This bulletin board, hosted by the CDSOA, Inc., is the on-line meeting place for all Cape Dory owners and groups. We welcome everyone's questions, answers and comments about Cape Dory sailboat
Our first Cape Dory was a 1976 CD25 with light blue decks. We bought her on Long Island Sound, sailed her around the Jersey coast and up the Delaware, and after several years of keeping her near Burlington, NJ, moved her to the Chesapeake. We cruised her all over the upper Bay before selling her for a CD 27. A sweet boat!
After the 9.9 Merc that came with her stopped cooling itself, we bought a 6 hp Johnson. That was plenty. Make sure you fit the motor with a hose to lead the exhaust under water; otherwise you'll need to leave the lid of the engine compartment open.
We had a working jib and a ca. 150 genny, and that was a good match. After toying with the original, primitive roller furling on the main, we installed conventional reefing points (2 rows). She wants to be reefed early when going to windward.
Ann and David Brownlee
Cape Dory 31 #1 "Windrush"
Havre de Grace, MD
Welcome aboard! I love my CD25. We went out for a short sail today. We just unfurled the head sail in 10 knots and reached at a decent pace.
I have a 6hp 4 stroke Nissan. It works and apparently it's light, but it still is awkward to put in and take out every day. I am working on an ol 2hp Suzuki dt2. It will be great for going into and out of the slip.
I took it out with the wife and kids (3yo & 1yo) yesterday morning after a LOT of cleaning. We only had about 6knt of wind, so we never got her over 2-3. Today we tried again...same results.
But TONIGHT...I took her out again when Angie took the kids home, and had a better experience. About 15knts of wind, and we were really cooking. The lake was flat and we were on a great reach for about 45min at 6-7knts.
I replaced the jib halyard, and a few other lines. We definitely need to spend some time wet-sanding the deck and fixing the gel-coat cracks. The teak is in desperate need of lovin'. But we love it.