The Decision to Buy: how long did it take?

Phase 1: we buy our first boat, a 1987 Catalina 22 in 2000. We spend 2 glorious seasons learning to sail, some fabulous 3-4 day cruises on some small but beautiful lakes in the Calgary area (one with fabulous mountains, the other herds of cattle). I spend whatever time not cruising tinkering and polishing to my heart's content. After the second season moored on the Glenmore Reservoir, the entire bottom is rife with blisters which require a $6500 repair job. Around this time we begin to realize that the strenuous and unpredictable aspects of sailing do not mesh with our young children and regret having to use the boat only when the kids are with the grandparents. The following May a gentleman sees our boat in my driveway (looking brand new) and offers to buy it (it wasn't for sale) at any price. I am considering a powerboat and regard the timing as God-given. We sell the boat that day for a third more than we paid for it and begin planning for phase 2. Considering we have 2 children with autism who don't enjoy being around large groups of unfamiliar people, the privacy of boating seems like an exciting activity we all can enjoy together. I discover C-Dorys on the web and see for the first time the boat I have been envisioning in my mind for years. My wife Maureen at this point decides to leave teaching and start her own autism resource and conference business which means no play money for a while.
Phase 3: I religiously read the C-Brats site and keep the dream alive. I'm thinking a serious chance of owning a 22...possibly 3-5 years. In my wildest dreams there's a lovely used 25 waiting for us around then. I know I've got to be one of hundreds enjoying this site without actually owning the boat. If I never own a C-Dory this site still has been the biggest kick I've ever had.
 
Ron Bennie wrote:
I know I've got to be one of hundreds enjoying this site without actually owning the boat. If I never own a C-Dory this site still has been the biggest kick I've ever had.
Click to expand...
Nice words and very true. Don't give up the dream, make it happen...we did. I met Caryn in 2003, we had a whirlwind romance and married 6 months later. We casually talked about owning a boat "one day", I told her that I'd always dreamed of buying a small aluminum fishing boat or drift boat. We decided to look at used boats one Sunday afternoon in the spring of 2004 but nothing struck our fancy. Caryn mentioned how she always liked her friends "cute" boat. When I asked her what it was called, she couldn't remember. We finally found out the name was C-Dory the summer of 2004. We then talked to Scott Matthews at the old C-Dory factory in Kent, checked out the boats in various stages of completion and fell in love with them. We weren't really in position to buy at that time although it was quite tempting. I still needed to sell my house and clean up my finances a bit.
Fast forward to the Seattle Boat Show, January 2005. I had just sold my house two weeks earlier, I had the day off on the first day of the boat show. Scott was so generous to call us to remind us about the boat show and have tickets waiting for us at will call. So there we are, at the SBS in the first hour of the first day. We were there just to "check it out". Scott, Jeff Mesmer and Scott Reynolds were all there, convincing us of the great boat show discount we would receive, as well as all the little extras they would throw in. Plus they told us that the boat show boat was already sold but we would get the next boat, which had already been started, and was green, our chosen color.

Well you know the rest, we bought it. Signed our name at the dotted line, walked around in an ecstatic daze for the next two hours, bought more goodies at the boat show and took delivery on March 5th. So to answer the question, we bought our C-Dory about six months after discovering the name of the boat. And there has not been one moments regret, especially after discovering the C-Brat site shortly after our purchase. It's opened up a whole new world to me that I never knew existed.

Peter
 
Married current spousal unit in July of 2005. Did a two week honeymoon fishing and touring the east coast of vancouver island in a boston whaler, including a couple trips across the straits in bad weather. Looked at the 16' cruiser on a whim in august, spousal unit says buy it. That took all of 5 minutes. Les had the 16 ready september 7 and we love it. Finally, after 45 years of boating, sitting out in wet, cold, cockpits night after night, a real cabin, heat, windshield wipers. Sue apparently didn't have as much fun in the whaler as I thought she did.
 
As wee lads, the brother and I where always bulding floating objects and floating the mighty Powder river in Baker. The brother never grew out of the drift boat phase and still plays on the river...shameless plug for brother's operation goes here.... http://www.riverstoreefs.com/ I outgrew the drifting phase and picked up an old glass ski boat for $1,500 about 10 years ago, M objected to wasting that kind of money on a boat. We had a blast with that old boat and up graded to a nice aluminum boat, we then purchased a motorhome to tow the boat and extend our boating vacations....nice aluminum boat sat next to the house alltogether to much as we didn't enjoy using it much when the weather was poor. Motorhome sat also.
I started looking at plans for building an aluminum C-Dory type boat and after assesing my abilities, patience and the cost of such a project, I quickley realized that I could buy a C-Dory for what I'd have spent in Duct tape alone. I studied and conjured for about two years before I showed M some pictures from El & Bill's adventures followed a trip to the boat show. Sportcraft had a good deal on a used one and we scooped it up. Sold beercan boat and motorhome and the boaterhome was born.

That $1,500 boat is looking pretty cheap now, maybe it was the cost that the cheap ski boat spawned that worried M :)
 
Prior to getting the CD, we owned a Dory (double ender) and always had a dinghy in the yard.

We started looking at C-Dorys in the early 1980s. At every Seattle Boat Show we'd find the C-Dory display, get a brouchure and always decide that 'this' wasn't the right time. Every summer we'd make a couple of trips down to the C-Dory factory, visit with Mark Toland and the Dalmation. Sit in a couple of C-Dorys and decide that 'this' wasn't the right time. Too busy working, teenagers graduating, then they were getting married, we were running a business, so on an so forth...........

Finally sometime in 1999, we found a 22 1985 CD over on Whidbey Island. It was on a weekend and no one was around. Went back to look at it a couple of weeks later, the CD had disappeared. Find same CD a few months later in another Oak Harbor boat yard (again on a weekend and no info on the FOR SALE sign).

Joe and youngest son (certified mechanic) drive over to Oak Harbor (on a weekday) with the intentions of checking out this CD, but it wasn't there. It'd been moved again and now it's sitting in a different boat yard on Hwy 20. This time not only is there a salesman but the CD owner is there, too.
Paperwork is signed and now we own a CD.

We kept the 22CD a couple of years but didn't use it as much as we'd hoped. So the decision was made to sell it and not get another boat until we retired. The summer after we sold the 22CD was the most gorgeous summer we'd had in years and here we are - no boat!!

Seattle Boat Show 2003 we meet Les at the C-Dory display. I think we visited him two or three times that day. He mentions that he has a 19CD at EQ Marine. A few weeks later we drive over and take a look. Paperwork is signed and now we own (another) CD.

So I guess it can be said that we've been messing with these C-Dorys for a good twenty years now. Looked at lots of other boats and walked on a lot of docks (Washington, Oregon, California, British Columbia) but we always kept coming back to the C-Dory.

Ruth and Joe
R-Matey
 
My first exposure to C-Dory's was an article in Small Boat Journal magazine sometime in the early 80's and from that moment on I knew I would own one some day. Unfortunately, at the time I could barely afford the magazine let alone the boat. In 98 I drove to Superior Wisconsin to pick up a used 16' Angler and brought it back to Indiana. Probably one of the first C-Dory's in the state. A very good friend of mine saw the boat and decided he had to have one, so he bought a used 22 Angler. Now there were two C-Dory's on an 1800 acre lake in central Indiana. Of course after seeing his 22 I knew I needed to move up to a 22 as well, so in 2003 I bought a new 22 Cruiser. During this period good fortune had smiled upon me with the start of a successful business. Of course there are curve balls along the way too. One of them being the untimely death of my good friend. It was kind of a wake up call for me, a reminder how tenuous life can be. Got me thinking about what I really love, boats. Especially C-Dory's. So I sold my business and now I am a C-Dory dealer along with Craig at Rabidfish and I still have that issue of Small Boat Journal.

Jim
 
Hi Jim,

I, too, miss SMALL BOAT JOURNAL. I just loved the collection of funky, character boats that they featured every month, along with really practical advice.

A high point of my writing career was when I became Midwest Editor in the late 80's, when I left GREAT LAKES SAILOR magazine. My first assignment was to go to Sarasota to test a bunch of 18 foot pocket cruisers in February! Tough work.

Unfortunately, the magazine was a financial failure, big time. It was owned by the Hemmings family (Hemmings Motor News) and I'm told that they lost millions during the time that they owned it.

It was bought by Billian Publishing in '88 and the changes started. First was to make the "small" in the title very small. Second came a while later when it became BOAT JOURNAL and finally was when it became BOATING WORLD and dropped all of the small character boats. (Most small companies can't afford the advertising it takes to keep a publication afloat.)

It was about '91 when I tested and wrote about the CD 22 when I caught the urge to buy one.

When I last talked with the editorial staff at BW they said that they were still getting hate mail from old SBJ subscribers from long ago.

A touch of SBJ can be found in the great book OUTBOARD BOATER'S HANDBOOK by David Getchel, the first editor of SBJ. It is a compilation of SBJ articles and I am pleased to be able to say that two of my articles are included.

I look forward to meeting you and Craig when I pass through your area on March 31.

Best regards,

Nick
"Valkyrie"
 
Nick, "Valkyrie";

Thanks for explaining what happened to Small Boat Journal. I loved that magazine, loved the boats it talked about, even subscribed. Then my subscription changed over to whatever it became. All go fast boats, and here I was into sailboats. Really pi___ed. When we started looking for power boats, really missed that mag.


Always wondered what happened, but now I (rarely) read Wooden Boat, which is good but not the same.

Boris
 
I think my only regret is that Susan and I did not see the C-Dory earlier...once I met with Mike (Sealife) and went through his boat I called the dealer and ordered my boat within days....
At first the price of a new C-Dory scared me.... but it was one of my better decisions. I would do it agin in a heartbeat.
I bought a 22' and thought I might someday want a 25' but I am really happy with the 22' and made the correct choice (for now)

Joel
 
Nick'
Thanks for that info about SBJ. I loved that magazine and subscribed for many years. It is a shame that quality boating magazines can't make a go of it.
 
1986- I was on vacation visiting from Denver where I lived at the time...We were traveling southbound on Pacific when I spotted a boat on a pole..thought that was pretty cool...liked the boat!
Having grown up on the Uniflite pictured in our Album, this new one I saw was nothing like that.

2001- Moved to Seattle in 1990, and wanted a boat! Always had the C-Dory in mind, but all we could handle was a 12' Livingston(hmmm familiar now).

2002- we were in position to buy a boat and the C-Dory was it !! We looked and looked at used , and said the heck with it ..we bought a new one..22 Cruiser,and was asked if it could be the SBS Boat ,and the rest is ongoing.

2005 We bit the big one the ,25 Cruise Ship.
 
Took me about 10 minutes once I saw it at the marina. Then it took me 2 weeks to find the owner, and why it was so neglected. Then a month to pursuade him to sell it to me at an outrageously low price.... :lol:

The rest is "history" as they say.... :D
 
Nick,
Well how about that. OUTBOARD BOATER's HANDBOOK is right here in front of me and a favorite over the years. I've always enjoyed reading it, and it has definitely influenced my boating perspective. You did the article on River Expertise and one other? Very well done.

SMALL BOAT JOURNAL has been a favorite of mine, too, over the years. And I am pleased to say that the spirit of it is pretty much alive in the relatively new SMALL CRAFT ADVISOR though with a focus on sail and manually powered craft only. But certainly the joy of messing around in small boats continues in those pages, as it also does here at C-BRATS. http://www.smallcraftadvisor.com

I don't own a C-DORY yet, but it was last summer that my wife said, "I think we need a bigger boat." And those wonderful words have put the gears into motion! My prediction: at least 2 years if not more from idea inception to action, which is a timeframe I have repeated now at least 3 times with 3 different boats so far. (Three other boats were more impulse purchases but at a much lower price point!)
 
Saw our 1st C Dory in Bridge Bay Marina, on lake yellowstone in Yellowstone National Park in l981. Jo-Lee and I on that day made a pact that we would own a C Dory someday. It took 22 years for that dream to become reality. Even though we know the C Dory history we still named our boat Hunkydory. Websters got it right our boat is "fully satisfactory, all right and safe".

Jay and Jo-Lee
 
Valkyrie":aryix0n1 said:
A touch of SBJ can be found in the great book OUTBOARD BOATER'S HANDBOOK by David Getchel, the first editor of SBJ. It is a compilation of SBJ articles and I am pleased to be able to say that two of my articles are included.
Click to expand...

Nick: Outboard Boaters Handbook is the book that captured my imagination and turned me around from "boat show-itis" to really thinking about how I could use a boat to bring myself and my family into contact with the outdoors in a different way. That book is on the small bookshelf near my bed reserved for volumes I like to pick up again and again. You should be proud to have contributed to it!

I see from other posts that Small Boat Journal and Outboard Boaters Handbook influenced others in this group. How about a thread to discuss what that certain quality is; why it may be missing from most or all current boating publications; and what might be done about it? (Maybe C-Dory needs to think about diversifying into the publishing business....)

Best wishes,
 
Hi Folks,

I first spotted the C-Dory way back in 1988, when I was teaching in a small college in Vermont. I could not afford a C-Dory at that time. About five years ago I started looking for a used C-Dory on the East Coast, and kept missing them by a week or so. (I even tried to buy RIVER HORSE after William Least-Heat Moon spoke in Nantucket.)

On my first USCGAux Meeting, I found my 1983 22' Angler boat in the parking lot on Otis AF Base. After negotiating for about four months, I purchased it in February. It was not exactly what I wanted, but it was the only 22' C-Dory for sale on the East Coast.

I am very happy with the boat.

Would I buy a new 22' Cruiser model or a 25' C-Dory? Yes, if I could afford it. My present boat is paid for, new engine, rebuilt stern, cockpit cover, cushions etc.

I have a theory. Every day is a good day. Every day I can spend on my C-Dory is a better day, even if it's working on it, as I will be doing tomorrow and Sunday.

I went to a boat show today in Foxboro MA today and studied the 25' CD. that Y-Landing Marina was showing. Whether I could afford it, I don't know yet. I do know that I have a great boat in my 1983 Angler. I also know that there was not ONE boat that compare with a C-Dory. We noticed that all the action was at the C-Dory booth.

Happy sailing

Fred Heap
 
I discovered the C-Dory in a very round about way. I was searching the web for information on "Circle Hooks" and in one of those Google searches (4000 items)...I saw a reference to the "The Great Circle Loop"..I didn't know what it was but it got my attention and low and behold it took me to Bill & Ell's page. It didn't take me long to bookmark it and I spent the next months reading in over and over. I was captivated by their adventures and travels and their boat. That was the spring of 2005 and I started lurking here at C-Brats.com . Come September I was visiting my cousin in Bremerton, Wa. and he just happen to be friends with Doug, of "Liberty Call". Doug was good enough to take me out on his 22 Cruiser and everything I had come to learn about the boat was confirmed. The search for a boat I could afford to pay cash for was now in high gear. It took all of 45 days and I found "Papillon" at 3 Rivers Marine in Crystal River, Fl. She was not the cruiser I was looking for but she had the same hull and that is all I need to start making her into the boat I wanted. Now...my wife says I have to sell the Boston Whaler 22-Revenge or trade it for another C-Dory, then we could have "His & Hers"
 
Hoop,

Thanks for your comments on Outboard Boater's Handbook, but my part in it was very small. Actually, it is smaller than I had remembered. I just checked my copy and I only had one article in it, the "River Expertise" piece that you mentioned, not two as I previously stated. Hey, you should hear my fishing and hunting stories; they really grow larger with the passage of time, too.

Tom on Otter,

Your idea for a new thread about boating magazines is a good idea. At this time, most boating publications leave me cold. There is very little there to grab my attention. The only mag about the water that currently has my attention is SALT WATER SPORTSMAN.

Best regards,

Nick
"Valkyrie"
 
Two years ago I took several trips to Sekiu and Neah Bay to fish with my son. On our trip to Neah Bay the weather was a little finiky and we had 3-4 foot chop. Not much fun in my sled but we were out there catching fish and having fun! As we were heading in from Tatoosh we were watching all the Deep V's go pounding by. Then a C-Dory came by doing about 15 knots and just as smooth as could be (It was probably Roger from SeaDNA now that I think about it). I looked at Justin and told him we needed one of those! I started working on the better half not long after in a similar fashion to what Roger did... Finally after looking all over I found the 27 on the C-Dog site. Paid to have her surveyed and bought it site unseen. In the next month or so she will get a new motor and hopefully be ship shape for salmon fishing.

I still love my sled and would love to keep it. But 3 boats is a bit more than my wife can handle!
 
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