What have you added to your boat that you wish you hadn't?

S

Sea Wolf

New member
On another thread here, the topic of additional equipment brought out some pros and cons for certain add ons. What have you added to your boat that didn't work out the way you expected or wasn't really necessary or all that useful?

Here's a comment I made regarding these issues:

There is an overall principle which must be employed when choosing additional gear on a C-Dory.

1. The boats are small, storage space is limited, and should be preserved whenever possible.

2. There are more options available than one can reasonably add on. It is easy to let your enthusiasm for your C-Dory turn it into a showpiece for every toy in the West Marine Catalogue. What do you really need where you do your boating? Make a list and prioritize it. Sooner or later, hard choices must be made.

3. The KISS Principle definitely applies due to issues of cost, ease of installation, maintenance, reliability, and peace of mind. SIMPLE IS OFTEN BETTER.

4. The longer you own your C-Dory, the better you can judge your own needs, the boat's ability to accommodate them, and whether an optional piece of equipment might be TRULY WORTHWHILE. If in doubt, put it on the back burner for awhile. Often you'll be glad you didn't spend the money, drill the holes, put it in the way, use up the space, and complicate everything. Now go have a cool one and congratulate yourself on your wise restraint.

The C-Dory is a wonderful "pocket cruiser", size wise. Don't let "deep pockets" turn it into a "Rube Goldberg Goes Boating" experience!!!

C-DORY: THE KISS PRINCIPLE IS MAGIC!!!
 
I been through a few hydrofoils, the latest one really was a waste of 60-dollars :thdown :amgry it's worse now :cry

A super-duper-expensive 4-blade stainless prop. Way over-kill, made it shift into gear harder (bigger "thunk-sound") lugged the engine too much (it musta been for a lite speed-boat) My mistakes of lust ... :roll:

When I get back on-line, i can think of a few more things :idea: :thdown
 
good thread idea Joe and some good points. Often times I'll just cobble something together and use it for a while to see if I like the idear (an extra r for our N.E. friends) and then tear it apart and rebuild it more better if it works and I like it. For me, knick-knacks get extra points if they're multi-functionable

Fortress anchor comes to mind when I think of squandered resources. Fine anchor I suppose but not in the river...durn thing is to light, I hit the down switch in Kalama and it hits bottom in Cathalamet.

I'm conjurin on a new upgrade that I hope to have by Lopez..& that's all I'll say for now :)

"mistakes of lust"....funny as hell
 
Speaking of heretic

The 1622 Furuno radar. I really do believe in redundancy and one can buy a JRC color radar/chartplotter combo or a Furuno B/W Navionics 1722 from Broken Leg Dave for about $900 more than I paid for my Ebay 1622. It's not scheduled for replacement until we're able to do more than just day trips locally, but it's something I'll eventually replace.

Oh, and the full King Marine tall top cover. The angle back cover does just fine for us, and the full cover is just a little too hard for me to single hand. It's stored away now.

As Joe sez, real need is based on what one does with a C-Dory and where on the planet one goes. On the other hand, real want is based more upon desirability issues than anything else, but that's the beauty of a C-Dory. It can fill our hearts and empty our pockets simultaneously.
 
BC: You made me laugh man...and brought back an earlier boating experience...with that expensive light weight ancor ...and current. Mobile bay, back up in Dog River (I think) there was a bar that folks ancored out and "walked to" with the rise and fall of the tide... We made several attempts to get the Fortress on the bottom....where we wanted it...not where the current was putting it.... So, not wanting to miss all of happy hour and with 3 of us on a 18' wooden boat, all in OCS at the time, and about out of beer... we took that extra 6' of galvanized chain in the "stuff" box in the back of the boat, "American-Engineered" it in a "U" configeration from the outside "points" of the Fortress cross member, took some galvinized spool cable, again from the "stuff box" in the back of the boat, and at the gravity feed "center" of the newly attached chain to the "top" of the anchor, we wired one of those old window weights that are about as big around as a thick shovel handle, about 16" long, and about 8 pounds.... It looked a bit unsightly, but, once tossed overboard, it worked great!!! The extra weight brought her to the bottom in a proper manner and speed (same county...even with the tide), the weight and chain loop made for a great extra "lay flat on the bottom" ahead of the "main fortress" ancor....and the 6' of chain on the original fortress... and it did not add so much weight that it was hard to handle....even after we made happy hour...(or 5...) and got back on board. In fact, as I recall, we never did take off the addition, and in military style, we renamed the ancor, the M1-Fortress-A1 Cheers and try this next round in the current. :beer
 
years back picked up a down rigger, than went home and took measurements to install. From their it was downhill .. lol .. my narrow rail didn't match the base, jury rigged that ... with our rains did not want to remove the canvas, also the inboard motor doesn't leave much deck space, and with the alaska bulkhead could not keep a eye on the rod ...it was pretty well a knuckle buster it lasted a couple months ... also found with out a depth sounder in the back deck you needed a helmsmen that was also tuned into fishing and keeping a eye on the cabin sounder ... we dropped two cannon ball's, and broke the line the last snag ... it was left on the horseshoe bay dock ... some one must have thought they struck gold ... lol .. but not that big a deal it was a 24" and really a frustration ... wc
 
A West Marine Jump Start -- thought it would power my computer through a few evenings of use -- useless after 3 hours. Ok, so thought it might still be a good idea to jump start an engine. Came on some fishermen a few weeks back, engine wouldn't start. Almost dark, they had been rowing their boat for hours, and so, "Here's my jumpstart -- give it a go" and handed them the jumpstart (just charged on 110 v. the night before) -- their engine gave a wheeze that sounded like laughter, and that was it. Jumper cables got them going in a second from a primary boat battery. Anybody want a slightly used West Marine Jump Start??
 
Bill: Before you ebay that bad boy let's think back a bit... We stayed on anchor in Spencer Creek after returning from Cherokee in the dark...and around the barge....the night before the guy needed the boost...and just after locking thru Cordell Hull dock... where you more than likely juiced it with the 110....maybe...? I wonder if you could rig it to charge from your motors as you stroll along the river....just as if it is a 4th battery on your boat..? But, we were able to get the lad on his way...and were more than likely the only boats he saw that afternoon....with his trolling motor running for hours.... I have seen marina's using some type of jumper boxed very effectively... Might you have been trolling on the internet in the cove for a few hours the night/morning prior to the attempted boost? Just a thought or two.. and I have to find me a pair of those collaspable hose pipes like you have on Halcyon too... Gosh..ya gotta love gatherings to see other folks rigs/stuff/gadgets....
 
I'd have to say my $1000+ Interphase Sea Scout sonar (it's only about $800 now). I though the forward scanning would be useful for both approaches to shallow areas and for fishing (locate and drive to the bait ball). But in practice, the thing throws static on the radio and doesn't giive a display that's as nice as many other more traditional sonars. One day I'll replace it with a Lowrance...
 
Well, our jump start is a $29 jobbie ordered over the Internet from Heartland with free shipping, and we wouldn't go out without it, so we gots to part company on this one. Can't say why the West Marine one did not perform...ours has been used in earnest twice. The first time was when we found we had no lights in the evening while out in the San Juans (turned out to be a bad electrical connection back at the main breaker, but didn't know the cause at the time), and so we patched the jump start into the 12 volt system - it ran the house all night. The second time, I forget where we were, but we used it to get Catmandu underway...so this puppy will live on the new Daydream as well. And ours at least can be charged from the 12 volt socket onboard.


El and Bill":3erhkyv5 said:
A West Marine Jump Start -- thought it would power my computer through a few evenings of use -- useless after 3 hours. Ok, so thought it might still be a good idea to jump start an engine. Came on some fishermen a few weeks back, engine wouldn't start. Almost dark, they had been rowing their boat for hours, and so, "Here's my jumpstart -- give it a go" and handed them the jumpstart (just charged on 110 v. the night before) -- their engine gave a wheeze that sounded like laughter, and that was it. Jumper cables got them going in a second from a primary boat battery. Anybody want a slightly used West Marine Jump Start??
Click to expand...
 
Well, for me it's got to be the dinghy "MissAdventure." As usual I over thought, over researched, and over bought. The 7' Mercury RIB (77#) seemed like the best alternative for cost, ruggedness and utility, blah, blah, blah. It's very well made, and, 77 pounds isn't That heavy. Getting it atop the cabin should have been doable.

...atleast twenty-five years ago 77 pounds wasn't that heavy.

Meanwhile - if anyone knows someone who needs an unused Mercury Valiant 250 dinghy, give me a call! (It's just taking-up valuable space in my shop.)

Greg: thanks for your comments on the super-duper SS four-blade prop. You probably save me some money. As your reward, I'll buy you a brew when we get to Anchortown this summer!

Bill/El: your comments about the West Marine jump starter were interesting. I've use the yellow WalMart special for a while, and was amazed at the power it stored. Maybe you got a bad one? Powerboat Report evaluated them in the past couple of months - I'll go reread their report.

Casey
C-Dory Naknek
 
After thinking about this topic, which BTW Joe is a good one, for several days, I have concluded that I have added nothing that I regret. Having said that, there are some things that I have re-done, plan to re-do, or would do differently were I doing them again. I just got done patching some holes in the fiberglass for do-dads that I have relocated, and the patch jobs are virtually unnoticeable, thus quelling my uneasiness about having drilled them in the first place. The most major gamble on the MOOSE so far was mounting the set of antlers on the visor. We didn't know how they'd look or if they'd be cornball. But, frankly, we love them and given the number of double-takes and thumbs-up we receive while trailering or cruising, I'd say others like them as well. A bit of gaiety and personal expression that paid off despite having to drill two fairly large mounting holes!
Al
 
Al-
PHOTOS PLEASE!! Looked in your album and no photos of the horns!!!

This is a MUST SEE!!!

Great Idea! Merrits Feature Photo/Homepage rendering!

Thanks for the comments.! Joe.
 
Yep, they're there all right, at least in some of the later photos, though I admit they don't stand out in any of them. We don't often go to shore and it's devilish hard to get a good picture of the boat while standing on it! I'll try to get some better pics this season.

One of the reasons we named the boat MOOSE was the historic connection to an early 1900s steam tug of the same name that used to ply our home waters. The "Historic Moose" photo in our album boasts a set of antlers as well, so yes, I think they're a requirement.

And Mark, as for the hole patching, I think the C-Dog site still features a link to an outfit, whose name escapes me at the moment, that sells small gel coat kits specific to C-Dory, among others. For small holes I just patched with the gel coat, but for a larger one, I first backed the hole with duct tape and filled it with MarineTex. When that was dry, I ripped off the tape, and ground out the other, gel coat, side a bit with a Dremel. Then I applied the gel coat with a spatula. The stuff is nice to work with, it's the consistency of vaseline, but mix it up in small batches because it seems to shrink a bit on drying and I had to go over some patches several times to get up to flush. I then sanded the excess off with 220 grit and a sanding block and then switched to finer and finer grit. I actually used a random orbital sander with some really fine paper I use on lacquered banjo finishes. The gel coat, when dry seems like really tough stuff, so as long as you don't go too nuts, one doesn't have to worry about sand throughs. Then a little buffing and or waxing and you're good as new!
Al
 
There have been a few times I wished I hadn't added three feet to my CD22, especially when fishing. However, already having the CD25 when the family size doubled turned out to be a blessing.

Can't think of anything of a gadget nature I wish I didn't have, but several past projects could have benefitted from a bit more planning and a little less impulse.
 
Charlie-

Thanks for te clue-in! Didn't see them in looking through the thumbnails.

Still think its a great idea/stroke of genius! Let's see, what else would look good like that................???????? Joe.
 
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