What years to consider? C25

S

serpa4

New member
Good day. I"m looking into used C-dory 25 to have weekend trips on in Florida. I have a 27' World Cat now, 270 EC, but is too big, heavy 10,000 and sucks fuel badly. I used to have a sweet Cutwater C30, but sold it to buy my house in Florida. The C30 was nice and the Cdory 25 is similar, cabin, bed, toilet, etc. I would like to hit Key West and hang out for a few days on 3-4 day weekends. I anchor out exclusively. I would tow with my 2500 truck. I'd also like to make a trip or two to the Bahamas since they are so close. Any C-dory would have a 20hp kicker as backup. I've made the crossing many times in a sailboat so I"m familiar with what it takes.
I'd like to sell my WC270 and get one of the following:
- Ranger 23 with an OB engine. However, most are 99,000 or more. I did not like the complex C30 I owned. Hard to work on. Poor fuel consumption at 1.5nmpg.
My WC270 is decent, but a bit old at 2005, too big and sucks fuel. 1.5mpg at cruise.
-Cutwater C24. Again, expensive, not sure of the MPG yet. Complex. Don't like taking care of the posh interior. I like it a little more basic.
-Scout Abaco 242/245 fishing boat. Simiilar to the Cdory 25 in size, beam, fuel capacity, range, etc. More basic and wife is not sure: no stove, no inside kitchen (no kitchen at all), no shower either, but has twin OB engines, faster by a lot. They have not made them in a while and are expensive for what you get at an old age, 2010 are like 90-100k or more.
-C-dory 25. It has the separate rear bathroom/shower. Big selling point for my wife. Has kitchen/stove, small fridge, decent bed area, etc. Nice simple boat. I can fix anything.

So, as far as the C25 goes, what do I look for? What are the major changes in years, i.e. do they still have balsa cored hulls? Where there major changes in years that I should look for like say 2014 they made a big update, or 2012 was a horrible year, or whatever?
I think a 130hp will be underpowered. I typiclly load up A LOT on trips. I'd like a 150 or repowered to more.

On the website, they advertise about 4mpg, but research says fully loaded is like 2.75 - 3 statue MPG. Is this about right? Fuel consumption and range is a BIG issue for me. The better the MPG the more I boat. My WC270 with twin honda 225 is about 1.5 smpg so I don't take it far.

How fast will a kicker 10 or 20 hp motor push a C25? My cutwater C30 (30ft x 10ft beam) at 15,000 lbs was about 4 mph at WOT with 20hp suzuki.
 
First, remember that the C dory is a flat bottomed boat--(Dead rise in the 2 to3* category). So the boat can pound going into chop. The Ranger 23 has a deep V hull. (and higher hp outboard, with more fuel consumption. There is always a trade off. The ride in the World Cat is going to be far better.

Most recent repowers are with 200 hp. (the lighter 4 cylinder versions). They all have 100 gallon fuel tanks. The boats are 30 mph max. A few of the early 25's had 130 and with any load this is too small an engine (the 115 block.).

Yes there is an enclosed head--and both Marie and I use it/and shower in it--but for a guy 6'2" and 180# is is a little tight...but do-able.

The fiberglass interior started with the late 2007 models. I think I had the first one, and it was built in Dec 2006. I feel that the fiberglass interior is better than the wood one. (I also owned a 2003 version.)

The weight of the boat has a lot to do with the best cruising range--lighter boat might average 3 mpg (and I did for a month Alaska Trip), but that included a lot of displacement speed.

As for displacement speed--20 hp is more than you need. A "sail drive" (Larger prop, and lower pitch) of 10 hp will take the boat to displacement speed. The old formula for about 1.34X Sq Rt LWL holds for the C Dory also. Lets say the waterline is about 21 feet: 4.6 x 1.34= 6.4 knots would be max hull speed. Easily driven would be in the 5 to 5.5 knot category. (At one point in my life, I was able to push a 32 ton. LWL 46' sail boat at 2.5 knots with 4.5 HP outboard on the dinghy--and at 5 knots with 25 hp on the other dinghy).

The balsa core is not an issue, as long as you don't get water into it. Some of the more recent boats may have a foam core. The problem is with water, and freeze/thaw cycles, that causes delamination.

I had considered the Ranger a number of times--and rejected it for the same reasons you have.
 
On my 2009 25 with a Yamaha 150 and 9.9, at hull speeds (5-6 kts) I was getting about 5mpg. At about 20kts that came down to around 3mpg. The 9.9 can push it to about 5kts. Total weight with trailer is between 7300 and 8100 depending on fuel and water load, and provisions.
 
IME, the hull speed on my 22 is less than the math suggests. The math says (for 18 LWL) that the hull speed would be 5.6 knots (6.4mph). In practice, the hull speed is about 4.5 mph. As soon as a C-Dory starts to pitch up, you are exceeding hull speed. You can also see it in the aft wake when you exceed hull speed.
 
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