C-Dory

The bottom two pictures describe the 16' (approx.) C-Dory 16 Cruiser. Based on these simple line drawings, does this boat look seaworthy, meaning you could get home without more than a few bruises from rocking in 3-4 foot seas with 20 kt. winds? It's fiberglass, self-bailing with a hardtop and cuddy.

 

Helloooooooo!?! 20 views no responses, anyone have ideas thoughts etc.?

 

What kind of response were you looking for? It's a nice llooking boat. Depending on the construction, it might handle it. A well built boat in the hands of an unskilled skipper can drown him as surely as a poorly built boat in the hands of a good skipper. I wouldn't go LOOKING for four foot seas in that boat.

 

You can't LOOK for the seas, but if they come, you'd want to know you can survive them. I saw construction photos, it's hand-laid (no chopper guns) fiberglass. Seems solid.

 

Mackid068

You should read a boat called "River Horse" by Least Heat Moon. It's the story of Moon's trip across America by the rivers, from the east coast in New Jersey to the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon. He used a C-Dory 24. The boat held up well, the engines needed a number of propellers along the way. Overall, everything held up well.

Eric

 

'Scuse me, that's "book", not boat.

Eric

 

I heard about that book. I ought to get to reading it when my schedule permits.

 

OK, there is so little response that my small experience may be of some use. My experience is with the 22 footer, not the 16 but, surely the 22 is more seaworthy of the two.

River Horse was a 22, not a 24, and survived the cross country voyage in spite of poor boat management and short attention span of Mr Moon. I have both the book and audio tape.

The C Dorys are small boats for their lengths and are very tender as are all lightly loaded dorys. With such a narrow bottom, the crew needs to be aware of their positions to maintain good ballance. I will recount one instance of running downwind in moderate waves with three crew aboard. I was at the helm and the owner and daughter sifted position such that the boat heeled over while a wave picked up the stern. The boat lay over on one highly flaired side and refused to come back up. She seemed to be very stable in this condition which was not a good situation. I finally got the boat back on its feet by cutting the throttle when normally, in other boats, I would have just steered out of the problem with maybe a small bump of throttle. Checking the C Dory owner's website showed that others find this same situation.

You mentioned self draining. The 22 does not have a self draining cockpit and I expect that what you are referring to is the ad copy which talks about the ease of washing the boat out on a trailer with a hose. The ad man makes a serious deficiency sound good. Berths on the 22 are minimal sized and would likely be even smaller on the 16. Headroom is available for a 6 footer only in the center of the 22 and even a short crew can not stand directly behind the wheel. Foreward visibility is very limited on both boats because of the small windows and high bow.

You probably guess that I'm not a fan of dorys. That is not true when they are used in a way that best suits their nature. They are good load carriers but only at displacement speeds. The narrow bottom and flared sides make them very seaworthy when loaded but tippy and figidity when light. The 22 is described as a very efficient boat that planes at low speed. Not so. the small bottom and consequent high bottom loading (lbs per sq ft) makes the boat go through the usual high bow - big wake regime before getting up on plane. The dealers insist on equipping with a 90 hp engine because they know the boat does not plane out well with a 50 when loaded. They also insist of putting in an otherwise useless 100lbs of chain in the forepeak to help get that bow down.

Of course most dorys are flat bottom and the C Dorys are nearly so with some V near the bow but they will still pound more than the usual V or modified V hull.

This experience comes mostly from a local friend who owns a 22 which he likes in spite of these, and other problems, because there is just about nothing on the commercial market in competition with C Dory. It's a salty looking boat that draws favorable comment everywhere. There are lots of boats in the 16 foot range that I'd look at before the C Dory though. One that comes to mind is the Arima which I have had out is some rough conditions and find it much better behaved. Just my opinions but, hey, they are free.

 

I'm surprised that no one commented on my remarks about the C Dory.

Yesterday I was working on our race committee boat next to the local launch ramp when an almost new C Dory 22 was being launched. I walked over for a looksee and was taken up short when I saw a big 115HP outboard on the transom. Having handled this boat with a 90HP outboard, I felt that 115 was pushing the safety envelope. The couple with the boat did not appear very experienced and as they moved out into the river into a brisk wind of 20+ MPH, I wondered just how safe this combination might be. I've no doubt that an experenced driver could handle it, but too much power in maneuvers in waves can be a disaster in the wrong hands.

Hope they got back OK.

 

I agree Tom. C-Dory (company site) says: "Maximum power is 100Hp. The recommended 70 Hp will push the boat with a 1000 Lb. load to 28 M.P.H. Generally you will find 15 to 20 M.P.H. to be most comfortable. The boat planes quickly ( 9-10 M.P.H. ) and without the bow rising high obstructing vision ahead."

 

I definitely agree with your comments. I once went for a sea trial with a collegue in a 15' boat. She started chine walking at 70mph. I nearly had to clean out my shorts.

 

70 Mph? maybe 30...

 

A 15' boat with a 225Hp DP leg outboard will get up to 70mph (prop walking with the leg trimmed up slightly). As I said, I wouldn't recommend it.

We knew it was doing close to 70mph because we had a radar gun tracking it.