CD 30,31 or 33?

[Tony Betz]

Greetings to the Forum,
I anticipate purchasing a CD this season and would appreciate hearing members opinions regarding these three sizes. I expect to be cruising Maine waters for two or three days at a time, with some extended two week excursions. At some point I would hope to sail to Bermuda, St.Thomas etc. A good part of my local sailing would be singlehanded. I have looked at a few CD 30's and my experience has been that the best boats are about $35K - if a 31 or 33 could be had for $5000 more, would I be foolish not to stretch my budget and get the larger boat? Or would I be buying in at the bottom of the price range for these boats and unnecessarily increasing my maintenance expenses? I am wainting to see a listing on a 31, it sounds appealing. I would be most grateful for members opinions. Thank you all, Tony Betz



chameleonone@hotmail.com

[Dave Stump]

Tony, I've just purchased my second CD-30, cutter rigged, and I love it as much as the first. I don't think you can go wrong with the 30. Before buying this one I told my first mate that we would buy a boat, sail to Burmuda, and get married under Gibbs Head light. Her response was, "What if we don't make it?". My answer was "Well, then it wasn't meant to be!" She didn't really like that answer, but we should be making the trip within a year. Dave Stump, "Hanalei", Noank, CT.

[Matthew Atkinson]

Greetings to the Forum,
I anticipate purchasing a CD this season and would appreciate hearing members opinions regarding these three sizes. I expect to be cruising Maine waters for two or three days at a time, with some extended two week excursions. At some point I would hope to sail to Bermuda, St.Thomas etc. A good part of my local sailing would be singlehanded. I have looked at a few CD 30's and my experience has been that the best boats are about $35K - if a 31 or 33 could be had for $5000 more, would I be foolish not to stretch my budget and get the larger boat? Or would I be buying in at the bottom of the price range for these boats and unnecessarily increasing my maintenance expenses? I am wainting to see a listing on a 31, it sounds appealing. I would be most grateful for members opinions. Thank you all, Tony Betz

Tony, I bought a 30' cutter with the same cruising plans in mind. I love the boat and have no regrets. However, I am now refitting for extended cruising and space becomes more of an issue, tankage, storage, ect. For example, the forward berths are being devoted to storage. Simply put, any serious cruise with more than two people is out of the question on a 30', except on a crossing where a third is on watch and you are hot-racking (not that you cannot berth 3 or 4 in an emergency, but all soft stuff: sails, clothing duffels, ect., are underfoot. I am not experienced with 31s or 33s so I cannot help you there. As for price, I got a great deal on my 30', but I have learned that there is no end to what can be spent refitting, and that costs go up geometrically with every foot of LOA. Wishing you well, Matthew



matkinson@genesis.law.pace.edu

[Jon Larson]

Jon-David,

Blister's happen to any boat, but with all the talk on here about blisters I've not seen one where it was anything close to a serious or structural problem on any Cape Dory. I've never found one on PERI, but pride goeth before a fall and this is the first time PERI's been in the water for three years and when the time comes to haul, there may be some, and I'll just have them fixed.

Shifted ballest? Ye gods, I guess it's possible if the boat had been dropped by a travel lift or something, there is a sump behind the ballast in the keel that conceivably the ballast could move to. I simply don't see how that could happen in anything like normal usage, though. If the boat had sustained that damage, there has to be other signs of it as well, any quarter way decent surveyor should pick up anything like that.

Jon Larson
Cape Dory 30 PERI
San Francisco Bay

Greetings to the Forum,
I anticipate purchasing a CD this season and would appreciate hearing members opinions regarding these three sizes. I expect to be cruising Maine waters for two or three days at a time, with some extended two week excursions. At some point I would hope to sail to Bermuda, St.Thomas etc. A good part of my local sailing would be singlehanded. I have looked at a few CD 30's and my experience has been that the best boats are about $35K - if a 31 or 33 could be had for $5000 more, would I be foolish not to stretch my budget and get the larger boat? Or would I be buying in at the bottom of the price range for these boats and unnecessarily increasing my maintenance expenses? I am wainting to see a listing on a 31, it sounds appealing. I would be most grateful for members opinions. Thank you all, Tony Betz

jon9@ix.netcom.com

[Tony Betz]

I looked at a CD 30 in which the ballast apparently had shifted over a foot to the rear of the keel. It was a 1979 - the hull was full of blisters, some exposing the material beneath the skin, and the rest of the boat had been poorly treated at best. (Asking 33,000!). Needless to say I am now looking at a 33 with a perfect hull. Anyway, no explanation for shifted ballast - broker said "Oh, I never noticed that!"



chameleonone@hotmail.com

[Tom Coons]

Jon-David,

Blister's happen to any boat, but with all the talk on here about blisters I've not seen one where it was anything close to a serious or structural problem on any Cape Dory. I've never found one on PERI, but pride goeth before a fall and this is the first time PERI's been in the water for three years and when the time comes to haul, there may be some, and I'll just have them fixed.

Shifted ballest? Ye gods, I guess it's possible if the boat had been dropped by a travel lift or something, there is a sump behind the ballast in the keel that conceivably the ballast could move to. I simply don't see how that could happen in anything like normal usage, though. If the boat had sustained that damage, there has to be other signs of it as well, any quarter way decent surveyor should pick up anything like that.

Jon Larson
Cape Dory 30 PERI
San Francisco Bay

Greetings to the Forum,
I anticipate purchasing a CD this season and would appreciate hearing members opinions regarding these three sizes. I expect to be cruising Maine waters for two or three days at a time, with some extended two week excursions. At some point I would hope to sail to Bermuda, St.Thomas etc. A good part of my local sailing would be singlehanded. I have looked at a few CD 30's and my experience has been that the best boats are about $35K - if a 31 or 33 could be had for $5000 more, would I be foolish not to stretch my budget and get the larger boat? Or would I be buying in at the bottom of the price range for these boats and unnecessarily increasing my maintenance expenses? I am wainting to see a listing on a 31, it sounds appealing. I would be most grateful for members opinions. Thank you all, Tony Betz

Tony: The basic rule on boats you're planning to cruise on is to buy the biggest one that you can afford and that your crew can handle. Bigger boats mean bigger sails to handle when it's blowing, bigger anchors to lift into the dinghy when you're kedging off and all of that. If you're young and agile and your spouse is strong and enjoys wrestling in the sheets alone when you're off watch then I would say the bigger the better. I have a CD 31 and bought it because I thought it was the biggest boat I would be able to easily single hand. I don't enjoy singlehanding, but never wanted to be stuck when crewmembers decide they don't like being seasick and are getting off at the next port. The key thing with crusing is having enough storage space. You never have enough. The forepeak on the 31 works if you are short people. Not very adequate for taller folks. A great place to store things though. Hanging nets of fruits and vegetables when the minimal storage in the galley is full. Extra rolls of paper towels and the floorboards for the inflatable and things you don't even think about until you start packing in. Bigger boats motor faster and sail faster because of water line length. If the boats are comparable condition and money is no object then the biggest one your crew can handle by all means. As toi whether a bigger boat in poor shape is better than a smaller boat that is well equipped, that's one of those trade off questions. How bad of condition is the bigger boat in and how good is the condtion and equipment of the smaller? To go to sea you simply must have a dodger and an autopilot, unless you're plannning to write a book with a title like: "Desperate Voyage" --Great book by the way but not because it describes a comfortable voyage. By the way, a 31 is much larger than a 30 and a 33 is much larger than a 31. You may say what's a foot more or less, but it's not just longer, but wider and especially deeper (more storage) because the lockers are deeper the water tanks are larger the chain locker holds motre chain, etc. Of course the property taxes are higher, the haulout costs more, it takes more bottom paint, transient slip rental is higher and all of that. All boats are free once you're offshore (where you going to spend it/) and the bigger the more comfortable, drier, etc. The more time you're spending offshore the bigger boat is better the more time you're gunkholing and staying in transient berths the less important size is. You can always go ashore and get a spare roll of paper towels at the covenience store if you're harbor hopping. If you're going offshore then you need someplace to put the 8 sparerolls you must take with you. Try to fit your boat to your lifestyle if you have the pocketbook to afford it. Good luck and bon voyage!

TacCambria@thegrid.net