New C-Dory Owner

D

ddenver

New member
The main reason I am writing this post is to just say hello and introduce ourselves.

Based on comments of neighbors - one who formerly owned a 22' Angler - I started looking at the C-Dory's. After silently lurking on this website for perhaps six months we finally made the decision. We wound up purchasing a 23' Venture at the recent SBS (Seattle Boat Show).

My wife and I are about as new to boating as one can get. We wound up chartering a much larger boat (43' Ocean Alexander) out of Anacortes along w/ another couple for one week this past summer. Other then the week chartering and other rare excursions aboard boats belonging to others we are total neophytes.

I am a SCUBA diver (so is my wife - but only in warm tropical waters) so will be using the boat primarily for occasional diving and - hopefully - frequent 'camping' excursions in the PNW waters.

Anyway, it will likely be another month or so before we pickup the boat to give us time to handle related logistics. In the meantime, we have various issues to resolve as far as equipping the boat.

One of the issues my wife is very concerned about is whether we should opt for a single or double burner Wallas stove/heater (the 23' currently has a butane stove I believe). Any input as to other's preference between the two options would be most welcome.

Since she does the vast majority of the cooking (I make a mean PB&J sandwich and have been known to boil an egg very infrequently) the cooking related side of this issue is mostly pertinent to her. However; I would appreciate any input as to the heating capabilities of a single vs. a dual burner.

Tanks for any comments. Anxious to eventually get our feet wet (so to speak) and looking forward to eventually trying to attend a Puget sound area CBGT.

Dan and Tanya Denver
Quilcene, WA.
 
Of more consideration up here in the Puget Sound area is the heat capability of the Wallas. I have had the two burner Wallas both on my 22 and now on the 25. I find I cook more than half the time using a butane single burner stove. The butane is immediate heat and fast for cooking. The wallas works just fine, however it takes ten minutes to heat up to cook with and then more time to cool off. As a space heater it does an adequate job in heating the cabin. If I was going to do it over again I think I would opt for the Wallas space heater and a single burner cook top.

Welcome to the boating world and C-Brats site. You are more than welcome and encouraged to join any of the CBGT's coming up. The next one is at Friday Harbor in May. I think something like 30 boats are signed up so far. See at the top of the home page under events to read about it and others.
 
Hi there, and welcome to the group. Sounds like you're getting a nice boat!

I really recommend the two burner Wallas, as it gives you a couple of options due to the different temps on the two burners. There's a lot more heat control, plus you can have more than one dish going. A side benefit is being able to put an Ecofan on the cooler burner to distribute heat around the cabin. The Ecofan makes its own electricity from the heat of the burner, so you don't have the draw on the house battery like you would with the lid down and Wallas fan (noisy) going.

I hope to see you at some of the gatherings.

Kind Regards,

Steve
 
Congrats!!!! Nice Boat

I live in Alaska and do a lot of boating in PWS and from Seward. I gotta tell you, I love the wallas. But, unlike the other folks here that complain about it being slow and I agree that it is, I almost never get to turn mine off. Because of this, and as you can imagine, a hot stove heats up pretty fast. Once it heats up (10 minutes or so) it is a really nice stove to cook on.
 
Another plug for Wallas. Here on Chesapeake we don't get the Alaska weather, but the Wallas cerainly has handled any heating needs i have..including being on the boat when outside temp is 23F.
I have no problem with the cooking aspect. I find that while it is heating up, i am doing prep...and the cooking time is not a burden to me...with clever moving around, the two burners are more than adequate.

I have had only one problem since 2005 and that was a fuse. I do always start it on the highest number, and also fore cool down keep it on 6. I mostly start it with the engine running, unless i'm at a dock and can use shore power.
I have a backup electric heater for dock use.

terraplane
 
Welcome, you are going to LOVE this boat!

I think I agree with David, if we were doing it over we would go for a Wallas or Webasto forced air heater and cook on a butane stove - the two burner Wallas is adequate as a heater but a dedicated forced air heater is better and you can put the heat where you need it most. The Wallas is overkill for boiling your coffee water, and using the Wallas for cooking on hot days (yes, Jim, we actually have a couple of those somewhere around July 29th!) heats the cabin up too much. We have a dandy little folding Coleman propane stove that we use in the cockpit to boil coffee water or cook on when we don't want to fire up the Wallas.

PICT0041.jpg

One other thing nobody has mentioned - while you are waiting for delivery, take the Power Squadron or Coast Guard Auxiliary boating safety course - this should be considered essential not optional by me! You can always recognize the people out there who have NOT taken the course.
 
On Pats note about taking a good boating class. Our USCG Flotilla will be presenting a Boating Safety and Seamanship class this fall in Anacortes.

BS&S course will again
be offered evenings in the
fall, 22 September through 6
November. Course fee is
again $45.00. The Senior
Center has already been reserved.
 
I vote for the two burner Wallas. We have cooked with it in both Lake Powell and in Florida--with windows open and fans (or air conditioner) it is fine.

The 2 burner gives you more flexability in heat. The hottest burner will be the one on the left--the one on the right will always be cooler, so there is a bit of a pot shuffle.

I happen to have an adversion to the protable propane/butane stoves, because a friend of mine was badly burned by the seals on one failing.
Plus the danger of carbon monoxide in the cabin. Outside they are fine.
I have not used the forced air Wallas, but have used other diesel heaters and like any one which circulates air or water, better than the fixed point heater--but we use fans with the Wallas--the only area it does not heat adequately is the foot of the V berth--so that is what good sleeping bags and warm sox are for!.

Congratulations on the purchase.
 
Hi Dan,

Congrats on the new boat. We looked at the 23 Venture at the SBS and were quite impressed.

We use a two burner Wallas and give it a thumbs up. It heats the TC cabin well and is fine for cooking. It does take a few minutes to warm up though.

We're just up the road from you in Sequim. E-mail or PM me if I can be of any help. All the best,
 
We greatly appreciate the input from all of you. Based on what we are hearing I believe we will strive for the Wallas double-burner. It was also a much appreciated heads-up on the Ecofan.

I would assume many also use small outside BBQ's mounted in the cockpit for outdoor grilling when the weather is nice. Or is such activity to be avoided on a smaller gas powered boat?

As I said the responses were greatly appreciated by all of you. Additionally, as we slowly gain our sea legs and get out on the water and are checking out the local area hopefully we will have an opportunity to meet nearby C-Dory owners like Dreamer (Sequim is indeed very close by) and others.

Thataway.... appreciate the feedback. I sent you a personal e-mail way back in November in response to a thread titled "Open Ocean Suitability Comments Elaboration". Your helpful response was one of the factors that convinced me that the C-Dory would be fine - even knowing the limitations you discussed - for our needs.

As many others continuously note, the C-Brats website is an incredible resource for obtaining input on all aspects of boating knowledge.

Tanks again for your input.

Dan and Tanya Denver
 
Dan and Tanya, on my 22 Cruiser, I had one of the round Magma grills that I hung over the side when cooking. It was mounted on a swing arm and only needed a little socket to mount. It stayed forward in the v-berth when not in use. I kept the small propane tanks in the lazarette that did not have the batteries in it.

On the TC255, I just purchased one of the Magma Newport square grills which will mount on the 1 1/8" stern rail, and stay there with a cover on it.

Nothing (much) beats a good meal off the grill! Wouldn't try it underway though.

Welcome to the site and the "family".

Charlie
 
Dan and Tanya, and "Howdy Neighbors"
You are enjoying the feed back. Great. Really want to open the closet door ask which anchor is best or which electronics system. So every one has their opinions and good reasons for it. That is what makes this place so much fun and so worth while.

I would submit that the Wallas 2 burner will do great. We use ours for 90 percent of our cooking and 100% of our heating. I say something at the SBS that no one else has mentioned. Usually the wallas is mounted with both burners equidistant from the front edge of the cabinet, so the long axis of the Wallas is parallel to the midline of the boat. I saw one with it rotated 90 degrees, so that the long axis was perpendicular to the midline and front of the cabinet. It was mounted that way and aft on the counter giving about 6-8 inches of clear counter space between the sink and the forward edge of the Wallas. OH Boy, both my wife and I liked that. :thup :thup Don't think it would hinder the Wallas function in any way, but it gives an extra ~1.5 square feet of counter space.

And I would agree that a Boating safety class should be at the TOP of your priority list right now. Coast Guard Auxiliary or US Power Squadron, but for sure it will be worth both your time, $$ and effort.

Check the calender under the events listings, I think Jarrell Cove is up before Friday Harbor. We are planning on going down for that and would be happy to buddy along. Also, if you are headed up to Friday Harbor, it a great launch from John Wayne marine here in Sequim. I think there will be several boats leaving from here.

Glad to have you aboard, Congratulations on the new boat. Now don't be strangers.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
Harvey on Sleepy C,

I have indeed read some of the "what's the best anchor" dialogs. Interesting stuff - as are so many other topics - to a new and completely overwhelmed boater. The vast array of topics covered as well as the often differing opinions allow one to spend quite a bit of time on this website.

As to your suggestion - and that of others - to signup for a boating course, fate smiled down upon us and I stumbled across a flyer for an 8 hour intro USCG course on a nearby bulletin board. They are offering it at the end of March in Port Townsend over a weekend (Sat & Sun) as opposed to one day a week over the course of multiple weeks. This will fit in great since I am still suffering thru the curse of working for a living and windup traveling every few weeks for business (got to support our new and greatly cash intensive habit!).

Your comments on the positioning of the two burner Wallas you and your wife saw at the SBS greatly picqued our interest. Was the cover of the Wallas mounted in the traditional clam shell fashion opening from the front of the counter to the rear (hinged at the rear)? Or did this 90-degree staggered configuration require the cover being mounted differently (such as hinged to the right - aft side of the boat) resulting in opening left-to-right?

It will likely be the latter part of March before we actually pickup the boat so I am not sure if we will have developed a sufficient initial comfort level to strike out for the mentioned Jarrell Cove gathering. Once again the curse of work - and my travel schedule - will inhibit our learning curve.

Hopefully, if not this event we can strike out for a later C-Brats gathering to meet other C-Dory owners down the road.

Does John Wayne marina allow folks launching to leave their tow rigs and boat trailer there for an extended time period? If so that is great to know since there seems to be few if any such options available at the local boat launches we have stumbled across.

Tanks again for the feedback.

Dan & Tanya
 
Dan said:
Your comments on the positioning of the two burner Wallas you and your wife saw at the SBS greatly picqued our interest. Was the cover of the Wallas mounted in the traditional clam shell fashion opening from the front of the counter to the rear (hinged at the rear)? Or did this 90-degree staggered configuration require the cover being mounted differently (such as hinged to the right - aft side of the boat) resulting in opening left-to-right?
Click to expand...

The whole stove, (including the hinged cover) was rotated 90 clockwise and the cover raised to the right, so that it came up, parallel to the aft cabin wall.


It will likely be the latter part of March before we actually pickup the boat so I am not sure if we will have developed a sufficient initial comfort level to strike out for the mentioned Jarrell Cove gathering. Once again the curse of work - and my travel schedule - will inhibit our learning curve.
Click to expand...

Dan and Tanya, everybody gets to do a first time CBGT, and we all were first time boaters at some point. Some of us, (myself included), are relatively new to power boats, and I understand the hesitation. You are welcome anytime. I recommended this one because I thought it might be an easy, (read not have to cross the Strait), for a first time out gathering.

Does John Wayne marina allow folks launching to leave their tow rigs and boat trailer there for an extended time period? If so that is great to know since there seems to be few if any such options available at the local boat launches we have stumbled across.
Click to expand...

Parking at JWM is pretty good. Yes, it is possible to park for extended time but need to check in with the harbormaster office. Launch fee was 7.50/day last year. I haven't been out yet this year, but there is also a annual launch fee, which is about $40 January to January which is worth it if you plan on coming up very much. That is the way we did it.

Good luck on finding all the set up stuff, and if you have questions this is a great place to come to. :thup :thup

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

[/quote]
 
We launch at John Wayne (and kept our Cal 46 there for 3 winters)--when we are in the PNW. We buy a yearly pass, rather than have to worry about daily fees. If you park long term, they seem to prefer that you use the South parking area--across from the RV park--and South of the Marina slips. We have friends in Sequim and leave the rig at our place if we are going to be gone a long time. We usually had no security problems, but one summer, we had the RV stored just up the road from the Marina and it was broken into, vandalized and burglarized. The local police seemed to believe it was some boys from the Tacoma area. Unfortunately there was a handgun which was stolen...We never had anything stolen out of the parking lot or boat in the Marina--but I would not leave anything valuable in the car or truck.
 
After seemingly waiting forever with a lot of time spent preparing (obviously - as you will see below - not enough!), and visiting, talking, and exchanging e-mails w/ the dealer (Master Marine in Mt. Vernon, WA), and numerous C-Brats we finally have a boat at home in the driveway.

Regrettably, although it will eventually provide us much more pleasure when it is in the water, it will seemingly be doomed to looking good in the driveway for a while longer!

It seems like a couple of trees will need to be removed to enable us to get the boat out of the loop driveway. It made it in going around the loop in one direction, but to enable it to exit going out the other direction (angles and other trees prohibit going out the same direction we came in) we might need to take out a tree or two. Our home locale is heavily forested. Obviously, I should have planned this aspect out better but the shear size of the rig (truck and trailer) is beyond my initial comprehension.

We picked up our new 23' Venture on Saturday from the folks at Master Marine. We got there real early and spent most of the day w/ them including a "get acquainted" intro cruise on a local lake. Although Brian Taliaferro (the sales guy we originally were dealing w/ and who has posted a few times on the C-Brats site) recently left Master Marine to accept a civilian contracting position w/ the U.S. military, we were taken very good care of by the co-owner Dick Carpenter, Jerry (an extremely knowledgable gentleman who did much of the rigging), and Rob (new salesman who recently joined Master Marine).

We then towed our new boat from Mt. Vernon, south on I5, across the Tacoma Narrows bridge, and home to the Quilcene area. I am sure for folks w/ towing experience such trips are somewhat trivial, but having no previous towing experience this was a fairly intimidating experience.

Pulling the trailer - which w/ the truck and outboard overhang is pretty close to 50' - was pretty unnerving. From Mt. Vernon to our home took us almost 5 hours not including time we spent stopped to get something to eat We stopped to grab something to eat and just getting into and out of a parking lot and parking the truck and trailer (across about 7 parking spaces in the far back side of a Walmart parking lot near the restaurant) was a major undertaking. Later, we had to stop and get gas …I almost got stuck in the gas station lot (I need QUITE a bit more practice backing up and maneuvering!!) …thank god they had a public rest-room for our use at the gas station (I know too much information!) or we never would have stopped again on the way home.

Driving down I5 – being a multi-lane major highway – we stayed in the far right lane since we were one of the slower vehicles. This was real nerve wracking w/ the myriad last minute zig-zaggers flying over into our lane to take an exit at the last minute and also because of all the construction around the Seattle area resulting in concrete barriers immediately on the right lane w/ little or no real shoulder. The many close-in concrete barriers resulted in frequent visions of scraping the side of the boat as we passed the numerous roadwork areas.

I chose to drive all the way around taking the Tacoma Narrows bridge as opposed to getting on a ferry (I thought that would be a bit daunting towing for the 1st time in addition to being extremely pricey). Anyway, we finally got home about 2045 – in the dark – and managed to get the boat parked in the driveway. I waited until daylight Sunday AM to actually back it into its desired spot.

At the earlier suggestion of numerous extremely helpful C-Brats we are signed up for a USCG safety course this coming weekend in Port Townsend so combined w/ my work-related travel schedule and the fact that we have yet to get any electronics installed (which might seemingly be done by a very experienced boating neighbor) I do not even know when we might try getting the boat in the water (assuming we can someday get it out of the driveway)!

One aspect of the boat purchase that absolutely dumbfounded me was to find there is absolutely no C-Dory factory provided instructions and/or manual. Heck, even a cup of coffee purchased at McDonald's has the requisite warning about hot liquids on it! Unbelievable that in this day and age w/ such a litigious society an item which cost as much as a new boat has ZERO boat specific documentation. I had seen manuals for other C-Dory boats on their website (I have no idea just how good they are) so I assumed there would be such a thing available for the newer Venture series.

Anyway, I wanted to once again thank the many folks on this site for their patient answers to my newbie queries. Hopefully, we will eventually see and meet many of you that operate in the Puget Sound area out on the water or in future CBGT's.

Take care,
Dan & Tanya
 
Dan,

Congratulations! The venture 23 is becoming a popular boat and I'm sure you'll love being on the water. We've all been there with the trailer panic so don't feel alone or foolish at all. Suggest you spend as much time with the rigger as possible and find out how things were done on your boat. Being able to know what fuse goes with what circuit is really helpful same for the various filters, steering cables, etc. Just ask other Venture owners for information. It's a new boat so the knowledge base is just building but this site has some real experts who can answer just about any question you might have.

We've stayed at the now burned down Quilcene hotel and enjoyed the area. If you can do it make an effort to get to the Friday Harbor Get Together. Thats a great way to meet people and see other boats.
 
Congrats on getting the new boat home!

I can understand the frustration about the owner's manual - or lack thereof. Our boat also came without a manual, but one was later made available for download off the factory site. Because most of these boats are rigged by dealers, there isn't a lot of standardization and the manual is somewhat generic. Since the V23 is a new product, it might be a while for a manual. Download one of the other models, 22 or 25, and it will give you some information that will transfer. Also know that you can ask questions here - there is a wealth of experience with the owners, and I've found them always willing to share information and ideas.

Exciting times ahead!

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
Hi Dan

We found ourselves with boat parking problems due to "other toys", height of C 19 cabin roof and a curved driveway. Then - lo and behold - on this website where somebody else needed something - we spotted a POWER HITCH. Now with a little help from a full charge group 27 battery - we can walk the boat around where evey we want it with just one finger. Google "power hitch" They're neat.

Congratulations on the new boat. Hope you get it in the water soon.

Marcia
 
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