Todd, we met you at Guttenberg in August. Glad to hear you've bought "Lil Sis." We know you'll enjoy her.
We're known as the "minimalists," and we're proud of that title. And using the attributes that earned us that name, we find it easy to camp on our 16, "See-Saw." We don't fish, so we don't have that equipment to transport. Of course, your angler is configured a little differently from our cruiser; ours has a "real" berth, and we think yours doesn't. We met a C-Brat in Bellingham a few years ago, who travels solo, has DriDek on the floor, carries a backpacker ThermaRest mattress, rolls it out in the floor, and tops it with his sleeping bag when it's bedtime. He said no problem.
We came to the C-Dory life from backpacking, camping out of a 17-foot cruising sea kayak, spending 3 months in Europe about 7 years ago, with a backpack and backpacker tent, same in Australia and New Zealand, and two years ago, hosteling with backpacks for a month in South America. So we're definitely used to doing without a lot of amenities.
We've had our 16' C-Dory for about 3 years, have done LOTS of day trips in MANY lakes, but we've also done several longer cruises, from overnight to 16 consecutive nights on Lake Powell. This past May, we spent 5 or 6 nights on board, roaming Louisiana with Tex and Sharon, including three days on the lower Mississippi without getting off on land (because there was no place to disembark--the river was 19' above normal). On that trip, we launched at Venice, at the south end of the Great River Road, went 90 miles up the river through the French Quarter in New Orleans and back, past Venice, and out to the pass where the river dumps into the Gulf, then back to Venice. It was fabulous!
Then in August, we went down the Mississippi from Minneapolis to Guttenberg, spending 7 nights on the river on the Dory along the way. (We have posted several pictures from that trip on the Guttenberg- Mississippi Gathering photo album. And we posted several pictures of our Lake Powell trip on the Lake-Powell album. We will be posting more pictures of the Guttenberg gathering and the North Carolina gathering and the Mini-Loop soon! Look for those.) After the gathering in Guttenberg, we headed to North Carolina to the gathering at Oriental. After that we headed up to Elizabeth City and did the Carolina Mini-Loop, spending three nights on the boat, going up the Great Dismal Swamp, into the outskirts of Norfolk, Virginia, then east to Currituck Sound, Coinjock, Albemarle Sound, and back to Elizabeth City. That was our first foray into open water.
Sometimes we camp on beaches, sometimes in marinas. It's all super! We do have a "camperback," the canvas-and mosquito-netting-and-clear-plastic enclosure over the back, which provides us with more space and shelter from weather. We have plastic bins under our berth with a JetBoil backpacker stove, fuel cannisters, plastic plates, silverware, GI can opener, microfiber towel for dishwashing, freeze-dried backpacking food, crackers, tortillas, canned meats, fresh carrots, granola bars, fresh and canned fruit. We also have a bag-shower and towels. We keep our clothes and toiletries in duffel bags and stack them on the berth, under the console. (We're not very big people, and we like to cuddle, so we don't need the entire berth to sleep in.) We spread out sleeping bags on the berth, and throw lots of stuff on top of them during the day--our daypacks with rain gear, books, sudoku puzzles, a tiny bag with games like Farkle and Yatzee, etc., our life vests, throw cushion, etc. Of course, all that has to be moved into our seats at bedtime.
We have a portapotty. For long trips, we carry a six-gallon plastic water can of drinking water. We don't carry an ice chest or anything that needs to be kept cold. We have bag chairs and a "roll" table for camping on beaches. (And now we're going to be adding a dog to the mix.) All this is pretty minimal, but we're happy with it. It's lots easier than we two 70+-year-olds carrying all that stuff in a backpack over a mountain pass in a hail storm! We're happy and hope you will be too! Enjoy the trip!