The good and the oh-so bad.

starcrafttom":2lr22rsk said:
With glass you will have to thru bolt the fiberglass and have the bolts showing on the out side of the cabinet.
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I have seen this misconception before in this thread. Wood mouting blocks can be fastened to the inside of uneven glass surfaces with Bostik urethanes or 3M 5200 or 4200. The tricky part is holding the piece in place while the urethane cures. Duct tape works. So does celophane packing tape about 2 inches wide. The job is done in two stages. First you put the adhesive on the block but keep it away from the edges. Set the block on the fiberglass and tape in place. After it has cured, a bead can be caulked up around the edges to make a neat joint that fills the gaps. After curing this is strong. When I was looking for a boat before buying my CD25 I went to Maine and visited a number of builders of Downeast glass hulls. Some had fiberglass houses and hulls and teak interiors. Guess what? The interiors except for glassed in structural bulkheads are glued in with Bostick. The urethane has some advantage also since it makes up for the different rates of thermal expansion between the wood and the fiberglass.

That being said, I did not like the molded interior of the Cape Cruiser and love the look and solid feel of my Decraguard interior with teak trim.
 
Wow! Miss a few days and look at all the info there is to catch up on! :) Now I'm even more excited to go the boat show and see for myself all these changes.

One thing I do know for sure is that the factory guys really do want to provide the absolute best product that they can, and that they care more than we can possibly imagine about what we are saying on this site. So here's to a fun factory party where we will see for ourselved how much they care about us (and our humble opinions).

the Janet half of
 
Thanks for the analogy. I never looked at it like that. I guess if the new CD is going to change the world like the transistor did, it has to be good. My great-grandkids will be typing on C-Brats using computers having millions of fiberglass boat interiors one day!

I'm done now. I will look it over at the SBS and the improvements made to the setup Tom saw will make it look just fine, I'm sure.

But please, afford me enough respect to recognize that I am not one to complain simply because something changes and I am not one who wishes nothing would ever change. The new TC looks a little different, and if I recall I took the helm of that bandwagon on here for a while. But don't be looking for me to jump enthusiastically into the discussions about how we can work fiberglass now that the wood is gone. I don't have one and I don't want one.
 
flagold":3b3h0ikk said:
On the bright side, a whole bunch of boats just became "classics."
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And mine became a double-classic because it has the original wood grain! What do you call that? Heritage? Vintage? Antique? Junk?
 
Hi Tom sure like to look at your pictures. I to am relocating my stove and sink . Here a tip my new table top and counter will be SS , it is cheap and easy to get custom build by a sheet metal chop. All you got to do is make patterns with all openings Voila . You end up with a surface that will outlast the hull ,and all moulding interior and will look good. If you install your downriggers where mine are, you will love it .Make sure you install them so when you put them up the tip will miss the canvas. I have the swivel base, it is a must. I am also thinking of raising them 6'' with Scotty base to make more room for a higher cooler.Hope to see you out there one of this day.


Gary & Sharon
 
Gary, nice to hear from you again. I wish i could get up there for some shrimping. Hows the fishing up your way. I am designing a bait cutting table with downrigger mounts like yours incorporated into the design. my problem is that I don't weld and maybe making bad design choices because of it. I have redrawn it many times.
 
Adeline":1lbbs3ed said:
I just got back from the PBS and posted 13 pictures starting here http://www.c-brats.com/modules.php?set_ ... _photo.php .
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OK -- they say they're fixing the port side of the mould to raise the seats and fix the table -- other than that, really doesn't look like a big deal to me. I prefer the old setup because it gives more storage -- and I can see that, because I store a microwave and bunch of other stuff in the water-tank compartment. It's still livable, functional though, and if this keeps the price down, they'll sell.
 
I'm not sure it provides less storage with the molded in cabinetry -- our rear dinette seat has tiny (pretty useless) storage because of the water tank -- they've cut doors into the seat storage areas...what we are getting ready to do on the Barber chair because it's a pain trying to get the seat cushions off to get to the storage...and with the Barber chair, we lost storage (about 4-6") in the bottom because the chair has to slide back and forth...probably makes up for the permanent cut out to reverse the new chair...just my observations :)

Are the cabinet doors decraguard or glass?

Caty
 
I must say it looks different than I had expected from people's evaluation of it. I can see that the pedestal table/ barber seat needs to be redesigned a bit, but aesthetically, I think the new interior looks pretty sharp. Very clean lines, solid looking. Wood trim, etc. This would definitly not prevent me from buying one if I was buying new. I would want the Barber chair more along the lines of what I have in my 2006, and a different table setup. But overall from the pics I would say I am actually impressed with the molded interior, And would trade my decraguard cabinets in if possible for those new fangled fiberglass jobs once they addressed the passenger side at least. I wonder if it is molded in or screwed to the hull like the old decraguard. That is a sore spot for me since none of the screws holding the cabinet to the floor were bedded in compound, and I have a minor leak or two I keep meaning to take in for warranty work. In the mean time before I found the leak or even noticed it, water was sitting right on those exposed screw holes. I know it's no big deal with the end grain balsa but it still bugs me. I am going to redrill them this summer fill with epoxy and drill again to fix, but if the cabinet was molded in, it could avoid this problem all together. Thanks for the pics.

Sark
 
Yup, it actually looks pretty nice to tell you the truth. I seriously doubt it will hurt sails. Honestly for a 50k boat I think a lot of people that are not familiar with a c-dory are surprised at how little "bling" the cabin had. The new design would be be closer to what a person would expect to see in this price range I'm thinking. Not saying it's better though.
 
WOW... Read this knowing that I have to go get ready to get back over to the boats at the Atlanta boat show. I WAS ONLY ABLE TO READ THRU THE BOTTOM OF PAGE 5....AND NOTING BETWEEN PAGES 6&9 OF THIS TREAD... OK...just not enough pictures for my speed of reading....just like my boating....a bit slow.

So.. I will toss comments from folks seeing the C-Dory boats at the show:

Wow...this is differant. You have real furniture.

Wow... this boat has a great independant look to it...all those others just sort of look alike... and I had to take my shoes off before I got in them just like at the damn airport.

This boat makes since...I can now boat all year long...and pick up another good 6 months of boating...that cuts my boat cost in half looking at the cost per month of use.

Hell honey, just jump yer butt on up in there and leave those shoes on...this is a real boat that we can enjoy and not have to worry about getting scratched up.. You look better with shoes on anyway...


So... for me know, I like having a tuff useable boat....and back to the show floor..... Anybody got any feet I can trade out??

Byrdman....loving the C-Dory boats, and loving the looks of folks seeing them for the 1st time. And when I get time...I will be back to read the rest of this chatter...
 
Well, seeing the photos, I can toss out a free opinion now: it doesn't look that much different. Definitely, something needs to be done with the dinette area. Looks like too little foot space; the sliding seat was a workable solution for foot space. Sailboat manufacturers have done this: made smaller boats with smaller proportions (to look like their bigger boats) and lost functionality with settees too small and berths too short. The dinette in the 25 is great - try to reduce the size to make it fit in the 22 (and not have the sliding seat), and it loses functionality. I'm sure the factory will get this right, but what happens to these boats in the meantime? I like the toe-kick space in front of the galley. The recessed cabinet doors look more modern, but still traditional with the wood trim.

The walls/overhead still have that utilitarian look, and I think that people notice that right away. I wonder if someone unfamiliar with these boats would really notice that much difference?

Bling? When the factory puts an ultra-suede wall liner, mirrored ceiling with indirect lighting, and wall sconces into these boats, we'll all have something to rant about. :wink

I understand the need to hold down the costs. Thinking that there is less "craftsmanship" in the interior makes me sigh, though. As a recently retired artistic/craftsperson, it seems that this is the direction most of the buying public is heading. There is a difference between "cheapening" a product and increasing efficiency. Hopefully the factory folks know their buyers well enough to know where to draw the line.

I'm still looking forward to seeing the new interiors in person, but it looks like the character of our boats is intact. The change isn't such that I'd want to "upgrade", but it sure isn't the "Bayliner-ing" (made up word) of our boats, either.

Best wishes,
Jim B.

PS - Thanks for posting the photos! Wish we could make the SBS this year - bet the discussion will be lively!
 
our rear dinette seat has tiny (pretty useless) storage because of the water tank
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We must have different tanks. I take the seat off, and have a microwave on the tank, (the tank is angled on the back) my water hose, charcoal, briquet lighter, and a toaster on the side, poncho, and some other stuff.
 
flagold":3d6x40qk said:
our rear dinette seat has tiny (pretty useless) storage because of the water tank
Click to expand...

We must have different tanks. I take the seat off, and have a microwave on the tank, (the tank is angled on the back) my water hose, charcoal, briquet lighter, and a toaster on the side, poncho, and some other stuff.
Click to expand...

Yup, must be different...about all that'll fit in there is a map or 2. We decided it wasn't worth the effort the put a door in that was only 4" high -- we'll just stow whatever we can in there that we don't use much :)
 
Having a Cape Cruiser I can say that I think the molded in fiberglass interior looks good. I think they did a very nice job with the doors being recessed. The addition of the two doors to access storage on the port side is nice. But I have to say that the overall design on the ports side is horrible! Talk about a waist of space! The old design used on the CC and CD is much more usable and functional. You have a large amount of storage, a large table with plenty of foot space and a reversible seat. This new design may work on the 25 but on the 22 there just simply isn't enough space.

Bill
 
looking at the pic I think Iam still right. It must be me but i think the molded interior looks cheap. Like they could not be bothered to use real wood. some folks seem to like that look. As for the seating. Wait until you try to get your feet under that small table. the table top is a full 1/3 smaller. I cant get between the table and the seat back. When i face foward I do not have enough room for my legs. The big draw back is the amount of storage loss. the forward seat is open all the way to the floor so anything you put in there is just going to slide around. there is no access from the top of either set. I hope they fix it but as is it does not work.
 
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