The Cape Dory Board

CD friends, just a note to say that I've put my beloved 27 up for sale. Kids in college and other priorities means a temporary hiatus from the CD and sailing community. I can give you any info you may wish about the boat since I've done a lot to improve her over the past ten years. Listing at http:/...

Thanks for all the good advice. I've made it to Duck Island Roads, CT. I've had crew so far and hope we can get through NYC before he has to disembark. Then I'm on my own. I've been able to afford jacklines and a tether but not the ST2000 as I had hoped. The good news is that I've had more luck tyin...

Interestingly the engine has been doing great the last two weeks. I've been running it a lot as I make my way down the coast -- now in Duck Island Roads, CT. Seems to be true that the boat is happiest when it is being used well.

My engine is acting strange in a couple of ways. The persistent issue is that after running for a couple of hours it suddenly loses power. The RPMs go down remarkably. All we have is a oil pressure indicator and that seems fine, as does the exhaust water. When we let it cool down and restart it, it ...

I plan to be sailing down the Atlantic in my 27 in late August and early September. Destination: Charleston. I'm looking for any available free moorings, good anchoring coves, friends, and, possibly, crew to embark anywhere south of NYC. I've never been south of Plymouth Bay so it's all new to me. S...

We have a CD27 as well. I've often wondered about living aboard in a more tropical clime than Maine. It seems to me that the boat would be too small even for one for very long and that books and what not would quickly get in the way. But I suppose with an iPad or similar that becomes less of an issu...

Although expensive, I found that adding the inflatable RID kit to my Walker Bay 8 helped immensely with issues of load and stability. It rows fine this way as well. I added a used yamaha 2.5 to the boat a few years ago to get across the large and choppy Belfast bay to our mooring site. Before the RI...

Well here are before and after photos of what I hope is the big fix for the locker lid rattle. Note in the photos the huge :wink: difference between the bare teak blocks and the ones with a little bit of self-adhesive weather stripping. It cost about $5 at the home store. It seems to work and if it ...

My CD27 doesn't have a teak rail. It is a fiberglass rail but there is a teak block, I believe. I'll try to remember to snap a pic of it tomorrow.

The hatch should evenly compress a seal along the entire lip. However, I found the space to be uneven. The gap on the edge along the hinge was ~ 3/8", but ~ 5/8" on the other side. I built up the required seal with neoprene rubber. Remarkable photo, hilbert. Thanks for this idea. Neoprene...

Interestingly it isn't really the hasps that are rattling most noisily, but the lid itself on its seat. Of course the hasps rattle as well but less loudly.

Okay, here is a topic that is crucial to our mental survival as sailors: Whenever we are motoring in our CD 27, the left and right locker lids in the cockpit rattle loudly, especially when at about half throttle. We have learned to stand or sit on top of them when that happens, but that doesn't work...

Thanks for all of this help, everyone. I like the idea of mounting it on the coaming, by which think you mean the vertical teak surface. It would require one of the extension rods, I believe. I think it would hit the tiller at a better spot as well and keep me from having to attach a metal adapter t...

Thanks to all who suggested the Raymarine ST2000 autopilot. As I prepare to install it, I wonder where the best place to mount it may be given the load it has to carry. I'm wary about putting the socket on the starboard cockpit locker cover (seat) given the relative thinness of the glass there and t...

Very helpful. I've done some reading today and think that I'll put the ST2000 on my self gift list for the summer. Activecaptain.com looks great. Didn't know about that.
Thanks for these great tips.