C-Dory

I'm checking out 22' C-Dory boats and looking at the transom/motor well I'm wondering how they perform in a following sea.

 

dories ride really well from what i have found out
but quite a narrow beam

if only two of you ideal

3 or more guys go with a bigger beam boat ....
trust me on this one ....
and then the fun begins as finding a 9'+-10' beam boat is not that common
more in the 24' -28' range

 

I would look at the 19-22' Arima boats
8' beam , nice boats !

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/arimaboatownersgroup/viewtopic.php?t=2638

 

Alumaman: I fished with a guy who had a 22 foot C-Dory years ago. The boat is fine if you are fishing protected waters with light seas. His boat would do 44 mph with twin 50 hp. motors and 22 mph with just one running if I remember correctly. This boat would obviously be very fuel efficient under calm/low sea conditions.

The trade off with the quite flat bottom hull comes when you try to ride into a choppy sea. We had the 22 C-Dory at Bamfield many years ago and tried to cross to Swale Rock for a late afternoon fish when the wind was up. We got really pounded in the boat (I still remember it well) and I think we aborted the run across the sound and fished Kirby Point instead. I would not recommend the boat for running offshore unless it was calm and was going to stay that way.

...Rob

 

Depends on the size of the following sea. A friend spent a few days in a smaller Sea Dory. Pretty scary in the JDF strait.

 

They are "corky" so they ride up higher than most boats. I have not ridden in one myself but almost bought one before the Sculpin. I just couldn't get over the need for speed and horsepower thing. I may build one similar in aluminum when I am ready to slow down lol.
I have researched them quite a bit and they are great little boats. Cbrats is probably the best online boating forum going. They are very fuel efficient. They had some poster at a boat show that said a 22 made it from Seattle to Vancouver and back on a tank of fuel. They are the Volkswagon bus of the sea .

 

Great 22' Arima hull on Craigslist Seattle. Slap new power on it and you'll be laughing.

I'm currently thinking about making an offer on a C-dory. I may give up extreme fishing, but I don't know how much fishing DFO will let me do in the future anyways!

 

Well here she go's but this isnt the second happiest day of my life. The hunt for a replacement has started. I don't want to go much bigger than a 20-22' hardtop glass boat. All things considered I didn't do to bad selling her in the middle of winter. The new owner should be happy, its a great lake boat.

 

Love it, man spends 5X more on a boat in the dead of winter then he does on a truck! Congrats, now try and enjoy the hunt.

PS on the larger C-Dory every one I look at is on a trailer that won't allow you to legally keep anything in the boat while towing it. Between, hull weight, gas and outboards they are maxed out, much less adding a couple cannon balls, down riggers and beer!

 

You dont want to be out in a c-dory in rough weather..VERY lightly built with a flat bottom.

Friend "had" the 22'
Great cruiser in protected(calm) waters..very economical to run

imo these boats are not built for shitty off shore days that we get so very often on the west coast

 

Someone I know that used to have one called it the canoe

 

I think they have a single hull that will flex in rough water. That wouldn't instill any confidence in a boat. I'll switch gears and look for something else.

 

Balsa sandwiched between fiberglass..hence their light weight
and yes you can see/feel it flexing when in rough stuff

 

If it was a good way to build boats I would think more people would copy them. Certainly nothing proprietary about a flat bottom, lightly built, underpowered boat.

 

I considered building one of these Spira International Dorys http://www.spirainternational.com/hp_sitk.php
And doing research on them found the guys will ballast them with a couple thousand pounds of extra weight in the bottom to improve seaworthiness.

 

Other big issue not mentioned about C-Dory in here yet is the rounded chine hull design. Most sport fishing boats have a hard chine (Its like a square edge to the hull where the side and bottom of the hull meet). This is designed to "catch" water as the boat rolls and dampen and slow the rolling process. C-Dorys with their round chine and short draft, flat bottoms roll like a sick pig.

 

Ever check out a Tolman Jumbo? There are a couple on the island including one being rigged up near courtenay as we speak. Nice boats to build if you have time and space!

 

I'm cheap lol, it's a stick and glue and uses more expensive epoxy. Spira uses 2 X 4's and exterior fir plywood, more like building a garden shed. Actually I have become less partial to work lol!

 

I've fished on a friend's 22 and I like the boat. Lots of features in a small package. Never been in any conditions that are really rough. You absolutely must know how to use the trim tabs to keep the bow down and cut the chop.

Interestingly, the trim tabs are not properly mounted on his boat as they are below the hull and drag even when fully retracted. Don't know if that's a factory or dealer screw up.

 

slivo used to take his out daily to big bank, 17' !! lol . they are safe corky boats. dont need too much power to push them.