showroom clean under the cowl. A two hour sea trial confirmed that all systems operated normally. The Garmin chart plotter was bright and reliable. I came ashore with mixed emotions. The C-Dory is very different from our open bow Searay. My wife and I are still eight years from retirement. When I returned home, my wife and I reviewed all the pictures and spent most of the day talking it over. After careful consideration we decided that we are not yet ready for this boat. We boat mostly in the Missouri Ozarks. We often have four adults and two or three grand kids aboard. I reluctantly informed Jacque and Linda that we would not be buying. I felt horrible that I had caused them to hold the boat off the market for me for several weeks while I made plans to visit. I am confident that they will not have this boat long after it is reposted. At $ 68,500 for the boat, trailer, generator and many other extras, it is a very good deal. Jacque and Linda are great people that will be a pleasure for anyone to deal with. My wife and I want to thank them for sharing their boating experience with us. I will remember the time I had at the helm of E-Sloane and occasionally revisit the photos until we are ready for a C-Dory .