Jay makes a great point here - the fact that the boat can handle ugly stuff, but what happens in the boat when you do. The water noise is something you get used to, but it is really disconcerting at first... a completely different experience from a sailboat. Without knowing what motorsailor you have, I'll assume your helm is in the cockpit. When the weather/waves get ugly, you get wet. That was our experience on our sailboats, YMMV. You are further back in the boat, so the experience of going up a wave is different - you feel the pitch, but the view up ahead isn't all sky. :wink: In the C-Dory, you stay dry at the helm; out of the wet and cold or cooking in the sun. You sit much further forward, so you feel the pitch of the boat more, especially so with the boat being smaller. In bigger waves, you work the throttle and steering more than with your motorsailor. And then there's the sound of the water... similar to what you'd hear in the v-berth of your motorsailor while underway, except you hear it everywhere in the cabin of the C-Dory. It's not bad, just different. The first time you go through some "interesting" conditions, that sound becomes reassuring.
We kept a small sailboat the first two years of owning our C-Dory. I could still say I was a sailor. 8) We finally sold the catboat because it just sat. I'll admit this - I miss sailing. I miss pulling up that mainsail and feeling it fill with wind. I miss the different motion of a good performing sailboat. And the fact that you still have steerage, even with the motor in neutral. A few things I don't miss: the work of pulling up the mainsail. :wink: Handling the jib when tacking up a narrow channel. Being out in the weather at the helm... getting wet, cold, hot, sunburned. Not making much progress when working against tide and current. Not being able to get under bridges to see the interesting stuff on the other side.
There are trade-offs. The C-Dory is a lightweight boat compared to a motorsailor. The motion is different. The first time we got into ugly conditions and my wife asked, "Are we OK?" I had to answer, "I sure hope so." She doesn't ask that anymore... she knows the boat can handle the conditions and we don't go out looking for heavy weather. We have the speed to work around that in most situations. The light weight of the boat is also part of what makes it sea-worthy... it rides up and over following waves. In the first few months of ownership, you find yourself saying, "Well, that was different" a lot. The motion at anchor is different. Being able to beach the boat is different. Being able to pull the boat easily on and off a trailer so you can take this boat to the great cruising areas at the best times is different. Having a 360º view out the cabin windows is different. Firing up a quiet outboard and cruising along at 15 knots is different. Not having storage in cockpit lazarettes is different. Being able to anchor in 2 feet of water is different. Laughing at the rain while you sit in the dry cabin with the windshield wipers running is different.
I now get my sailing entertainment by sailing on OPB (other peoples' boats). Last month, we were cruisiing on the Trent-Severn Waterway. After transiting 9 locks in one day, we were both tired. 6 of those locks were the "historical" locks; smaller and more turbulent while going up. After handling those lines all day, Joan said to me, "My hands ache. It feels like I've been sailing all day." :wink: A very accurate description.
The only way to know if you will like the differences is to try it. See if you can snag a ride on one of these boats. Folks who have been on this forum for 5 years or more can attest to the angst I went through during my "discovery" stage of getting a C-Dory. I still refer to Wild Blue as a powercruiser with a sailing sensibility.
Good luck with your decisions. Feel free to ask questions here; this group is very open about all aspects of these boats.
Best wishes,
Jim B.
