Ok, I've tried to read all of this thread in a hurry so if I miss something here I apologize in advance.
First of all the factory does care about C-Dory owners and the changes to the interior of the CD22 have nothing to do with how they feel about them. Nothing.
In the C-Dory 22 they have an ageing desgin on their hands and they need to do things to broaden the appeal to a larger market; it's no longer about building a few boats a year to deliver on a mostly regional business. It's about being a national player in the boat business and trying to market a boat that works in many areas and appeals to a wide audience.
With the acceptance of the C-Dory 22 in many areas of the country and the sharp rise in demand a way had to be found to increase production to meet the demand without driving up the price; in short the boat had to get easier to build. Which actually works to the customer's benefit since the goal was to also get more consistency in the final product. Had they stayed with the old desgin they would have had to hire many more folks with the higher skill levels required to fit the old interior and cockpit. This would have lead to more problems and higher pricing. Instead they wanted to create a molded cockpit and interior that was consistent because it comes out of a mold, is easier to install with less problems, is more finished looking to appeal to more buyers, and offers easier to clean and maintain surfaces. They also depended on skilled cabinet folks to get the wooden parts out and install them; if they fell behind, went out ill, quit, or went on vacation this affected their ability to get boats completed. They have a lot of folks that can lay up the fiberglass in a mold. It also left a lot a lot of room for variation from one boat to the next in terms of fit and finish or even the way things were put together.
The demands of modern boat building do not allow C-Dory the luxury of staying with the wood interior unless every new customer is willing to pay the price for all that hand labor. If the wood iterior is so great why did the very people that developed that interior choose a molded interior when they developed a new boat?
It isn't fair to judge the final product from what folks have seen so far. It's true that the ergonomics on the first try didn't work out quite well on the dinette side but that issue was addressed almost immediately and changes are being worked on. My latest conversation pertaining to this with the factory was today. The end result should look and work much the same as the original interior. In fact, the goal is to have folks look at the new molded interior and get the impression that not much has really changed in the overall scheme of things.
I got one of the very first boats with a molded interior up here a few weeks ago. I think it looks fine, in fact there are many things I like about it better (for one the corners are open on the sink so you can clean up more easily). The fiberglass galley counter is many times more robust than the Decraguard material. Take a hammer to both and see which comes out better, take a knife and try the same thing. What I didn't like was the implementation of the dinette arrangement and I responded to the factory about it immediately. Within a couple of days someone was here going over it with us and making plans for the changes that are necessary. And they're being made because the factory is responsive.
I'll guarantee that if they get the dinette side of the cabin layout right (like the current wooden interior) with the molded interior that folks seeing the C-Dory 22 for the first time are going to like it a lot. And really, that's the goal. The factory doesn't survive on past sales, it survives on future sales. To expect them to do otherwise is selfish and self-serving. Personally I'd expect a loyal bunch of owners to be rooting them on and wishing them success rather than berating them for trying improve the boat. Especially when most already own a boat so the issue is really a moot point. It's not entirely clear to me how C-Dory making a change to a product to make it more appealing to more folks, to keep the price in check, and to increase quality is construed as disloyal and uncaring.
So someone new comes to the site here to learn about the C-Dory and they see all this belly-aching about how the factory is ruining the boat because they're making a change...and nobody has even seen it in its final form yet! Rather than turning off prospective buyers and C-Brats let them see the boat for themselves and decide whether or not it fits their needs. They're not seeing it as change to their beloved old boat; they're seeing it with a fresh perspective and they damn well might fall in love with it. Worse things could happen.
