WELCOME TOM LATHAM

Barry:

Thanks for the e-mail. I really appreciated your insights and I concur with them. My posting was not intended to be dismissive or cause dissension. On the contrary, a more important aspect of my post is the comment that states the following:

"Be assured however that Scot and I frequently review the postings on this forum for feedback and will, from time to time, provide updates on what's going on here at C-Dory, just as we do to our dealers. " Be assured that we surf the site several times a week. We intend to continue to do so.

I have been employed by C-Dory for just over a year now but have been a resident of Washington state for almost 19 years and have over 10 years of experience in this industry; mostly at the senior management level. I am a life long boater that absolutely loves our boats and have since the first time I saw one at the 1989 Seattle Boat Show. Though I understand the niche in which our boats occupy, I know there's even more to learn and that the learning never stops. I also understand the importance of receiving input from our customers and our dealer partners. That will not change and in time will become crystal clear to everyone.

What's more, we will be introducing three new models over the next 90 days. Both customer and dealer input were critical to the development of these models. That will always be the case, despite the demands on our time that are the result of our aggressive growth during the past 12 months.

So in closing, thanks again for your e-mail and for choosing a C-Dory. Feel free to e-mail anytime.

Best Regards and Safe Boating,

Tom
 
Tom Latham":3git0ia4 said:
So in closing, thanks again for your e-mail and for choosing a C-Dory. Feel free to e-mail anytime.

Best Regards and Safe Boating,

Tom
Click to expand...

And the e-mail address would be?
I know that your position in the Company is a busy one, but-- we did have an address for Jeff when we needed to get in touch with him. It would, sometimes, take awhile for him to respond- but I always received a response from him.

Oh--- and welcome to the "cult"
 
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C-Dory Factory Representative Joined: 24 Feb 2004
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Website: http://www.c-dory.com
Occupation: Sales and Marketing
Interests: boating, fishing, hunting
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According to Jeff's profile- in the three years that he was a member here, he did not post that much. When he did post, we knew he was monitoring and was up on the goings on with the Brats. We did have a way to contact him.
 
"three new models". Got my attention. Someone help me here, I want to know what they are. This is more important to me than todays' 500 point drop in the Dow.
 
Add us to the list of those that bought a C-Dory product after discovering the boats on the Internet and then following the discussions here on C-Brats. The great customer/factory relationship was a huge determining factor for us. It would be very interesting to know what percent of C-Dory buyers monitored and/or participated on the C-Brats forum before making their purchase. When we were at the SBS in 2006 for the introduction of the C-Ranger R25, we were told that of the 11 R25’s sold at that point, ALL of the buyers had previously been on the C-Brats site. 100% C-Dory Marine group would be very unwise to ignore that statistic.
 
Tom Latham":1rgi051u said:
What's more, we will be introducing three new models over the next 90 days.
Tom
Click to expand...

Wow. I'm curious what this means.
Love my pre-2007 C-Dory, don't you?. They don't build them like they used to.
 
Tom Latham: Thanks again for your reply. Now I have never eaten fried squierl, but I guess it taste like chicken... :smile You come on down and bring the squirle, and I'll take care of the garlic cheese grits and eggs. Sounds like a great breakfast.

Yes, Jeff did post on average in the 3 years of 1.8 times a month...but, closer following would show that many times, many many times, one of us Brats Z(called that for a reason) would indicate...."Talked with Jeff today...or Got an email from Jeff today"... so...that could easily be doubled....for contact purposes. That was a very nice and appreciated network...and it worked. Now having said that... some of us who talked with Jeff....indicated at times...they better slow some things down in the factory....and make sure what is heading down the road to the dealerships/potential new owners....was a boat that was in good shape and not tossed together to meet deadlines.. There are places that sealants have to be, there are parts that touch/meet other parts that have to be made of certain materials, each station in the building process needs to clean up their building mess/residue...cause all that stuff will one day cause issues for the owners... just simple communications like that.

Things change. How many of us like the old 60 era muscle cars better than what they drive today?? Most of us I would bet. Ohh...to have the driver drop the hammer on that puppy, slam it and not be able to get the $100 bill off the dashboard again :thup Ohhh what a feeling... but... I average about 7 knots in my boat after 3-4 days in water mode.

Just lost another soldier of mine by a heart attack. That is two close friends in 15 days.... so...kinda puts a lot of this in prespective... Call a friend... and thanks to all of you for the emails/PMs and calls that knew of this.

Go enjoy a boat...or at least watch a boating movie if you are still iced in.
Byrdman
 
Fishtales":1z1eynrt said:
According to Jeff's profile- in the three years that he was a member here, he did not post that much. When he did post, we knew he was monitoring and was up on the goings on with the Brats. We did have a way to contact him.
Click to expand...
Here's a Jeff story for you. Pat Anderson and I were finalizing plans for the ill fated Lake Washington Cruise. We planned a short stop at Lake Union Sea Ray and Jeff had emailed me that they would have refreshments. Since the cruise was to be an all day affair, I asked Pat if he thought the refreshments would be adequate or if we should plan additinal food stop. "Well", says Pat, "let's see." He took out his cellphone pushed Jeff's number and got the answer. Because of the storm on cruise day, neither Pat nor I made it. The food, however, did.
 
I know that one of the three new boats is a 28 ft+, 10 ft beam C-Dory. Two choices for power, either inboat or outboards with on an engine platform.
One of the others is a center console boat, can't remember the length.
 
and they might as well use the hulls from Cape Cruisers for something...

Hey...what about a boat with real wood cabinets? :mrgreen:

What about a 26' Angler.... sorta a mix between the CD22A and the EC22Tug layouts.... ????
 
David,

At the factory party I was shown a drawing of a 22 ft center console boat, based on the 22 cruiser/angler hull. Later I was told that boat was still in the designing stage to make the hull strong enough without the support of the cabin structure.

Could the others be a CD/CC 23 or CD/CC 26????
 
This thread gets more depressing every time I log on...

That said, I need to add my comments so I can move on.

I started looking for a boat two summers ago. I wanted something with a cabin that would be good for use in Puget Sound and narrowed down to a few types including C-Dory. Lurking on C-Brats for a few months convinced me the latter was the way to go. During the 2006 SBS I settled on a CD-22 until my wife and kids discovered the 25. I had to throw in the towel. We met Jeff at that time and he worked up some numbers.

Sticker shock put me on a path looking for a used 25. Jeff understood where I was coming from and gave me some very helpful advise in evaluating a particular boat I was going out of state to look at. He even looked up the invoice from the original invoice for that boat which helped as well; and as I was looking to re-power the used 25, he recommended I call Les for a new engine. The used boat didn't work out, but Les gave me a good price on a new one so that's were we ended up. The service from Les and the service from the factory (at least until the 'change') was better than my expectations.

I had only met Jeff face to face at the 2006 SBS, and probably talked to him three time on the phone during last year. Plus a few emails. Yet at the 2007 SBS he walks up to me and remembers my name. Probably not suprising to many of you...

There was a 'quality' thread a few months ago where I stated that even though I've had a few quality issues, I would definitely buy from both C-Dory and Les again. To me Jeff, not Scott was the face of C-Dory. And Jeff did things right. I only hope that Scott and Tom understand how important customer care is to continuing the attractiveness of this boat. It definitely sold me. Plus, 90% of people who are looking to purchase a CD are (like me) going to find and spend time on this site.

I'm done; the anger's gone. Oops, I'm late for American Idol!
 
Tom Latham":1c3yub2r said:
What's more, we will be introducing three new models over the next 90 days. Both customer and dealer input were critical to the development of these models.

Tom
Click to expand...

(THE FOLLOWING IS JUST FOR LAUGHS AND IS NOT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY IN ANY CASE. SOMEBODY HAS TO LIGHTEN THINGS UP AROUND HERE, OCCASIONALLY. ON THE OTHER HAND, THIS MAY POST BE A SIGN OF TERMINAL SENILE ONSET, IN WHICH CASE I APOLOGIZE FURTHER.)

****************************************************************************

For those of you who are interested in finding out about the new models, we have obtained confidential information from a source who will remain un-named from inside the C-Dory organization. These may or may not reflect changes in the direction of the management team due to recent additions. You be the judge.



The first model is the C-Dory Beer Run 33 Drop Nose, and is intended for those day or night lightening speed runs back to your nearby Liquor Barn Outlet. Details of the power package were lacking, but our reporter was told that the new CD-BR 33 has achieved a trip average of 77 knots on the GPS with the Captain and Admiral below taking care of business. Note the intensive use of European Styling from the Bayliner School of Yacht Design, which is an intergal part of the C-Dory heritage, and a crowd-pleaser among the PNW boating crowd.



pic7.jpg




Our next addition for 2007 is the C-Dory Floating Holiday 255' Cruiser! There's plenty of room on board for ALL of your friends, plus a lot of paying passengers as well! We tried to count the number of decks on this new beauty, but lost track after we ran out of fingers. You'll have a full time paid crew of 42 aboard, and will need to rent or lease a pier as a home port. We understand that Bill Gates will be the first owner of this new model. Just wait until you show the "little people" how to do the Inside Passage in style!


azimut2.jpg



Our final addition for 2007 will be the Hypersonic Water Transport and Low Altitude Stealth Fighter. Developed for the U.S. military and generally not intended for the recreational industry, the new $128.5 water and air craft was envisioned by the Pentagon, and as soon as the Joint Chiefs of Staff get finished Arm Wrestling over which military branch gets to deploy it, the first fighter wing will become operational in the Miami-Dade Drug Trafficing Corridor, unless the drug trafficers out-bid the Pentagon for purchase rights.


damogransh.sized.jpg
 
An observation,

For a manufacturer who sells only to dealers, their actual customers are the dealers.

We, the boat buying public are customers of the dealers.

This two step process tends to insulate the factory from us, their final customers, and may inhibit the customer feedback system, as everything is filtered through the dealer.

It also insulates the factory from dealing directly with warranty problems and may negatively affect quality control at the factory.
 
One last thing about the importance of the C-Brats in our buying decision...

There were three factors that got us to the point of writing the check:
1. Right boat for the mission.
2. C-Brats
3. Assurance from Jeff that "we will be there to take care of you."

Of those, the C-Brats were my daily contact, support, encouragement, and source of information. That will not change. The fact that we knew the factory participated on the site really helped our decision-making.

Without any of these three, I don't believe we would have bought this boat. A tripod... stable. It's still the right boat, and I absolutely treasure this site - a never-ending source of information, support, and comraderie. Plus all the great people we've met.

We've had a similar situation with other boats (yes, there are other fanatical owners groups), motorhomes, motorcycles, and even airplanes. In each circumstance, the owners group (AND THE FACTORY PARTICIPATION WITH THAT GROUP) made a difference in our decision to buy.

WORD OF MOUTH and HAPPY OWNERS equates to increased sales in a niche market. I can't begin to tell you how many times in just this trip the crews of Discovery and Wild Blue are asked about these boats. Understand the people who buy these boats, and you will understand the market... and the marketing. Jeff certainly understood this. The dealers must certainly understand this, but there are only so many dealers out there (care to tell me where the closest dealer to my home in deep south Texas is located?). I wish I had a great relationship with a dealer - I'd probably feel less like an "orphan" right now. While it won't change how I enjoy our boat, I do feel like one leg of that above mentioned tripod has been kicked out.

When you look at the folks who are buying these boats, you will see that we are not "the average buyer". No one here was sold by flashy marketing and a cheap price point. For most of us, this boat represents a sizable chuck of our disposable income. We eat, sleep, live and breathe this C-Dory stuff! We are not "casual" boaters. We make informed buying decisions. We are not looking for another "me, too" boat... why do you think the owners got so riled about the recent interior changes??? We are passionate about these boats. (Think any Bayliner owner ever gave a rat's rear if the model changed in any way?)

Understand us... communicate with us...learn from the way we USE these boats, and we will help your dealers sell even more. And THAT is marketing you can't buy. Any successful business person will tell you, it's not just efficient production, you have to know your customer.

My last word on this subject.

Best wishes,
Jim Bathurst
 
While I certainly concur with the basic aforementioned sentiments, some perspective may help a bit. You know, it's been barely a month since C-Dory put on a great party for you all, so I don't think callous disregard is the operating principle.

I don't know anything about the new management, but I do know what it was like being the new kid on the block, at the ranch, and in the school. It's a bit normal to analyze, examine, be skeptical, and "attack" the newcomer - be it a boat modification, new model, or new executive.

We've heard alot of changes have taken place - a staggering number considering the short time period in which we've learned of them. Our world is changing at neck breaking speeds nowadays and it will only accelerate. No entity will survive that ignores the need for changes.

Personally, I 'd love to be able to walk down to the nearby docks and find the craftsmen I'd known for decades still slowly assemblying a boat exactly like mine from now til I'm gone. That is not going to happen.

Let's try to just lay back a bit, give 'em their head, and see what happens...

John
 
Also note that Latham is the new COO. Jeff was sales and marketing. I would expect the C-Brats to interface more with the new Jeff than with Tom. Who is the new Jeff, anyway?

Warren
 
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