New owners (hopefully) with a couple questions

B

Bob&Alicia

New member
My wife and I hope to close on a 2007 C-Dory 25 next weekend. The admiral made sure I wired money into her boat buying account this week to make sure she was ready. I have a few questions and I have searched the forum but I am still a little unsure. Just some quick background. We had a trailerable MacGregor 26X sailboat (50HP outboard) that we hauled all over FL from our home in Athens GA. She was a great Camper on the water but neither a great motorboat nor sailboat. We spend our weekends on Lake Lanier on a 1988 Catalina 34 sailboat and have gotten into racing larger sailboats and chartering sailboats. With that said we really really miss being able to spend time in the Keys, NE FL coast, Panhandle/Gulf. It is much easier to get to your cruising grounds at 60MPH on a trailer than to sail there. At this stage of life, mid 40’s, we would like to be able to travel 300 miles in a day vs a week and then see the water sites.
I have a giant spreadsheet on trailerable boats that we might want to buy. One of the driving factors for the C-Dory was this site. Both our MacGregor and our Catalina have very very active owner’s sites. I try to explain to friends how valuable this is to your boating experience. I wanted to let the folks involved in keeping this site active know that, at least in our case, it drives buying decisions.
Our questions:
1) Several boat broker sites/brochures list the boat as about 4,000lb with boat/trailer/motor. From what I gleam from this site it is closer to 8k. This is a big difference. I have a 1995 Dodge 1500 with 5.9Ltr engine, towing trans and radiator, and 75k miles. Specs in owner’s manual are:
GVWR 6,400
GCWR 12,500
Max Trailer Weight 8,100
GAWR Rear 3,800
GAWR Front 3,650

We will be towing with a trailer with rollers and Kodiak Hydraulic Disc Brakes. From what I can tell we will be at our towing limits. We are towing from FL to GA. The hills don’t really start until about 60 miles from home and they are NOT mountains just hill country. Does this seem like something that is doable or am I way off? This may not be our long-term tow vehicle but it is all I have right now.

2) Securing the boat: We tied our Macgregor down with a large yellow 3” tow strap athwartship across the bow and across the stern. This is the strap you see on big truck loads. We used the small 1” straps as a secondary bow eye strap and on the transom. The boat had a much lighter engine. Do I need to put some kind of brace on the engine? I had a 2x4 that once I raised the engine for towing I lowered it an inch into the horizontal 2x4 that had a safety tether incase it bounced out. Seems like a lot of weight on the back and something would need to be done. I see listing for Transom Savers that seem to attach to the trailer and go to the shaft of the motor.

We plan on bringing her back to Lake Lanier for a few months so we can get use to her and how to operate her. Also, so that our sailing friends can give us crap.

Thanks
Bob and Alicia
 
The hitch is bolted to the frame and not the bumper. Has about a 2" square hole that you put the ball assembly into. The hitch bar is about 24 inches. The hitch has a tag that says "Weight Distributing 10,000 lbs" and "Weight Carrying 5,000 lbs" and "Max Tongue Weight Distributing 10,000 and carrying 500"
 
I once had a Cape Dory 25 sloop at Snug Harbor on Lanier. Great to have you on board.

You may be confusing the CD22 with the CD25 as for weight. It is pretty much agreed that the CD22 w trailer and gear weighs about 4,500 lbs. Don't know what the 25 weighs.

There is much discussion how best to block up the motor while transporting. I use a modified 2X6, much as you described. Others use qizmos that hook from the foot of the motor to the trailer. They all do about the same thing.

You will probably get a lot of advise about tow vehicles. Yours seems adequate. I used to tow my T-Craft 25 w twin 140 hp IOs, with a Ford LTD, Woodstock to Key West and back, twice a year, and never had a problem.

C Dories are great boats and the C-Brats are great folks. Though still not announced, there should be another gathering in Appalachicola in October. Hope to see you there. Good luck.
 
Bob, Alicia, and Petey Pirate,

Welcome to a really great site, as you already know and attested to. As you will find, many of us here are (are were), sailors at some time in our lives. AS you mentioned, trailer boating opens new areas, and expands the cruising grounds considerably.

I believe the weights you mention are a combination of 22 and 25 weights. The 22 Cruiser will be in the 4000 - 4500 pound range. The 25 is going to be closer to 6-7000 (IIRC). My 22 Cruiser hits 5000# trailered, on the scale. You will probably get more accurate 25 info form a current owner.

Best,

Harvey
SleepyC:moon

1_10_2012_from_Canon_961.highlight.jpg
 
OF course, if you really want to know get it weighed. A truck scale will do it, or maybe the town dump (if they're not busy).
 
Just weighed my 2011 CD-25 a few weeks ago. On a aluminum trailer the total weight with 100 gallons of gas, 30 water and loaded for a few days on the water the total was 7,900 lbs. When I towed it from Virginia to Wisconsin it probably weighed 900 lbs less. No problem towing with my 2012 f-150 Eco boost...9600 lbs tow capacity. Will be towing it to Florida next week stopping at the Mississippi C-brat gathering then to lake Lanier for 4 or 5 days to visit relatives.
 
I was just looking at the C-Dory web site and this is what they put down for weight. "Average towing weight is 4800 lbs. (boat, motor, trailer and fuel)"

What a joke! Sure wish the factory would put down some honest numbers!

That said we love our C-Dory.......but glad I weighed mine...be safe.

Tom
 
Here is a weight analysis of a 2005 C-Dory 25, Journey On. It's on a galvanized roller trailer.

Boat_Weight.jpg

So here's what I have. The boat and trailer weighed 8000 lbs, with minimal fuel and water. The boat in the water ready for cruising, still with minimal gas and water was 6000 lbs. Stripping out all the cruising stuff, etc but with the boat equipment such as the fridge, batteries, navigation gear, as described weighed 5000 lbs. All up cruising, fuel, water, people, bedding, etc. runs about 7400 lbs.

Aluminum trailers don't weigh 800 lbs, no matter what the mfg claims, but you can save 300-400 lbs over an all steel trailer.

Any American truck V-8 will tow a C-Dory 25. We use a 3/4 ton F-250.

I use a trucker webbing strap over the rear. Works well. The normal C-Dory trailer has a cable/webbing winch which will hold the bow down. I used this setup on both a Catalina 22 and 25 sailboats.

Boris
 
Bob&Alicia":1mv4jccx said:
The hitch is bolted to the frame and not the bumper. Has about a 2" square hole that you put the ball assembly into. The hitch bar is about 24 inches. The hitch has a tag that says "Weight Distributing 10,000 lbs" and "Weight Carrying 5,000 lbs" and "Max Tongue Weight Distributing 10,000 and carrying 500"
Click to expand...

Hello Bob,

Your hitch has not been addressed. That is the weak link in your set up to tow a CD25.

In the standard set up, you will be towing in the "weight carrying" mode. The hydraulic surge brakes will not work properly with a weight distributing set-up. You may be over the 500# tongue weight too.

Look around, you will find hitch platforms and tow bars rated for higher "weight carrying" limits to suit your needs.

Based on the carrying limits of your hitch, it sounds like a class 3. Try looking for a class 4 hitch, it will probably have suitable "weight carrying" capacity.

This is a safety issue. You don't want your hitch to fail.

Since you will be towing near the capacity of your truck's specs, consider converting your trailer to Electric-over-hydraulic brakes. It will make stopping your loaded trailer much easier and more predictable.

dave
 
Thanks everybody for the reply. Just as I got started getting ready for our trip this weekend I hurt my neck somehow. On the mend but it was not comfortable sitting and typing.
I checked where I got the weight for the boat, trailer, and motor and it was in a PDF of the Fluid Marine C-Dory 25 brochure. I guess they had one of those “trailers” for pushing a boat around the yard and a trolling motor to get such low weight specs. Oh well.
I spoke with the local trailer guy and he recommended that I increase the receiver and ball to a higher class. Felt the hitch was “do-able” but take it easy. I plan on taking out the 3 batteries, the window AC, dump the water, remove deck chairs, anchor/chain/rode, and anything else that is easily removed. Figure I can remove about 200 lbs or so.
Fuel: I like to travel with 0 fuel. It has a Racor filter so I will bring a ¼ npt end hose with bulb. In the past I have siphoned this from a boat into the tow vehicle but could push a hose into the tank. Not sure I can do that on the C-Dory. I am hoping it is sitting on “E” and I don’t have 50 gallons of fuel to pump over. I think gas is about 6lbs per gallon. If anybody has a suggestion on how to remove the fuel I would like to hear.
Planning on hauling to Sunrise Cove Marina FKA Snug Harbor on Lake Lanier and keep it there for a few months. They, of course, are delighted to rent me slip in the off season. Somehow the gossip that we have moved to power boats and will not be racing on a sailboat this season has started to make the rounds. The race boats skipper has called, emailed, and texted my wife and I in the last 24 hrs. I don’t think they get how cool it is to trailer a boat to other parts of the country. Until you do it I don’t think you get how cool it is.
Just finished digging out all of our trailering stuff out of the garage. Spare towing lights, straps, grease gun, tools. Getting excited.
 
When we're coming home, I syphon the gas out of Journey On. Stick a 1/4" hose down the fill and go for it. Gas weighs 6.3#/gas. More important, when you dump it into the truck, you're saving $3/gal. At 8 mi/gal for the truck, it all adds up.

The brochure must have a bare hull and a 2 stroke outboard. That's the only way they can get those weights. Also, when you look at the factory/Honda gas mileage, remember that's a stripped boat, and a C-Dory 25 is sensitive to weight.

We had a Catalina 36, Our Journey, took it to Tahiti, Alaska and then trailered it and did the Great Loop. Trailered it back to LA. Then we got a real trailer boat, Journey On. Here's a couple of sailboat pics: Journey On. Look on the RH side of the page.

Boris
 
Boris,
I’ll definitely bring some ¼ hose to further reduce the weight. No need to use gas to haul some more gas. Didn’t know if the deck fill had too much of a bend to get the hose in or not. I a bulb on the ¼ hose should do it. I try to avoid sucking on the end.
Love you website and pictures. The Catalina is a great boat. You always hear about Hunters/Bene/Juneau and not Catalina. I race on a really fast Hunter 355 but in a blow our Catalina will just hunker down and take it. Not as fast as some of the Hunters but more room and handles a blow.
 
Water and fuel are the heaviest of any one item that we carry on our boats. However, keep in mind that tow capacities are everything you are towing and putting in the bed/cab of the pick up. One might think that you could load down the bed of the pick up with the stuff in the boat and decrease your tow weight to meet manufactures specs. Don't be fooled into this thinking. Also tow capacities includes the people you hull. A Dodge with a healthy V8, tranny cooler, and appropriate hitch will hull it just fine. Easiest way to help the towing is to check your gear ratios. Cheap to get a shop to re-gear and really makes towing that much more enjoyable. Specially if the truck is a work horse.
 
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