C Dory history

R

rstinge1

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Joined
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C Dory Year
2008
C Dory Model
255 Tomcat
Hull Identification Number
CD025514B808
Vessel Name
Catfish
Brats: For those who want a slice of C Dory history, pick up a copy of River-Horse by William Least Heat-Moon. Across America by boat in a 1995 C Dory 22 Cruiser.
Bob
 
rstinge1":13mj0jpi said:
Brats: For those who want a slice of C Dory history, pick up a copy of River-Horse by William Least Heat-Moon. Across America by boat in a 1995 C Dory 22 Cruiser.
Bob
Click to expand...

Pick up a thesaurus as well.
 
ssobol":20p0gt84 said:
rstinge1":20p0gt84 said:
Brats: For those who want a slice of C Dory history, pick up a copy of River-Horse by William Least Heat-Moon. Across America by boat in a 1995 C Dory 22 Cruiser.
Bob
Click to expand...

Pick up a thesaurus as well.
Click to expand...

A dictionary... a lot of 50 cent words in River Horse. Not really a history of C-Dory, though.
 
"River Horse" is an interesting read, in that it is an example of taking an outboard powered boat from the Atlantic to the pacific across America (OK a powered Canoe and kayak did port of the 'voyage" , with minimal portage. The seamanship is somewhat lacking at times. "Blue Highways" is also interesting, but suffers from the same issues that "River Horse" does.

I agree that it is a book all C Brats should read. It is also full of geography and some history. We followed part of the route one summer when we followed the route of Lewis and Clark in our RV as part of my grandkids "American History, on the Road" experience.
 
I read it years ago, before we knew anyone else who owned or had experience with a C-Dory boat. There wasn’t a C-Brat site at that time & here in Wyoming, no other information about them to be had other then a simple factory brochure. We had that brochure for 20 years before finally making the purchase of our CD22, 18 years ago. When we found the book in our small town library & saw it was about a C-Dory boat, I starting reading with much anticipation. Yes, there is history, geography & River travel involving a C-Dory, but with it came to much pompous high octane drivel for me. Other opinions will vary. Riverhorse has been discussed several times here in the past with reviews seemingly very positive or negative with not much middle ground.

Jay
 
In Riverhorse, the choice of a C-Dory was fairly serendipitous and not really a boat that was sought out. The C-Dory is incidental to the story. Quite a lot of other boats would have worked too. There are some parts of the journey that were completed in other types of boats.

The story in Riverhorse is a travelogue of river travel and the sights encountered. It is only incidentally about boats and not really about C-Dorys.
 
I had read some of the negative comments here, but with such an amazing adventure, and with a C-Dory, how could I not love this book? Well, it took some doing, but the author managed to convince me to not bother finishing the book, or to ever bother reading anything else by him.
It is hard to convey just how much I came to dislike him in those pages.
 
Some years ago there was a German documentary film maker on here posting his adventures going up river on his 22 footer in the Yukon or NWT I think it was.I do remeber that Lake Athabaska was involved. I really did enjoy following him day to day . At the end of his journey he sold the boat up there and returned to Germany. Hopefully somebody can point me to it again.
 
dotnmarty":s7wvs7jw said:
Some years ago there was a German documentary film maker on here posting his adventures going up river on his 22 footer in the Yukon or NWT I think it was.I do remeber that Lake Athabaska was involved. I really did enjoy following him day to day . At the end of his journey he sold the boat up there and returned to Germany. Hopefully somebody can point me to it again.
Click to expand...

Marty, that was ORCA & wonderful following along while his adventure lasted.

This all I can find of it now at least so far.

http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?t= ... sc&start=0

Jay
 
Ouch.
 
Hmmm...I really liked River Horse, enjoyed his writing, including the honesty of his lack of planning, and didn't find WHLM to be the "perfect bore" at all.

While we're talking books that include C-Dorys, I'll throw in a recommend for "Arctic Solitaire" by Paul Sounders about his quest for the "perfect bear" (Polar Bear pictures) in a 22 Cruiser on Hudson Bay. The planning logistics of Paul's trips is unreal and a tribute to the forgiving nature of C-Dories. Great pictures and not too many big words.

Both these guys had double motors, and apparently needed them.

From some down under authors "America's Great Loop, Aussie Style" in a 25 Cruiser is also interesting, though the Aussie's quest seems primarily for the "perfect beer".

Does anyone else have C-Dory titles to share?
 
Hunkydory":15kksnxz said:
dotnmarty":15kksnxz said:
Some years ago there was a German documentary film maker on here posting his adventures going up river on his 22 footer in the Yukon or NWT I think it was.I do remeber that Lake Athabaska was involved. I really did enjoy following him day to day . At the end of his journey he sold the boat up there and returned to Germany. Hopefully somebody can point me to it again.
Click to expand...

Marty, that was ORCA & wonderful following along while his adventure lasted.

This all I can find of it now at least so far.

http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?t= ... sc&start=0

Jay
Click to expand...
Thanks Jay. That link lead to this one; https://www.long-expeditions.com/2007-N ... n/The-Boat
 
Overlooked by some could be the many written cruise accounts all with C-Dory boats, including feed back with question answered. These are the many accumulated in the Grand Adventure Forum. There are many hours of good reading stored here. I, every winter read back through many of them including my own & find my self enjoying them year after year, while re booting my knowledge of different types & places boated in C Dory boats. Winter has already arrived here in Wyoming & my reading the last month or so has been a combination, Grand Adventure Forum reading & so far re reading 11 books out of my collection about the mountain man era of the Rocky Mountains & the 50 years following it. I seldom ever watch TV.

Jay
 
I also read River Horse before I knew anything about C-Dory. The fact that it was a C-Dory didn't really catch my attention. What did was a blog about a couple boaterhoming the West Coast in a C-Dory. I think it may even have been a CD 16. The idea of travelling up the BC coast a bit at a time, with occasional stops at high lakes and missing all the nasty parts, appealed to me. I figured that there was a reason coastal charts had place names that sounded like Cape Death and Point Pitchpole. Now that I've done a fair bit of similar travel it would be interesting to find that blog again.

One of the most interesting parts of River Horse was the upper Missouri, i.e., the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument. Motor boats are now limited on much of it, but limited to certain days of the week. I went through the planning stage finding a put-in as high as I thought possible for a CD 16 and then going down river (several hundred miles) to the Fort Peck reservoir dam, where there is a little marina. Across the road from the marina is a small airport. I contacted the airport to see about flying back to my put-in. Nobody there had a license to carry passengers (or wanted to risk their crop duster license) and arranging an outside plane to come in for private flight was more expensive than a round trip to Europe.

It is still a possibility. It wouldn't be the first time that I hitch-hiked back to a put-in.

Mark
 
Mark, we had made plans to do this same stretch of the Missouri River, but pre C-Dory. We drove the dirt roads to where the Judith River meets the Missouri & camped there with later going to Fort Benton. We were going to do it in a 12.5 inflatable with 18 hp 4 stroke Nissan motor. The same combination, we later explored rivers & lakes in British Columbia & Yukon & Northwest Territory. What stopped us was the regulations for the time periods, when powered boats could be used on this area of the river. Not being able to do it switched our attention to the further north Canadian waters & Alaska. The draw to the Missouri Breaks for us had nothing to do with Riverhorse, but rather the descriptions of the area from accounts during the Lewis & Clark Expedition.

Jay
 
One can also learn a lot from the discussions on here.

Just reading though this short thread I learned that the Missouri Breaks is more than just a name of a movie (a good movie, by the way). The pictures online show it to be a beautiful and fascinating area.

The reference to Point Pitchpole also got me to look up Pole Pass in the SJ Islands to see why it was called Pole Pass. I went through through it a few times. The first time I was following Catman when he still had Bambina, and the other times on my own but heeding his warnings and advice from the previous trip.

Here is what I learned here:

"Approximately 75 yards wide, Pole Pass received its name because Native Americans used to string a net made of kelp and cedar bark between a pole and a tree on opposite sides of the channel to catch flying sea birds."

I'll keep watching this discussion to see what else I learn.
 
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