CD 25 first boat!

[Dpackie]

When we started looking at boats, used pocket and mini cruisers, I told my boy I wasn't looking for a boat, I was looking for a person. After looking at a few boats up here on Champlain, and talking to many other owners via E mail and on the phone, I think I found that person. They have owned a CD25 in 3 mile Harbor E. Hampton for 20 years. They Love the boat, or maybe they are in love with their boat. They are too old to continue sailing her.

Turns out they were not looking to sell the boat either. They were looking for a person who would love their boat, and have a new adventure, and they want me to have their boat.

Jane is dockside waiting for me to come see her next weekend. If everything looks right, as I suspect it does, she will be ours and we will bring her up the Hudson to be on Champlain and I will teach my family how to sail...then maybe we end up back in the salt, and the adventure continues....
Fingers crossed, and we are all excited.

[Joh.Ghurt]

Good luck. These boats are a ton of fun with children. They can use the skills they learn on the Optimists on-to-one on the Cape Dory.

[Greatest Lakes]

Congratulations! See you in 3-5 years when you decide you need a bigger boat!

[Don C L]

Congratulations! Great little boat and your son will love it and all the fun times you will have together!

[Lowcountry]

Congrats, CD25 is a great boat!

[siamese]

The person, not the boat. Uh, uh.

It's the boat you're taking home, not the person. I would suggest to anyone looking for a boat to purchase to disregard what the owner has to say, unless they accidentally tell you something about the boat they should have kept to themselves.

People are difficult to evaluate. Boats, less so. Much less. Do a good inspection yourself and hire a good surveyor. You'll likely need a survey to obtain insurance anyway.

Sorry if I didn't get into the spirit of your post, but...

[Dpackie]

Originally Posted by siamese

The person, not the boat. Uh, uh.

It's the boat you're taking home, not the person. I would suggest to anyone looking for a boat to purchase to disregard what the owner has to say, unless they accidentally tell you something about the boat they should have kept to themselves.

People are difficult to evaluate. Boats, less so. Much less. Do a good inspection yourself and hire a good surveyor. You'll likely need a survey to obtain insurance anyway.

Sorry if I didn't get into the spirit of your post, but...

I disagree.

We'll see next week when I go see her for the first time and pay the man.

The man is a highly successful in life, very intelligent. Academy Award winner, Peabody, Golden Globe, documentary film maker. Lives in an exclusive area, clearly has plenty of resources. He is knowledgeable about his boat, and sailing. The yard has done all the work, and he has had them do all the work they have suggested over the years.

He's going to split the cost of a new headsail with me, because although the current R/F is serviceable, he doesn't feel right selling a boat that isn't "ready to go". He has backups for everything. The boat is launched and sailing, not rotting in a yard.

I've talked to probably 20 owners over the last month. This is the guy. This is the boat. We're stoked! Cautiously.

As for a bigger boat, likely correct. I know the deal, started sailing a 16 foot AMF Bandit when I was 7. Freedom 21 by 10 years old, we sailed all of LI sound. 4 years later, Sabre 34. Sailed from NYC to East Penobscot. Bristol 35.5, then Able 42. A little Blue Water moving a big Hinckley. Raced a Tartan 41, and Bene 34. I sailed a bunch of big boats, and hung out with very experienced sailors as we cruised and raced. I know where this all goes, and it's calling to me after 20 years in the Green Mtns exploring every mtn, river, trail. This boat will be back in the briny sea before all is said and done, and we may sail away forever on a P 424 or the like....if the family even enjoys sailing at all. I might be a little ahead of myself, the boat might be rotted, and the search continues...but the search is fun! She'll be a great boat for Champlain, and could take us pretty far before the NEED for more boat.

[Don C L]

Actually I agree, the previous owner makes or breaks a boat. If the owner doesn’t want to show you every nook and cranny, and proudly tell of all the fun adventures he or she has had, something’s wrong; there will likely be big repair/update expenditures in the future.

[Dpackie]

Jane was in rough shape. I met and stayed with the previous owner, who has reached the age where he can no longer sail. We looked at the boat and took her out to sail. I told him I thought someone could bring her back, but it was too much for us to take on with our budget. He decided he wanted to give me his boat instead of try and sell it to someone else.

OK. So now we'll pull here out of the water, and take a really close look at her. If things aren't too terrifying I'll put my money into the major issues I can address right away and bring her up to Champlain.

Survey. Lifelines. Headsail (used). Tiller Slop. Chase leaks. Bottom Paint/hull refresh.

If I think about it too much I get a little sea sick, but it's an offer I have to consider.

Dave

[Don C L]

Yes, don't make Bristol the enemy of the seaworthy, I'd say. I had/have the same dilemma with my boat regularly. If I had waited to take care of every little bug in my old boat we would never have gone anywhere. ( I am currently STILL putting off the paint job because I know how much it will disable my boat and how much time in prep there will be. And by the way, I think my kids have MORE fun on a cosmetically challenged boat because I am NOT yelling at them to stay off the varnish or to stop dragging their stuff across the brand new paint job!) Sort out that which is cosmetic and that which is absolutely necessary, and those things in between. Sounds like the previous owner really loved that boat, though he may have fallen behind in some things. If the rigging is good and the sails are serviceable and the hull holds water out, there is a lot of fun to be had sailing her! A CD 25 is a very solid and a very sweet little boat, she's a great boat to fix up while you sail her. So I say your plan to take care of the big things for now is a good one. And tiller slop is not a deal-breaker. My old boat, a 24 footer, had that too and I made some plastic shims out of a clorox bottle to fit in the gudgeon and when they wore out, I put in new ones. Good luck, keep us posted and let's see those photos!

[Greatest Lakes]

Can confirm. A CD25 is terribly affordable compared to a lot of other stuff, and is far more comfortable than most expect underway. Boats are never ending projects, some more than others. At some point though, you just have to put the sails up and go. The loud crash from below was probably nothing.

[gonesail]

good luck with your new boat. check out the cape dory website for more information: Cape Dory Board.

[406Columbia]

What a beautiful little boat! Cant wait to see pictures and sounds like an adventure. Shame she fell into disrepair but at least its a solid design and easy on the eye.

[LittleWing77]

Originally Posted by Dpackie

Jane was in rough shape. We looked at the boat and took her out to sail. I told him I thought someone could bring her back, but it was too much for us to take on with our budget. He decided he wanted to give me his boat instead of try and sell it to someone else.

So now we'll pull her out of the water and take a really close look at her. If things aren't too terrifying I'll put my money into the major issues I can address right away and bring her up to Champlain.

Survey. Lifelines. Headsail (used). Tiller Slop. Chase leaks. Bottom Paint/hull refresh.

If I think about it too much I get a little seasick, but it's an offer I have to consider.

Originally Posted by Don C L

Don't make Bristol the enemy of the seaworthy, I'd say. I had/have the same dilemma with my boat regularly. If I had waited to take care of every little bug, we would never have gone anywhere. (By the way, I think my kids have MORE fun on a cosmetically challenged boat because I am NOT yelling at them to stay off the varnish or to stop dragging their stuff across the brand new paint!)

Sort out that which is cosmetic and that which is absolutely necessary, and those things in between.

Sounds like the previous owner really loved that boat, though he may have fallen behind in some things.

If the rigging is good and the sails are serviceable and the hull holds water out, there is a lot of fun to be had sailing her! A CD 25 is a very solid and a very sweet little boat, she's a great boat to fix up while you sail her.

I say your plan to take care of the big things for now is a good one. And tiller slop is not a deal-breaker. My old boat, a 24-footer, had that too and I made some plastic shims out of a clorox bottle to fit in the gudgeon and when they wore out, I put in new ones.

Seems that you're falling somewhere between yourself and Don, hopefully retaining the "proceeding cautiously" perspective you already mentioned.

Only YOU can judge how much work is worth taking on and/or within your budget. I would urge you to pay attention to your gut and **your own** highlighted phrases above. They may be offering a guide that you're not yet willing to listen to.

Remember the most expensive boat can often be a "free" boat. A Grampian 26 came on offer last week - free or close - and the amount of work it needs (just what I could see from the pictures alone) would break me - not to mention the TIME it would take!

I would rather be sailing.

Best of luck with your decision.
It IS a hard one,
LittleWing77

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Dpackie

Jane was in rough shape. I met and stayed with the previous owner, who has reached the age where he can no longer sail. We looked at the boat and took her out to sail. I told him I thought someone could bring her back, but it was too much for us to take on with our budget. He decided he wanted to give me his boat instead of try and sell it to someone else.

OK. So now we'll pull here out of the water, and take a really close look at her. If things aren't too terrifying I'll put my money into the major issues I can address right away and bring her up to Champlain.

Survey. Lifelines. Headsail (used). Tiller Slop. Chase leaks. Bottom Paint/hull refresh.

If I think about it too much I get a little sea sick, but it's an offer I have to consider.

Dave

The important thing is that the boat is sailable!

I paid $2,000 for my free boat in 2011 and slowly while sailing it the entire time brought it back to decent shape.

My boat had sat on the hard for 5 years unattended.

Lifelines aren't really a problem. I replaced mine with Polyester/Dyneema line that I tied on.

Tiller slop could just be the bolts where it attaches to the rudder. (if you are lucky)

Bottom paint. I cleaned my boat out of all the PO's junk then launched it and went sailing then the diesel blew and it went from there. I put a new main on it, new outboard, replaced the autopilot, added solar, painted the interior, etc, etc

I used the 90's era electronics until just recently when they failed except I did find a replacement depth finder display on Ebay that was exactly like the original which plugged right in.

Some before and after photos attached. This slowly since 2011 until 2019/20

Btw, in the picture of my boat on the hard 2nd row the boat to the right is a CD25! It has the blue bottom paint. They did a great job of bringing that boat back. The good thing about bringing back a CD25 is that it isn't that big. Bringing back a 40' or larger boat is a real job.