Triton now Northwest Marine Industries?

Another Orofino, ID resident called me to look at my C-Dory. He is a former BC resident, former trawler owner, was missing the sea, and wanted something trailerable. He found me on the brat map and came to see what a C-Dory really looked like. He had called C-Dory and they tried to switch him to a Sea Sport, which really ticked him off. He wasn't sure he wanted anything to do with a boat company that did not like their own product.

I note that Sportcraft Marina in Portland is selling Sea Sport and they are now powered by outboards. I wonder how long before the C-Dory line becomes another "dead brand" that the owership "had" to drop because no one is buying them? A month, a year, 3 years? It's apparent that the current owership really does not understand the very special and limited nitch that C-Dory occupies and consequently is failing to market to that nitch. They are leaving that market to Marinaut, which is what I suggested my neighbor consider if he wanted a new boat.

Chuck
 
As a new customer, it seems to me that the buyers of the product love the product more than the producers of the product. Usually it is the other way around. A company produces an item they try to "push" onto to the consumer. When a product is worthwhile it will sell. Look at all of the Apple Customers out there. I think people have a right to choices. Why do people prefer Fords over Chevys or Toyotos over Chryslers?
 
Looking at the Northwest Marine Industries website, it appears that Skagit Orca boats are now an orphan brand. There is some redundancy if one builder is building SeaSport, C-Dory, Osprey, and Skagit Orca. Perhaps it's survival of the strongest brands.
 
This is getting like pin the tail on the donkey. I wonder if the website has changed along with the phone number? I'm tired of getting my hand out cards updated. If they stop making these boats maybe ours will be worth more. Les will be on overload.
D.D.
 
why do C-Dorys not sell better? I am surprised there is not a line of people with orders. Is it lack of marketing, the price, or an actual lack of interest? I would guess price, It seems like puget sound boats under $40k sell within a week (used I mean).

I spent 8 months looking for a boat that competed with the C-dory in trailerability, sleeping, and fishing capabilities and I didn't see anything in the price range. C-Dory seemed like a gold mine opportunity to me, but perhaps there aren't as many people looking for this type of boat as I thought.
 
I think that C-Dory's are great boats. However, they are not very flashy. They don't look like they would go that fast ('though 30mph is fast enough for me) and the interior is quite utilitarian. Compared to a showroom 25' boat with a cabin the C-Dory is pretty dull inside. Without knowing anything about boats the average person when seeing a C-Dory next to a Bayliner, Tahoe, Sea-Ray, etc., is likely to pick the nice shiny one.

People who have been around boats for awhile realize that a lot of the flashiness of the chlorox bottle boats makes for maintenance headaches. But they probably figured this out after living with a Bayliner class boat for some time.

So, a lot of people buy the flashy boats. This allows for economy in the production. This also means that there is a relative glut of used boats available which drives down the price of the used boats.

One the other hand, C-Dory's are built one (or a few) at a time. A lot if it by hand. You can tell the factory you want this or that changed and they'll do it for you (try that with one of the major manufacturers of similar sized boats). People who know also realize that the simplicity of the interior and systems means a lot less maintenance and the ability to easily customize the boat to suit their needs.

However, the number of people who appreciate these differences appear to be fewer in number than you might expect.

C-Dory could probably increase the sales of their boats if they tart them up a bit. However, that would start to negate the reasons that most of us bought them in the first place.

I like to think that when it comes to these boats, we just happen to know better than the rest of them.
 
Sea Sport was their original boat. Sometime ago somewhere in the chain of broken dreams one of the companies that owned Sea Sport went thru a financial crisis during which their molds used to make the Sea Sport boats were taken by the bank I guess. Some time passed the bank or someone who owned the molds wanted to unload them so they bought them back and started to make the Sea Sport line again. Before the economy started to rebound and they could not build Sea Sport (no molds) they bided their time with C-Dory but they never seemed to really want to market the product properly or maybe they just did not possess the required assets to get that accomplished. There many minor dust ups on this site about their lack of marketing. So they have their baby back (Sea Sport) and C-Dory is a step child. Sea Sports are more expensive to buy and run and they handle rough seas faster and more comfortably as they have a deep v hull configuration.
D.D.
 
When we were looking for our C-Dory it took about a year to find the right boat. The maint. was almost nill, more work on the trailer than the boat. As we near retirement next year the wife wanted a real head, so the hunt was on. Needless to say we purchased a Ranger tug 27 used. This fits more into our plans for future cruising in a bit more comfort and yes we knew the maint. issues would increase with the greater number of systems, at least I will have more time to work on it.

Don
 
Slow down everybody !Lots of partially informed conclusions and even a little mis information flowing here . C Dory is alive and well .They are now known as Northwest Marine Industries . Warranties are good for Triton Built Boats. They are stacked with orders . The marketing will begin again soon . They are sorting through the mess the Lindhouts left the company in . Ron Wright is serious about bulding C Dory,Osprey, and Sea Sport . Phone # is
360-389-5351
We have a couple on order now.
Will have new options and specs for 2014 [which in boat builder terms,is just around the corner] .
A little more communication would go a long way...............
Marc
 
journey on":2v85oaox said:
I take it you're no longer a C-Dory dealer?

Boris
Click to expand...

Unfortunately no. We wanted to continue, but couldn't come to an agreement with the Lindouts.

At the time, we were receiving no more communication from them than they provided to the 'Brats. In other words- none.

Hopefully there will be some stability in C-Dory's future.

We do continue to repower existing C-Dory's and see used ones when we get them.
 
Mark,
It just seems odd the above poster would say that he called and who ever he talked to tried to talk him into a Sea Sport. That's misinformation?The marketing will start again, REALLY? The above was a great start. Your ads for Seaway Boats on this site aren't much of a confidence builder for the new C-Dory line as a C-Dory dealer. I can understand you probably can't make a living off selling C-Dory alone. I hope they do well and there is a lot just around the corner, but which corner? We only know what we can see from C-Dory which has not been much. It's great you are letting us know everything is going to be fine.
D.D.
 
When I went to the factory ~6 months ago, there were 4 C-Dory in various stages of completion. They said they were the most popular boat they build (of C-Dorys or otherwise). The owners have changed, and I met some of them at the SBS. SeaSport was better represented there, but that may have been due to dealer representation (we still don't have a good C-Dory dealer around Seattle AFAIK, and the factory doesn't reserve their own floor space).

I don't think they are having trouble selling CD22s, so maybe marketing isn't a high priority for that line at this time?
 
I'd be interested in knowing how many C-Dorys are built and sold each year, just out of curiosity. I mean how many total potential C-Dorys exist today?
 
The Brat Map should give a good indication of how many are out there. However, I don't know how accurate or complete it is. It would be nice if the map could total up how many of each type appear on the map.

The impression I get from looking at the map is that 22's quite possibly outnumber all the other types combined.
 
You can count up how many of each type of boat by going to the "our C Dorys" link.

Yes, advertising is still mostly word of mouth and sight. This has been an issue for some time--but is up to the company to decide what their profit margin is. Remember that petroleum based products (Polyester for example) keep going up in cost--and thus all of the boats are costing more.

I believe that Northwest Marine does have to pay a royalty on each C Dory to the mold owners.

There may be more profit margin for the Sea Sports-and as someone mentioned, that the Sea Sport was their primary boat for some time.
 
There are 2371 C-Dorys registered on the "Our C-Dorys" list (I didn't count tugs).

There are 6 22 center consoles, 86 22 Classics, 200 22 Anglers, and 1038 22 Cruisers. This gives a total of 1330 22' boats.

Some boats may be counted twice if the previous owner did not unregister.
 
The original poster may have called Waypoint Boats , the Seattle dealer for Sea Sport . They are quite busy selling Sea Sports and I dont know if they are C Dory dealers or not .
I sell a bunch of boats . I like to let folks know whats new .
I think everybody here knows I sell C Dory . I am looking forward to things getting back on track .Wasnt really looking for a negative response to a positive post.
Marc
 
Back
Top