Thoughts on adding a High top

C

CraigJ

New member
I'm tall, 6'7". Just to make things difficult I think that a 22 foot cruiser would be a great fit both from a towing standpoint and a price standpoint. The high top options do not seem to come around in the used market often and I don't even see it mentioned on the current web-sight.
I contacted c dory, but got no response. What do you guys think of raising the center section of the roof? Would it be cost prohibitive or a simple modification?
 
Depends on how you go about doing it. If you can find a timed out high top C-Dory you can cut the high top section out from that boat, then cut the low top section off your boat and bolt the new high top on in its place. This just raises the roof over the center aisle. You could have some fiberglass shop make you a similar piece as the C-Dory high top.

If you want to go further, you can raise the whole roof. It is basically just stuck on the top of the boat. However, then you'd have to figure out some way to extend the cabin walls to the new height. Since there is some taper to the side and front cabin walls, you might not be able to go too high before the extended walls miss the area on the roof where they are supposed to connect.

The C-Dory high top option does not change the height of the door opening. If you increased the height of the aft bulkhead you could but in a taller door.
 
Unless you are very skilled with fiberglass, it is both cost prohibitive, and probably a cosmetic issue. There are a fair number of the high top boats around. I wonder if the mold for the "hi Top Roof" was damaged or destroyed in the fire, and not rebuilt? My good friend had a high top, which sold last year...it took a long time to sell, even though it was a very good boat, cantilevered Bimini, and 115 Suzuki, with modest hours, well cared for...reason didn't sell, right away, was it was in Pensacola--would have sold in very short time the PNW.

The easiest way would be to just extend the very top, make the cut around the top, bring the sides, back and front up at the same angle, using waxed Masonite forms, to simulate a mold, then cut the edge of the old top to fit the slightly narrower profile. You may still have issues at the helm.

The better course is to get a 25 or a Tom Cat--the 25 I believe is about 6'10" head room. I am 6'2" and the standard C Dory has a couple of inches--the 25 has much more. My son is 6'4" and likes his 25 much better than the 22. The bunk is another issue. With the Tom Cat--you have a bunk which is over 7' long. For the 25 you can cut out the entire port side of the bulkhead between the V berth and main cabin. In my 25, (fiberglass interior, 1967), by cutting out this bulkhead, you gain over a foot in bunk length (just make a cushion--or a storage box, and a cushion) in the forward facing foot well, and you have plenty of room for sleeping. With the 22, sleeping may be an issue.

You have to duck going thru the door in any of these--a 7 foot door, would be very expensive from Diamond Sea Glaze.
 
Like Bob said, at 6'7" you really need to take a hard look at the bunk. At 6'2" with big feet, sleeping on my back, I struggle to have enough leg room in our 25. The chain locker bulkhead drives me crazy. They could have shifted it forward a few inches or designed it differently to add some extra foot/toe room for the two of us. If your bunk mate is also tall you can run out of room for your feet. Our 1998 22 actually fit me better on bunk length because there was no chain locker bulkhead to jam my feet in to.

Cutting out the entire port side of the bulkhead between the V berth and main cabin will probably be the fix for you on a 22 or 25 using a forward extension as Bob described. There is no bulkhead on the 16s. On our 16 I had plenty of leg and toe room by using a cooler with a cushion on it to extend my head into the cabin area for sleeping.
 
I've been looking at the 25's hard, but it seems that they are twice the price, would require a 3/4 ton truck to pull, draft more and I wasn't really considering the berth.
I thought I had a brilliant idea, but between more room all around including the berth and an actual enclosed head for the wife, I guess that I'll keep looking for a 25.
Thank you all for the responses.
 
I'm 6'5" and I have a 22' High Top. When I saw it come up for sale, I bought it within a couple of hours. Not only did it have the high top, but most of the other things I needed. As a bonus it was in Canada, so need to bring it across the border with the costs and problems that come with that. I have no problem sleeping in the v-berth and with my wife who is also 6' tall. It takes a little getting used to climbing in and out of the berth. I would like a little more room in the helm, but after changing seats I fit better.

I personally would not attempt to raise the roof on a C-Dory. If I had too, I would get it professionally done.

I have seen several high tops come on the market since I bought mine, but have cash in hand because they tend to sell fast.

Good luck.
 
There are occasionally "bargains" in the 25's. I paid $30,000 for my first 2003 C Dory 25. (OK there was a hole in the cockpit deck.) My son's 1995 "Cruise Ship" 25 was in the 30's (and has more room in the dinette and head. The boat which was for sale in Pensacola recently was probably sold in the mid 40's.
 
Peter & Judy":1x2njigs said:
... I would like a little more room in the helm, but after changing seats I fit better. ....
Click to expand...

I would also like more leg room at the helm. One thing I am considering is cutting a "toe box" into the bottom of the console. This would require cutting a piece out and building an enclosure that extends into the compartment under the starboard v-berth.

A bin liner or hatch insert would probably work. There is also making something out of starboard.
 
It’s interesting to try and solve problems like this and C-brat’s love to do it but in this case I think you should just get a larger boat that fits your physique and enjoy boating rather than re-building. The Cdory has a classic look and there is the chance that your modifications will make the boat less attractive on the resale market. (Although that is a very secondary consideration)
 
I really appreciate Journey On, a C-Dory 25. I should as we've had it for 12 years. However, that said, I'm (or was) 6' 2" with a wife that's (fortunately) 5' 6" and I have trouble sleeping in the V-berth unless I'm at an angle and encroach into Judy's space. And she objects.

Also, I'm in Friday Harbour which has a lot of cabin cruisers small enough to be trailerable and only a couple are C-Dorys. A C-Dory is a very small part of the market.

So, if I was 6' 7" or thereabouts, I'd look at the various options in trailerable cabin cruisers and check out the cabin height, sleeping room, etc. Rebuilding a boat to suit you takes time and I want to spend that time cruising. There's enough to do on a boat without rebuilding it.

As starters, look at Osprey, SeaSport, even Ranger. There's one built on the East Coast too.

Boris
 
There is some great feedback here. I'd love to see any modifications done to make these boats more comfortable for us taller types. By the way, I was in the Navy for 12 years and nothing in the military is designed with personal comfort in mind. I slept in a rack that was 5 inches too short for many years and knew every vent duct and hatch intimately. I was much younger then and had very little choice in the matter, now I'm not and I do.

Thank you,
Craig Johnson
 
Craig, I'm in with those who would recommend looking very closely at a 25. Right now there are some in the same price range as a good 22. (Look on the home page here, bottom right corner, and even if you have to transport it to yoy, you will save time, money and increase your enjoyment because the boat will fit. You are right about the towing, but buying the wrong boat will eat at your enjoyment until you do the right thing. And yes, there are other boats out there as Boris mentioned, but they are not C-Dorys, and there are reasons the C-Dorys are so loved.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
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