Sneaks- Thanks for the comments! I assume you're you talking about the foam simply loosing its resiliency long before its apparent breakdown where you can see the foam disintegrating. I'll have to check that out on my cushions, although I'm not sure what to compare it to since all of the samples I have are the same age and any new foam material might not be the same composition. I haven't noticed any softness or changes, but if it's subtle, how do you know?
I'm still wondering if my upholstery is original, and the same as the SuSunbrellaow in use. I've never heard of Sunbrella upholstery material, as opposed to Sunbrella canvas, so does that make the current upholstery Sunbrella canvas, as used in boat covers? If so, it's very different than I have, as noted above.
The question about the material I have and whether it's the same brings up a whole group of discussion points that may be rather sensitive to some owners and the factory.
At the last C-Dog gathering at Lake Shasta in 2001, I met one of our original C-Brat members from whom we haven't heard much lately.
Yellowstone John is a retired school superintendent from Montana, living up in Washington State with his wife, Edna. While looking at and discussing several of the C-Dorys at the get-together, he mentioned that he thought that the boats had been changed in several ways over the years, usually, but not always, for the better.
Most changes were win-win situations, where the factory had made the boat easier and therefore less expensive to put together, and the resulting boat was a better product, such as the change over to stainless handrails and white Decaguard interior cabinets, although some of us with the old teak rails and wood grain interior and doors like the more traditional look, despite the upkeep.
Another example of the win-win situation has been the addition of the powder coating on the windows, which look much better as they match the basic hull off-white background color.
Some other changes, he thought, were not win-win, such as the evolution of the doors on the lazarette compartments. My old style flat ones with the recessed rubber gaskets do leak to the inside somewhat. The later ones with the raised doors are better, but, according to John, had been changed again, not for the better. As I remember, he was saying that the raised lip around the opening had been eliminated, making water entry easier again. This presumably was to facilitate building the deck in the mold and removing it. I hope this is correct, as it's been a few years now.
Another ongoing problem has been the water accumulation/bilge/drainage problem in the 22's. With the fore-aft rocker of the boat, water accumulates when the boat is at rest up at the cabin door entrance, and doesn't move to the bilge well at the transom until the boat is moving and tipped backwards by the engine thrust. Numerous solutions and projects have been attempted by owners and the factory, including the side mounted bilge pump under the galley just inside the bulkhead. Not all have been successful.
At this time, the best appears to be floorboards that level out the cockpit floor. Several have suggested that this be a factory included item and not an option, such as was done with the center opening window for the 2005 model. This, they suggest, would make a better ready-made product and enhance the product's and factory's image. Unfortunately, this would raise the base price of the boat, which is now pegged at just bout $30,000.
The greatest thing about this site is that we can discuss all of these issues and rely on the experience of each other to retro-fit our boats accordingly, and without so much trial-and-error. Without such a discussion means, such as this C-Brat site, an individual owner's knowledge of these problems and their solutions would be much more limited, because some, if not most of us, are widely spaced apart, and out enjoyment of our prized C-Dorys much more constrained without this shared knowledge and friendship.
Thanks for your comments, and I hope this is helpful to all. Joe.
