14 Cape Dory

[John Schafer]

Thinking about buying a 14 CD as a tender for my 40 CD, but know nothing about them. Does anybody know anything about their performance, qualities good and bad, price, how do they tow? This is a sailing version, will water come up thru centerboard slot while towing. thanks, J.

[Steve Laume]

The CD-14 is an absolute joy to row. I have a CD-10 and a CD-14. They are both great little boats but the CD-14 rows much better, especially with more than one person on board. It sails better too. It also tows easier. The down side is that it is heavy. This is not an issue if you are not going to pull it up onto beaches. I have gotten around this issue by setting out an anchor and then bringing another line ashore so it stays floating. This is not always easy to do, especially in rocky areas with a far amount of tide. If you do get into a situation where the dinghy wants to attack the mother ship the CD-14 will hit hard due to the extra weight. Bringing it aboard is not a practical option.

So it would depend on how you intend to use it. If you are going to and from docks it would be a great choice. If your plans include beaching it then it starts to lose favor. Plan on coming up with a good fender system to keep it from banging into the big boat, Steve.