Thinking of buying 22 cc

R

Rcranium

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Mar 31, 2015
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C Dory Year
2008
C Dory Model
22 Center Console
Hi
Could anyone tell me if a 22 foot Center consol would be ok on the west coast of Vancouver island. Basically a fair weather fisherman and this would be my first boat .
Thanks for any feedback or info
 
Rcranium-

Your C-Dory CC is marginal for the outer Vancouver Island coastal weather.

Suggest a Duffy 18 as an alternative.

Happy April 1st!

Joe. :lol: :thup
 
Here's a non-April fools reply.
The few center console boats you see on the West coast of VCI are usually Boston Whalers owned by guide services. The VAST majority of boats you see on the West coast of VCI are boats with pilot houses. The main advantages of a center console boat for fishing are the ability to work a fish while moving all the way around the boat and the increased amount of deck space - good for crab pots, shrimp pots etc. In my experience, for salmon fishing, it's rare indeed to have a need/desire to move around the boat. You can always keep the fish behind the boat with either the natural drift of the boat in current/wind or a by putting/leaving the boat in gear at low idle. For hali fishing at anchor, the center console has some advantages but the total number of hali one can catch in a year (6/person in BC), doesn't really make the center console worthwhile for that purpose and again one can usually manage to land the fish without needing to go all the way around the boat. If my main activity was crabbing and/or shrimping, the extra cockpit space of a center console would be nice and the disadvantage of being constantly exposed to the weather wouldn't matter so much since most crabbing and shrimping is done close to some port and I can run back in after dropping pots.

The big disadvantage to a center console is being constantly exposed to the weather - both you and your gear. We get so much rain and fog out here that the comfort of a cabin is appreciated by most. Also, relative to the center console Boston Whalers, the center console C-Dorys are rougher in the chop and are not self-bailing. I see the center console C-dorys as nice boats for the flats in places like Texas and Florida but as terrible boats for fishing off the Washington state coast or the west coast of VCI. The hull design is plenty capable if not driven too hard in the chop and I'm sure the boat will be manageable in most sea states you'd want to fish in, it's just not the best choice for our typical weather.
 
Thanks , I better think this thing out
 
I would agree with Roger on this one he is spot on. I fish on the west side of Vancouver Island many times and run as far as out as twelve miles off shore. I do it in a 22' cruiser and enjoy that set up. It is nice to stay out of the sun and wind while you drink hot coffee fresh off the stove. With that said it boils down to personal choice.

Dan
 
I would agree with Roger on this one he is spot on. I fish on the west side of Vancouver Island many times and run as far as out as twelve miles off shore. I do it in a 22' cruiser and enjoy that set up. It is nice to stay out of the sun and wind while you drink hot coffee fresh off the stove. With that said it boils down to personal choice.

Dan
 
Dan McNally":2h9rdjvq said:
I would agree with Roger on this one he is spot on. I fish on the west side of Vancouver Island many times and run as far as out as twelve miles off shore. I do it in a 22' cruiser and enjoy that set up. It is nice to stay out of the sun and wind while you drink hot coffee fresh off the stove. With that said it boils down to personal choice.

Dan
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+2
We fished last summer in Nootka Sound. Out of the 5 days, two were rainy. The first rainy day, it was non-stop steady rain, not a drizzle. It sure was nice to watch the rods from inside the cabin with the Wallas on and the coffee hot. In fact, it was that very experience that convinced my childhood buddy to get serious about purchasing a CD-25 so if anyone in the Seattle area has one to offer, let me know.
 
C-Dorys and Cape Cruisers are a wet ride compared to a deep-v. Instead of slicing through a wave they tend to plow through a wave. That said, if you are in the open ocean and facing a headwind with 2-4 foot wind waves, it will be just like someone throwing a 5 gallon bucket of saltwater in your face every time you hit a wave. That happens with Whalers too, although not as much.
 
Good question and welcome to our site. The question has come up before. The cc was a very limited production for the reasons shown here. If one looks at the boats used out in Tofino, Ucluelet, etc you'll see a ton of Grady's, Trophys, Pursuits , Skagits, Orcas etc. ie big deep vee pilothouse or substantial Cc walk around with canvas/ glass tops for weather protection. And universally big power. Twin or triple 200-350. The whalers are Campbell River day boats or inshore west coast. Some of the big whalers are out there on the west coast also. Again big power. One in our marina is a 31 with triple 250. What the locals out of Ahousat and Tofino use single engine old cabin boats like Glastron, Fibreform and Double Eagle, all robust Cabin boats. The c dory is imminently capable offshore west coast. And water will come and smite the windows. If it's a cc c dory, The driver will be smitten. Not fun. I do enjoy the odd dusty day when Kerri On is showing her stuff...from inside. One of my boating joys is hitting the wiper switch ....and me not even wet! I have spent my time in open boats and no thanks anymore. The average c dory owner has owned several boats and many are super experienced and so come to find a little pilothouse, low power dory hull to be the answer. I gotta ask how come? Why not a cc dory? Because we have learned it is no fun being wet,cold, shaken and stirred. Shaken and stirred is ok if you are warm and dry! Enjoy the search. I'd say buy it if you go out on sunny days. There are 4 in August and 3 in July off the west coast. Haha sorry. West coast humour. Again welcome aboard. George
 
Joe: that was priceless. The "salty" gal leaning out the window of the Duffy had me laughing my A... off!
 
Good one Joe.
You have it from folks who catch fish off the West Coast and Straights. The CC is a great boat for Florida--and I have an 18' CC Cat there, which rides just about as well as the Tom Cat…But I would only use that in very protected waters in the PNW.

A Walk around, such as a number of the Grady Whites are also popular as boats with some protection, but where you can walk around to fight fish. We found that a large sailboat is also a very effective fishing tool, just for the reasons Roger enumerated. (The sailboat had both a pilothouse, a fully enclosed cockpit steering station, and a swim step/stairs to the water for gaff and boating the fish.) You really want protection...
 
Thanks Joe good one
I have lived on the Island all my life. Don't mind a little spray 😉
Used to the west coast mist!!! Out door working all my life. For now I will still accept the weather but I am serious about the stability , so it appears that they are acceptable say Constance bank , sooke and Victoria ? Just pick my days and head in if the So Easter on its way?
 
Two quick little stories, the first was told to me by my father inlaw, he was a commercial fisherman on the west coast. a friend of his ran into some really bad weather in the Georgia Strait, so bad that, he climbed off of his boat on to a piling that was out on the water on the approach to Vancouver international Airport. He was rescued around 8 hours later safe and sound. A day and a half later his boat was found safe and sound putting along on the inside of Vancouver harbour.
Liza Copland, a writer, she is from Vancouver and wrote about her husband and family sailing for 11 years around the world. She mention going south somewhere along the Oregon coast, when they heard a mayday from a sail boat that was behind them and farther out. The seas were rough and the people wanted to be rescued, finely the us coast guard, got them off their sail boat. Several month later there boat was found safe and sound and sailing off Hawaii. My point being most boats can handle rougher seas then the people sailing them.
 
Rcranium":1uzxgzfd said:
Thanks Joe good one
I have lived on the Island all my life. Don't mind a little spray 😉
Used to the west coast mist!!! Out door working all my life. For now I will still accept the weather but I am serious about the stability , so it appears that they are acceptable say Constance bank , sooke and Victoria ? Just pick my days and head in if the So Easter on its way?
Click to expand...

The hull on the 22' center console is the same as on a 22 C-dory. Stability is not really an issue as the boat will handle a lot more than the occupants. I had my 22 C-Dory as far as 35 miles offshore out of Neah Bay and I fished the Strait of Juan de Fuca in it plenty. The center console will handle Constance bank, Sooke and Victoria just fine and if you're happy being wet and cold, it will do the job on most days that others are out fishing. It's just that a pilot house boat will do all that and you'll be warm and dry.
 
Thank you kindly
Good to know (and hear!!)
 
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