C-Dory Aesthetics vs. Functionality - which is it?

W

Wood Zeppelin

New member
I'm interested in honest self-assessment here... Do you love your C-Dory because of how it looks, or how it works? Because of the "Feel" of it, or because of the more practical considerations?

I will start by saying, for me is aesthetics. I ruled out all other boats because I just didn't like the "look" of them as much. Then I discovered this website, and that sealed the deal.

But of course, all things lie on a spectrum, so to be more specific I'd say I'm 70% A, 30%F.

Feel free to respond with you "percentage" as well...
 
I ‘m totally guilty of loving my boat. I will not apologize for it or belittle anyone who really loves Lakes , boats and fun with friends and family ……..what’s not to like or love?
It’s a combo of form and function and a long relationship that I would have difficulty explaining to someone who is indifferent.

Cheers!
Chris
 
Not an owner yet, but drawn to them because they look like what a small power boat should look like. In other words the archetype.

Just as our Seaward 25 looked like what a sailboat should look like.

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My wife likes it because it is "cute". She's the one that pointed us to them. I like it because it is a no nonsense utilitarian boat that ticks most of the boxes of what I want in a boat.

If our needs change or we find a different boat that fits even better, I'll be just as happy to have that boat instead.
 
I love my CD 16... whether it loves me back... I doubt it. BUT she does "talk" to me. Aesthetically, if it didn't appeal to me, I wouldn't want it and I wouldn't want it if it wasn't functional, so I'll go 50/50. But... shhhh... don't tell her...
 
I Love my C-dory for many reasons, the way it looks is a bonus. It is very economical, easy to maintain, and holds its value very well. Many serious offshore fishermen have referred to my boat as "a cute little bath tub toy", but when I see them 45 miles offshore, I am always sure to point out my boat is as bloody and as full of tuna, as they're 25' tin can gas guzzler's.

I have obsessively researched everything imaginable about boats while being stuck on graveyard for 5 years of my life. My conclusion was and still is the C-Dory is the most versatile, best all around option for everything I could ever want to do with a boat. Some days it is a work boat fishing for halibut, and the next day it may be a family sunset cruising bay or river boat. I often wonder, why don't they just make all boats like a C-Dory?
 
Wood: Great question! I think for me my percentage is 60% function and 40% aesthetics.

Here's the way I found C Dory and C Brats. I remember doing a Google search for "smallest pilothouse boat" or something like that. C Dory came up and I've been hooked ever since ! I wanted a small pilothouse boat and that's C Dorys bread and butter.

The functionality factor is through the roof with this brand. They are just jammed packed with amazing features. That's why I decided to stay with CD for my current bigger boat purchase. I looked at Easterns, Steigercraft and Seaway. The 25 was bursting at the seams with big boat creature comforts and features....although I must say, I really liked the Eastern 27. Nice boat....


Then the 40% part. C DORYS are pretty damn unique and a real headturner. Especially in New England. They are super rare. I love the looks of them!
 
Wood Zeppelin":2yxgpjz3 said:
I'm interested in honest self-assessment here... Do you love your C-Dory because of how it looks, or how it works? Because of the "Feel" of it, or because of the more practical considerations?
Click to expand...




YES!


:wink:
 
what drew me to the C-Dory was its looks. it just looked like the boat I was thinking of in my dream state.....lol....
but now that I have had 4 of them I can tell you that it is the functionality of these boats that makes me keep them.
it is the best I have been in for shrimping and fishing.
 
I can't pull into a gas station, pass through a lock, or even drive down the road, without someone asking about my boat. 70 MPH, I had a guy in a Corvette pull up along side me on I10, signal me to roll down my window, and ask me where he could buy such a boat (gave him your name, Mark). I like the salty look, but the versatility and ease of customization is the real draw.

I call it my Jeep. I can explore the marshy shallows in the morning, and run 30 miles out in the Gulf to fish the oil rigs at noon. Key West in spring. Lake Powell in the Fall.

I can easily add solar panels, refrigerator, storage compartments, whatever I want to make it my boat. If I don't like something, I change it. If that doesn't work, I change it again. The interior is plywood secured to the deck with "L" brackets. One could easily gut the whole thing and rebuild it to their own liking. My boat is always a works-in-progress.
 
I got stopped by the water police recently. One cop was all business writing me a ticket. The other one spent the time asking me a lot of questions about my 22' cruiser.
 
50-50. As Roger said, the looks attract you, the functionality makes you want to keep it forever. I'm considering how much a grave site would cost to be buried in it... just kidding.

I always get asked how fact will she go (usually anchored at a harbor)... I generally answer that I have to keep cleaning the bugs off my radome!
 
We saw our first C-Dory in 1982 at Bridge Bay Marina on Yellowstone Lake & if not in love we were sure infatuated at first sight. 21 years past before the time was right for us to make a boat purchase of anything larger than a canoe or RIB. By this time, I was 55 years old & with neither of us having CD22 size boating experience, yet knowing we wanted to explore remote areas where conditions & available help wouldn't be readily available, needed a boat with lots of forgiveness built in. Before purchasing we checked out all the similar cabin cruisers available with function overriding looks as we viewed our options. As ignorant as we were at the time it still didn't take long to figure out for us, the CD 22 out shown the competition for our needs. From that first learning season in 2003, where we trailered up to Skagway, Alaska & explored down the Lynn Canal & around the Juneau area, many of the isolated uncharted large lakes in the Yukon, & finally a very remote 400 mile run on the Yukon River, left no doubt to us we had made a great choice. Now after 18,000 miles on the water & 70 some thousand miles towing it, I can say as much as we appreciate the look, that ranks very low in comparison to where we've been able to go safely & in relative comfort in the CD22. There's many eye appealing boats to chose from In the 22 foot category, but none I would have preferred over our CD22 to venture where we have been.

Jay
 
I saw my first C-Dory, a 22' Angler, in 1980 in Cabo San lucas, Baja Sur, Mexico. The owner fished offshore for Yellow Fin Tuna, Wahoo and Dorado. He said he also had another 22' Angler that he kept in Petersburg, Alaska, and that he fished there for Salmon and Halibut. Summers in Alaska and Winters in Mexico. I vowed that one day i would also have a C-Dory 22'. I bought the first, a used '84 Angler in 1990, then a 24' Tomcat in 2003. Traded the 24' for a 255 TomCat in 2005. Bought and sold a 22' Angler in 2012. We have had the 255 TomCat for almost 11 years. No plans to change boats, but at the point the 255 TomCat is too much boat, I turned 70 last week, we will go back to another 22' C-Dory or 23' Venture. I like the looks, but the ease of use, simplicty and economy are the best features. Like Hunkydory, we have towed C-Dories for at least 70,000 miles. Had one blow out and one locked up caliper in all those miles.
 
There is a parallel thread with a VW bus going right now. The commonality is simplicity & ease of use. I’ve been contemplating or philosophizing a bit about life and boats a bit of late. I look at the life my kids have and I am glad I’m retired and “over the hill.” Regarding our boats, the basic design is quite similar and you see it in several brands. I consider the CD 22 the first generation. The Venture 23 is the 2nd generation, and the CD-25 or the Cutwater (of any size) the 3rd generation. Each generation has added something and by the time you get to the 3rd generation quite a bit has been added and quite a bit of “simplicity” has been lost. The simplicity, the ease of use, the confidence that you will get it home without resorting to professional help is, to me, the key. I think the success of the C-Brats site occurs for the same reasons. The boat is something that we, the user, can work on, ask for advice and find a cure that we the boater can make happen. Any other boat and you just take it to a shop, pay a few boat bucks and hope for the best.
 
Tough question to answer. I've known about semi-dorys and Oregon dorys since the `70s when I was an editor on the National Fisherman magazine and learned those were used by smart commercial fishermen in all kinds of weather.

A C-Dory is a semi-dory. If it were flat bottomed the whole length and had a finely tapered stern, it would be a plain ol' dory with a house.

Knowing the type is a great seaworthy craft, practical, simple, and easily driven, the esthetics were automatically mighty appealing. In a way it did look to me at first like a big bathtub toy, a little cartoonish (thank gawd it didn't have a little stack and Tug in its name - I would've dismissed it). Closer study makes clear it is well thought-out, every line counts and contributes to the wholesome whole, its construction in keeping.

I've never thought practical dictated ugly in anything. Form indeed follows function and little art need be added for our viewing pleasure. Pretence ruins it for some of us. The C-Dory designer got it right.

No matter how nice it looks, if it doesn't work well I don't want it, so our boats' function is the more important, its looks a natural by-product. They're intertwined well in C-Dorys which is why we named ours what it is - the Ticket.
 
Well YES, and its gotta be 100% in each category. I loved the PNW looks from the first time I saw one, and since I have had SleepyC, I have learned that it (never got around to calling my boat the feminine pronouns) would take care of me if I took care of it. I have, and it has. And sometimes I get bothered by all the interruptions at the gas stations because I think they want me out of the way, but then I realize that the ones that are asking me the questions are often the ones waiting in line behind me. If they hadn't wanted to talk about my boat, they would have gone into another pump line.

I like the simple, basic boat function with the elegant, salty lines and believe me, when I have water rolling up the foredeck and it splits at the doghouse curve and that bow pops up out of the wave, it feels as good as a hug.

Yes, I love the aesthetics and the functionality.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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My 16 is pretty emotional for me, based on what it allows for me. I have a genetic disease that has made walking very difficult but not enough to keep me out of the boat. I back packed all my life and took great pleasure always finding new ways to improve weight reduction and comfort. I also toured and raced bicycles until I flopped over at a stop sign because I couldnt get my feet out of the clips fast enough. All the amenities I can bring on board make my Cruiser a back pac with a 50hp. I call it camping in Switzerland, not roughing it at all but luxury camping for sure. When I'm underway on plane my disability totally disolves. I'm traveling enough on the east coast ICW that when and if I can no longer ride my electric scooter all the marinas I have stayed at know me and I'm sure they will help me out in the future. Hell everybody likes to give crippled people a hand. Bad Ass wonderful boat thats for sure :love
 
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