If I remember it correctly, the original "Classic" CD-22 was a spartan fishing boat designed to fish for salmon and also serve as a utility fishing boat in Puget Sound and beyond in the PNW. Marben Marine, the original manufacturer also built quite a few commercial fishing boats, some of which were custom designs and quite a bit larger than the Classic 22.
In 1987, two redesigned interiors, one being the Cruiser and the other the Angler, were brought forth, along with a change from the traditional flat bottomed dory hull to a shallow v semi-v hull. These two boats and their various offspring of different sizes persist in production today, and thus our C-Dorys do, indeed, have fishing included as a part of their original design heritage.
If you could magically make a combination chart and show how a great number of design, engineering, cost, utility, aesthetic, and, yes, even fun factors all function and, magically, find a common "sweet spot" right in the middle, where all the inevitable trade-offs reach their maximum values, that's where you'd find the C-Dory!
No other boat we know of offers so much in one common package, period!
Not only that, but when it comes time to trade up or in, that same package shines in the resale department.
I love to fish, cruise, explore, and stay overnight on my CD-22 Cruiser, and even enjoy "boater-homing" with it in campgrounds on dry land. I've got three boats ranging from 22 to 27 feet, each with a purpose, but the CD-22 will be the one I'll keep until the very end.
If you wife likes to go out with you, you may want to move up to the CD-25 for the included private bathroom and extra space, but otherwise, the C-Dorys are very similar.
The CD-22 has ben likened to the VW Camper in the RV/auto world, and the similarities are indeed very much true. Sometimes simple is better, and sometimes less is more!
Want to bet on a sure thing? Lay your chips down on a C-Dory!
Joe. :teeth :thup