Mark Toland
New member
Hi everyone
My name is Mark Toland and I am the president of C-Dory Inc., the company that developed the C-Dory line of boats and built them until October of 2000. Boats built by C-Dory Inc. have the DOR prefix to their
serial numbers.
I have been following the discussion on the manufacture of C-Dory boats and feel that too many "rumors" are being circulated so I must speak up and inform the members of this group as to what I sold to The C-Dory Marine Company and what I did not sell them.
When I placed the company up for sale I offered the stock of the company for a specified price. Purchasing the company's stock would have given the buyer ALL assets of the company. Scot Reynolds and his father did not want to buy all assets of the company so they offered a partial assets sale where only some of the C-Dory Inc. assets would be sold at a reduced price. This left the original company still in existence with many assets and few liabilities.
What I sold them was listed on the sales agreement and bill of sale as follows:
"Purchaser hereby agrees to purchase and seller agrees to sell business
fixtures and equipment, (list attached hereto as exhibit 'A' and by
reference
incorporated herein), leasehold improvements, inventory and supplies, trade
name, covenant not to compete, phone and fax numbers, and goodwill of the
business known as C-Dory located at 25028 Pacific Highway South, Kent
Washington 98032" and then added by pen and initialed was the line "Sale includes
all rights to the trade name 'Tomcat.' "
Exhibit "A" showed that only the molds for the following models were sold:
Row boats 10' 12' & 16'
Open skiffs 14' & 17'
14', 16' and 19' Angler, 16' Cruiser, 22' Cruiser, 24' Tomcat
It is the understanding of C-Dory, Inc. that these are the only C-Dory Inc. designs that C-Dory Mariner Inc. has production rights to. Not sold were design rights of any of the other models developed by C-Dory Inc over the years. These remained the property of C-Dory Inc. The only restriction to the use of this property was that C-Dory Inc could not compete within 150 miles of the original factory location. C-Dory Inc could have moved to Spokane and produced the same models purchased by C-Dory Marine Inc. Or it could have sold the design rights to others to produce anywhere.
Over the past five years since the sale to C-Dory Marine Inc. I have sold all of the remaining assets of the original C Dory Inc. company including the design rights to all C-Dory Inc. models not sold to C-Dory Marine, Inc. Some of these assets, including design rights, were purchased by Cape Cruiser Boats.
We honored our non-compete agreement. Other than selling assets and honoring warranties, C-Dory Inc. has had no dealings of any kind in the marine industry during the past five years, nor have any of its stockholders.
Not stockholders in C-Dory Inc were my brother Ben Toland and my father Roy Toland, designers of the C-Dory Inc. line. Like most companies C-Dory Inc used outside help to design new models. All of their designs have common elements that give that salty look, whether they were for me, themselves or others. When I acquired a design from the designers I was not entitled to the look exclusively, just the design of the version I was going to produce. Neither did C-Dory Marine, Inc. purchase any exclusive right to the C-Dory look. It was never mine to sell.
The design that has become known as the 23' Cape Cruiser was designed by Ben Toland. It represents a cumulative effort to convert "user comment" from over 30 years of experience. Ben didn't just say one day this is how it should be designed. The boat design evolved over 20 years until someone wanted to use it. The hull is a variant of the excellent C-Dory Inc. 26' "V" hull design, which was not purchased by C-Dory Marine, Inc.
A major difference between the C-Dory 22' design and the Cape Cruiser 23' design is the way the boat naturally trims out. The C-Dory was designed over 20 years ago before the four stroke motors became available. It was designed to trim naturally with a 250 lb motor and 36 gallons of fuel. Today's most popular motor packages are much heavier and boats with these packages carry a lot more fuel. The 22' was a great hull design and could be updated easily to handle the added weight.
There has been a lot of debate about how to react to the Cape Cruiser which was also designed by Ben Toland. The way I see it you should consider the "designer lineage" of the boat as much as its maker. After all there is already a difference as to whether your boat was built by the original C-Dory Inc. company or by the company that has built them these past five years. A little competition is good and a little variety is even better. Buy the one that suits your tastes and needs and have fun with it.
C-Dory Inc. will be folding its tent soon and will quietly fade away. It's been five years now since I retired from the marine industry and I don't miss the smell of fiberglass at all. If asked I may help out the guys at Cape Cruiser in some small way but they are talented and seasoned professionals that know their business so there would be little I could offer.
Mark Toland
My name is Mark Toland and I am the president of C-Dory Inc., the company that developed the C-Dory line of boats and built them until October of 2000. Boats built by C-Dory Inc. have the DOR prefix to their
serial numbers.
I have been following the discussion on the manufacture of C-Dory boats and feel that too many "rumors" are being circulated so I must speak up and inform the members of this group as to what I sold to The C-Dory Marine Company and what I did not sell them.
When I placed the company up for sale I offered the stock of the company for a specified price. Purchasing the company's stock would have given the buyer ALL assets of the company. Scot Reynolds and his father did not want to buy all assets of the company so they offered a partial assets sale where only some of the C-Dory Inc. assets would be sold at a reduced price. This left the original company still in existence with many assets and few liabilities.
What I sold them was listed on the sales agreement and bill of sale as follows:
"Purchaser hereby agrees to purchase and seller agrees to sell business
fixtures and equipment, (list attached hereto as exhibit 'A' and by
reference
incorporated herein), leasehold improvements, inventory and supplies, trade
name, covenant not to compete, phone and fax numbers, and goodwill of the
business known as C-Dory located at 25028 Pacific Highway South, Kent
Washington 98032" and then added by pen and initialed was the line "Sale includes
all rights to the trade name 'Tomcat.' "
Exhibit "A" showed that only the molds for the following models were sold:
Row boats 10' 12' & 16'
Open skiffs 14' & 17'
14', 16' and 19' Angler, 16' Cruiser, 22' Cruiser, 24' Tomcat
It is the understanding of C-Dory, Inc. that these are the only C-Dory Inc. designs that C-Dory Mariner Inc. has production rights to. Not sold were design rights of any of the other models developed by C-Dory Inc over the years. These remained the property of C-Dory Inc. The only restriction to the use of this property was that C-Dory Inc could not compete within 150 miles of the original factory location. C-Dory Inc could have moved to Spokane and produced the same models purchased by C-Dory Marine Inc. Or it could have sold the design rights to others to produce anywhere.
Over the past five years since the sale to C-Dory Marine Inc. I have sold all of the remaining assets of the original C Dory Inc. company including the design rights to all C-Dory Inc. models not sold to C-Dory Marine, Inc. Some of these assets, including design rights, were purchased by Cape Cruiser Boats.
We honored our non-compete agreement. Other than selling assets and honoring warranties, C-Dory Inc. has had no dealings of any kind in the marine industry during the past five years, nor have any of its stockholders.
Not stockholders in C-Dory Inc were my brother Ben Toland and my father Roy Toland, designers of the C-Dory Inc. line. Like most companies C-Dory Inc used outside help to design new models. All of their designs have common elements that give that salty look, whether they were for me, themselves or others. When I acquired a design from the designers I was not entitled to the look exclusively, just the design of the version I was going to produce. Neither did C-Dory Marine, Inc. purchase any exclusive right to the C-Dory look. It was never mine to sell.
The design that has become known as the 23' Cape Cruiser was designed by Ben Toland. It represents a cumulative effort to convert "user comment" from over 30 years of experience. Ben didn't just say one day this is how it should be designed. The boat design evolved over 20 years until someone wanted to use it. The hull is a variant of the excellent C-Dory Inc. 26' "V" hull design, which was not purchased by C-Dory Marine, Inc.
A major difference between the C-Dory 22' design and the Cape Cruiser 23' design is the way the boat naturally trims out. The C-Dory was designed over 20 years ago before the four stroke motors became available. It was designed to trim naturally with a 250 lb motor and 36 gallons of fuel. Today's most popular motor packages are much heavier and boats with these packages carry a lot more fuel. The 22' was a great hull design and could be updated easily to handle the added weight.
There has been a lot of debate about how to react to the Cape Cruiser which was also designed by Ben Toland. The way I see it you should consider the "designer lineage" of the boat as much as its maker. After all there is already a difference as to whether your boat was built by the original C-Dory Inc. company or by the company that has built them these past five years. A little competition is good and a little variety is even better. Buy the one that suits your tastes and needs and have fun with it.
C-Dory Inc. will be folding its tent soon and will quietly fade away. It's been five years now since I retired from the marine industry and I don't miss the smell of fiberglass at all. If asked I may help out the guys at Cape Cruiser in some small way but they are talented and seasoned professionals that know their business so there would be little I could offer.
Mark Toland
