Suggestion Box for C-Dory Factory

I think that part of the reason a company may not want to actively participate on the web are some of the same reasons that they don't sell factory direct.

Part of what made C-Dory a success (and a number of boat brands for that matter) is that it was developed by an individual with a clear vision of what they wanted to build. From that developed a market for the product.

The risk a manufactuere can make in listening to the myriad of voices, either online, or at boat shows or any other avenue where public feedback is received, is that the intial concept can become diluted in an attempt to placate the various voices. What can happen is that what made the boat sell gets lost in attempting to make it all things to all people.

Not to say that feedback isn't good and valid, it is. But not all feedback is equal. Those who complain about the ride of a C-Dory don't appreciate the efficiency of the hull shape, or are unwilling to make the trade off of the lightweight, economical design for the high speed running abilaity in a heavy chop. So the people at the boat show who need a deep V hulled fishing battle wagon to tackle tuna with aren't the C-Dory market, and their feedback is worth less to the builder because they aren't his market anyway.

Which is where the dealer can come in. He can act as a buffer and pass on the ideas that are valid for the design. Since the dealer is a multi unit customer of the manufacturer, his input carries more weight.

Besides, reading this forum can be very frustrating for the manufacturer. Some of the feedback from owners can be completely contradictory. So whose feedback should be followed? And does feedback from owners of older boats really help in selling new boats? Markets change, buyers demands change, as well as market conditions (boy have those changed!). So what may have worked ten years ago may not work today.

I find it interesting that C-Dory and Arima are both experiencing flat sales right now. I can't help but wonder if part of the reason is that the boats have rmained basically unchanged, with very minimal upgtrades in newer models, since they were introduced.

So while a web presence for a manufacturer is critical, active participation in an owner's forum may not be a sign of impending demise.
 
Matt, well said and valid.

I watch TugNuts too and in that case the factory is heavily involved and they seem to be selling boats. Is it because of all the new models? 25SC, 27, 29, etc.

Are they doing as well as it seems? Maybe with a limited population of boats (numbers in the water) and a lot smaller number of owners, they can do what they do. Perhaps if there were as many tugs as dorys, they couldn't keep up.

Thoughts?

Charlie
 
Matt a good point but not the one I and most here are complaining about. I don't expect them to change the models every time one of us comes up with a so called bright idea. what I do expect is communications with your customer. Its call customer service and right now sea sport has NONE. its more then this thread or this site. They wont answer the bloody phone or their own email. No one can get hold of them for days on end. First thing in the morning before going to the office I check my email and phone. Then I check when I get there. When I get home I check again and I check again before bed at 11pm. My customers can always get a hold of me. I expect the same from boat builders.

No more excuses. they need to get there act together. Before Susan and I bought the 27 we thought long and hard about getting a new 25. Susan likes new boats not old ones. Makes her feel better that there is a warranty and a factory to fall back on. After looking at what is going on with the factory and how they are handling customer contacts, No way did i want to buy from them. Believe me I would like to order a new 27 sea sport pilot house but if I had the money I would get a tug instead. Not as good of a fishing boat but I know that if I call the factory with a problem I will get ahold of some one today, just like when Jeff and some other were at c-dory.
 
Matt, your comments are thoughtful, but I do not agree. I understand that a boat builder cannot make everyone happy all of the time (contradictory feedback issues), but at least they can respond. I would much rather have someone tell me that they cannot do something rather than receiving silence as the answer. I personally have not experienced that, but there are threads on the site that have mentioned "no response" again and again. Examples gratis, the threads about key blanks and window parts.

I do believe that you and Marc, and other dealers are very helpful in many instances, but you're not the factory. The message has been very clear that a good number of CBrats are frustrated about customer service communications, and just the plain old lack of presence by the factory representatives.

Please do continue to be an active voice, and as a part of that active voice, encourage the folks at Triton to join in. I like the old adage of "communicate until your lips bleed, then communicate some more"! Believe it or not, I do want them to be successful.

Steve
 
What Matt said is true, and should be remembered. The ACTUAL customers of the factory are the DEALERS!

The ultimate owners of the boats are, of course, customers, but they do not buy directly from the factory, they buy from a dealer.

We are all used to the automobile model where the factory performs the advertising, manufactures the repair parts, and pays for the recalls, if any.

For a C-Dory, unless the hull fails, the factory does not have much direct involvement with the ultimate buyer. All other parts on a C-Dory are bought from another supplier. Most repairs involving those parts can be done without the factories help.

I am not opposed to folks suggesting improvements or changes, but unless you would actually buy a boat with those changes, its just your opinion.

As this post is just my opinion!

Good Boatin' to yahs!
 
Larry H":2eth9fgk said:
What Matt said is true, and should be remembered. The ACTUAL customers of the factory are the DEALERS!

stuff clipped...

As this post is just my opinion!

Good Boatin' to yahs!
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Larry, I can not tell you how much I disagree with your assertion that the dealers are the customers.

When you buy a car, are you the customer, or is the Chevy dealer the customer?

We are the customers, of any dealer and any factory from which we buy product. If they together are not responsive, neither will succeed.
 
A comment about those key blanks,

Remember that this sale of C-Dory was not a sale of the entire company, but just a sale or lease of the production rights and molds. We don't actually know what Triton Marine purchased from C-Dory, if anything.

It has been stated that they bought or are leasing the molds and presumably the rights to produce boats from those molds.

It has also been stated that they did not buy the old company, or the warranty obligations. If this is true, they may not have any information about parts, suppliers, keys, window knobs, or any other thing.

Again, we are not the direct customers of C-Dory, but the direct customers of the selling dealer. If you bought a new boat from a dealer, they should be your first contact for info, parts, etc. If you don' have a dealer anymore, contact one of the current dealers. If all that fails, and the factory won't respond, this site, the C-Brats, is the best source of information.

I do agree, that the Ranger Tugs have excellent factory support, and that is an excellent business model, and I would certainly buy from them if I wanted a Tug.

It would be great if Triton (C-Dory) could do what Ranger is doing, but the current owners didn't design and haven't been building the boats and most likely cannot offer any support to current owners as they don't have any answers to give out.
 
Larry if your last statement is true then the factory should COMMUNICATE that to us.

As for dealers, with so few boats being built I don't know why the factory bothers having any. I prefer factory direct buying and I think its a better business model with so few boats.
 
Wandering,

When you buy a car, are you the customer, or is the Chevy dealer the customer?
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Did you make out your check to a DEALER or to the MANFACTURER?

You are a direct customer of the dealer, and the dealer is a direct customer of the factory.

I have purchased new cars, but always from a dealer, never direct from the factory. You cannot take a car back to the factory for repairs, if you contact them, they will refer you to a dealer. If that repair is not a warranty item, you will make your check out to the dealer, not to the factory.
 
Tom,

I agree that with few boats sold, a boat builder may do better selling direct.

However, direct selling means that the factory has to maintain a dealership with salesmen, display boats, demonstration captains, be close enough to suitable water, answer phones, etc. These are extra expenses and services that might be better performed by a dealership.

Which business model each company follows is up to them. I would like to do business with the guy who builds the boat. If I was in the market for a new boat now, I would look to the Ranger company for that kind of service.

Hey, how's your new-to-you boat coming along? Did you score on the chain/line?
 
starcrafttom":2mhex32t said:
Larry if your last statement is true then the factory should COMMUNICATE that to us.

As for dealers, with so few boats being built I don't know why the factory bothers having any. I prefer factory direct buying and I think its a better business model with so few boats.
Click to expand...

That was fine when Marben Marine was building boats for a niche PNW market. Now C-Dorys are in use and being sold all over the country. For better or for worse, the days of factory direct are behind us.

Warren
 
I had to scroll through to see if I replied to this one.....

I agree with Jim and others...our suggestions fall on deaf ears. They don't know how to capitalize on their lowest hanging fruit to their own peril. I do wish them well but I don't see evidence of practices that would maximize the opportunity for success in my humble opinion.

Ah well...deja vu. I'm glad I have a C-Dory with a reliable group of owner buddies.
 
Sea Sport / Triton hasn't built enough boats to even begin to consider making changes. They have to learn to build what they have before they can decide what works and what doesn't.

And as a dealer, I am nervous because I don't kow what the product we may order will look like. We have no way of knowing what this factory will decide to make standard, or optional.

I've been through this with another brand. Every boat they built was different from the boat before it as the factory made "enhancements" to the product. So we had five boats that were the same model, and all of them were different.

As a salesperson, how do I point out the features and strengths of the product when no two of them are the same? Dumb things that shouldn't be an issue (like placement of grab handles, fuel tank material and quantity) suddenly becomes something that isn't constant, and can become something that loses a sale.

If I don't know what I'm going to get from the factory, how do I have any faith in the product? How do I sell a model we don't have in stock? I can't speak with any authority about what the next boat will look like, what it will have installed. Do we just order a bunch of boats on blind faith?

There are a lot of ways to lose a lot of money in this business. Taking on inventory that doesn't turn because of model changes or irregularities can be costly, and with the razor's edge we're walking now with profit margins we can't afford to make bad decisions on what we bring in.

The earlier comment that there don't seem to be people finding this website saying "I'm interested in a new boat" are spot on. We're not getting much traffic for new C-Dory's right now. We're lucky we didn't bring in a bunch of 2010 product to sit on. We're down to one 2009 Fluid built boat, so we are in a position to possibly take more product. I just wish I had a better feel for what that product is going to look like.
 
Matt,

The obvious answer is that the factory should build a 'demo' boat that the dealers and public could look at to see what is standard, and what the quality is. A 22 Cruiser is the most likely as a 'typical' boat.

But, will the factory 'listen' to this thread?
 
Scott,
Things must be looking up two friends are very close to buying boats one a used Rosbourgh and the other a new 27' Ranger tug.
Todays suggestion would be to supply a solar option for new boats that would have enough solar panels, batteries etc. and a large enough inverter to reduce the need to carry a back up generator like a lot of us do. To be able to run a 120 volt air conditioner, microwave, coffee pot would be a great option for those folks who are considering buying new. Not running them at the same time of course. Some might even consider buying and adding the option themselves. Not having to carry as much gas the quietness of the suns power are all part of a feature set that the new customer base might enjoy. Rome was not built in a day. The Tug shopper is looking into exactly what I'm referring to. Just an idea that might be something you folks would want to look into. It lowers the cost of ownership and some people actually want to go green if possible. Hope all is going well.
D.D.
 
From another thread. (We Gotta Do Better).

Wonder if there would be any interest in making a big C-Dory Splash in Friday Harbor next spring.

"Friday Harbor would be a good place to for a photo op. I think it would be fun and it might be worth some PR too. How about Northwest Evening Magazine (North West Cable News) might do a story there, (the family not just the boat.) It would go along with the type of things they do. Maybe Northwest Yachting Mag would do a cover, and Neil would come and do the shoot. It would take some advance planing and lots of cooperation, but I bet the Brats would do it. 35 - 45 boats, now there would be a shooting challenge. Maybe we could get some of the wonderers back to the PNW for such a gig, (Bill and El, Jim and Joan, Russ and whoops Love you guys Meander, Hunky Dory....Are you all in Scott and the factory crew, interested?"
Click to expand...

Harvey
SleepyC
 
I would like to say that I am more than intrigued by the solar power setup and will be researching this further. To add this as an option would be a good step forward I think and I will let you know what I find out.

Now in regards to a rendezvous I think that this too has merit and will discuss it further with my partners. The last Sea Sport Rendezvous we did out at Roche Harbor had about 45 boats and took up the whole public dock. Whether we can do this again we will have to discuss but I think that a somewhat formal gathering is a nice way to give to all that have helped us. Again stay tuned and I will post more as we try to figure out our next year plans.

Scott
 
As an aside, the last time Joyce and I went to the Friday Harbor C-Brats gathering (I think last year or the year before), I was walking up the towards the dock when a couple of yachties were coming down. One looked around at the 20+ C-Dory's and commented to the other, "Looks like they forgot to spray for C-Dory's" - classic.
 
hardee":2xcrozb6 said:
From another thread. (We Gotta Do Better).

Wonder if there would be any interest in making a big C-Dory Splash in Friday Harbor next spring.

"Friday Harbor would be a good place to for a photo op. I think it would be fun and it might be worth some PR too. How about Northwest Evening Magazine (North West Cable News) might do a story there, (the family not just the boat.) It would go along with the type of things they do. Maybe Northwest Yachting Mag would do a cover, and Neil would come and do the shoot. It would take some advance planing and lots of cooperation, but I bet the Brats would do it. 35 - 45 boats, now there would be a shooting challenge. Maybe we could get some of the wonderers back to the PNW for such a gig, (Bill and El, Jim and Joan, Russ and whoops Love you guys Meander, Hunky Dory....Are you all in Scott and the factory crew, interested?"
Click to expand...

Harvey
SleepyC
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Hmmmmm.. Delta charges $23 for a checked bag. Wonder how much a TC 255 would cost??? :lol:

Just gotta say again, how much I like seeing the factory posts here. I just know this company can be successful with our help...

Charlie
 
Scott Said:

"Now in regards to a rendezvous I think that this too has merit and will discuss it further with my partners. The last Sea Sport Rendezvous we did out at Roche Harbor had about 45 boats and took up the whole public dock. Whether we can do this again we will have to discuss but I think that a somewhat formal gathering is a nice way to give to all that have helped us. Again stay tuned and I will post more as we try to figure out our next year plans."
Click to expand...

Scott, Thanks for the reply. As you already know, I'm sure, The C-Brats are not too big on formality. Probably only a handful that keep their tux and blue blazer in the hanging locker. :) We, (I should speak for myself here), kind of like it like that way, but I understand what you are saying, and am sure open to options.

The Friday Harbor CBGT is the season opener, and it is traditionally the largest, that is why I thought it would be a good one for the PR. Being season opening, there may be some interest from the public media too.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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