New Boat Purchase

dchurch3

New member
I am considering the purchase of a C-Dory and weighing the differences between the 22 and 25 besides $. I welcome any thougths this group might have.

Also I plan to mostly boat in Puget Sound including the San Jauns. How do these boats do in 2-3 foot chop?
 
My bride liked the 25 because of the head with shower. We also like the size of the cabin and cockpit. I think the 25 even though a little bigger is still a 2 person boat for overnighters unless it is family. On the chop going slow works. That seems to be the final word anytime the question is asked and I haven't found any different. Love these boats !
 
Hi Dave,

You'll probably get a lot of opinions about these boats. Both are great. For us, it came down to the room. The volume in the 25 is much larger than 3' would have you believe - the extra foot of beam really makes a difference. We can pass by each other in the aisle. We can seat 4 in the cabin comfortably. More storage. The extra weight (inertia) and waterline of the 25 is going to make it more solid feeling in chop. That stuff you hear about a "$30k head" really isn't accurate (although the price difference is).

Having said that, it certainly isn't like the 22 is a lesser boat. Some don't want or need the extra room (and the bigger tow vehicle that is necessary). It all comes down to how you will use your boat.

Your best bet, of course, would be to get a ride on each. We rode in a 22 and knew it would be great. We spend a lot of time aboard... felt the 25 was a better fit for our usage.

Good luck with your decision.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
We have owned both (plus the TC 255). The CD 22 was a little cramped for us--especially getting in and out of the V berth.

I agree with Jeff, the head and shower are definately worth while, and with Jim on the overall room being more than 3 feet.

BUT--the beauty of the CD 22 is that is is so easy to trailer! It is close to half of the weight of the CD 25 (when loaded on the trailer) and it is very close to being as seaworthy.

You cannot go wrong with either. Agree be sure and ride on both--just don't ride on the Tom Cat...
 
Dave --
We have lived on our 22' for most of the past seven years. As Jim and Bob stated, which of the two sizes to choose depends on your use of the boat and your ability to adjust to small size. We find the ease of handling the small boat, ease of launching and retrieving, ease of trailering, simplicity of a porta potty instead of the (often) finickly marine toilet, the lower fuel use, and the ease of a solar shower or a shower at a marina to fit our use best. We like to trailer all over the place and don't want the size and weight of the boat to restrict us. Frankly, we were looking for the smallest, best-built, trailerable boat that we could be comfortable to live aboard. We found it with the 22' and wouldn't swap for anything larger.

For the past month and a half we have been cruising the San Juans and are now in Puget Sound (tonight anchored outside of Poulsbo). We have had one solar shower and all the other showers ashore in marinas (the one tonight in Poulsbo Marina was clean as a whistle and cost 25 cents). We have dumped the porta potty twice at convenient easy-to use dump stations (available all over this area). We have launched and retrieved three times with simplicity and have anchored every night in beautiful coves far up toward the head of the coves where other larger boats 'fear to tread.'

But -- as others have said -- the choice you are considering is between two very fine boats -- you can't go wrong, in our opinion. Good luck.
 
Dave
My wife and I purchased a 22' for many of the same reasons as Bill and El.
While we do a fair amount of cruising in the south sound, I spend almost every Sunday out in the ocean out of Westport. I love the way the 22' handle the swells and the rough chop that blows up almost every day.
I still have a 22' boston whaler outrage cutty cab I'm sure I will sell.
When we bought the c-dory I wasn't sure it would be all that great on the ocean. I was wrong.
If you can come up to Bellingham this next weekend I'd be glad to take you out for a test drive. It looks like there will be 40 or so C- dorys there
for you to look at, you might even get some 25 owner to take you for a ride. Good luck on your boat hunt, and hope to see you in Bellingham.
 
Dave – you have enough good advice from all the previous post, so I will not repeat it. However, I would like to welcome you to this great site and the C-Brat community.

Hope to some day cross paths with you on the water.

Good luck in your boat search.

________
Dave dlt.gif
 
What everyone else said! We have owned both. We loved the CD22. We REALLY love the CD25, for pretty much the reasons mentioned above - extra elbow room and extra amenities. It does come at the extra initial cost, the extra weight - and something not mentioned I think - lower fuel economy. But to steal from another thread, the CD25 we are finding to be "the perfect boat" for us! Come to Bellingham this weekend, get a ride on each - you will quickly understand what everyone is saying. One or the other is going to grab you, and not let you go until you own it!
 
One decision we had to make was simply whether we wanted to spend the
money on a CD-25 or could we make do with a 22. A 25 is nearly double
the cost of a 22, particularly if you take into account the needed tow
vehicle and trailer. An F-150 will easily tow a CD-22, perhaps even a
midsize truck would. But, a CD-25 really should have an F-250.
A trailer for a CD-22 was about $2,000 (single axel). A CD-25
trailer was closer to $5,000, I think.

So, sure a CD-25 with a head and all would have been nice.
But, fuel economy with the CD-22 is great...it's nice to take
multiple trips without filling up, and when you do fill up, it's less than
$100. And I already owned an F-150 with the larger 5.4L motor,
which easily tows the CD-22.

Bottom line: success. We enjoy the CD-22 a great deal. It is fun to
drive, and fun to ride on. But, if you want to day cruise for a distance
with four adults, it's a bit tight. But doable. You get to know everyone
well...which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

We went through some nasty wind driven chop this past weekend
on the Chesapeake. Sure, we had to slow down, but never less than
15 mph. That would have been an expensive, slamming trip on a
30' Searay. It was fun on the C-Dory and the fuel economy was
only slightly less than flat water. (I was hovering around 3.8 mpg,
normally we break 4.0 mpg) Bonnie fell asleep sitting in the stern
with her head on the gunnel, so obviously I wasn't pounding too
hard!

Oh, and don't forget the $100 airconditioner option for the CD-22.
Highly recommended if it gets hot where you boat.

Mike
 
Back
Top