With the sailing rig in hand and my prototype fifteen-footer done, it was time for sea trials. I hauled the boat up to "The Nip" and took her for a shake-down cruise. This was the first boat I had ever created from concept through design and construction, and I was very pleased with the results. The boat rowed easily and was lively and re
With the sailing rig in hand and my prototype fifteen-footer done, it was time for sea trials. I hauled the boat up to "The Nip" and took her for a shake-down cruise. This was the first boat I had ever created from concept through design and construction, and I was very pleased with the results. The boat rowed easily and was lively and responsive under sail. It looked like I had a winner. But I was still lacking one thing - a company name.
I wanted something that reflected my association with Cape Cod, near which I was born and raised and where I had spent a considerable amount of time. Thus the name of my newly-fledged company: Cape Dory
The eighteen-footer, a lovely little boat called the Typhoon, was designed by naval architect Carl Alberg. With its smaller size, and both hull and deck molds, it was much simpler to put into production than the Hood 30, and we started building them soon after I acquired the tooling.
As it turned out, the boat which I had initially decide
The eighteen-footer, a lovely little boat called the Typhoon, was designed by naval architect Carl Alberg. With its smaller size, and both hull and deck molds, it was much simpler to put into production than the Hood 30, and we started building them soon after I acquired the tooling.
As it turned out, the boat which I had initially decided against bidding on would be the boat that sent Cape Dory off on a bold and wildly successful new course.
The five-thousand-square-foot building we had built behind the original freight station was ready to go by then, and that gave us the space to start producing the larger, more complicated boats. Initially, we had two or three people working on the Typhoon, but soon we had to get more crew in the molding shop, and then more for assembly, a
The five-thousand-square-foot building we had built behind the original freight station was ready to go by then, and that gave us the space to start producing the larger, more complicated boats. Initially, we had two or three people working on the Typhoon, but soon we had to get more crew in the molding shop, and then more for assembly, and then one thing led to another.
Typhoon production went from one boat every two weeks to one boat a week and finally one boat or more per day. By the time we were really going full steam, we must have had ten or twelve people just building Typhoons, while others were still working on the smaller boats.
The Cape Dory 28 Trawler was something entirely new for the Cape Dory line. At that point, we had around sixty Cape Dory dealers, but most of them were not interested in power boats, for one reason or another. Only twenty or so were willing to take on the new boats, so we started shipping Cape Dory 28 Trawlers out to them. And right off t
The Cape Dory 28 Trawler was something entirely new for the Cape Dory line. At that point, we had around sixty Cape Dory dealers, but most of them were not interested in power boats, for one reason or another. Only twenty or so were willing to take on the new boats, so we started shipping Cape Dory 28 Trawlers out to them. And right off the bat, those dealers were able to start turning boats over to their customers.
From the get-go, the Cape Dory 28T was a popular boat.
We built 223 CD 28Ts and were still building them right up to the end. It was by far our most popular powerboat, and one of our most popular boats overall. Even as the market for sailboats was sinking around us, the Cape Dory 28 Trawler kept us afloat.
The 300 MS, was designed as a proper motorsailer, a boat that could move very nicely under a tall, well-proportioned rig as well as with her forty-six-horsepower Westerbeke diesel. This was a boat built for comfort, with an older buyer in mind, one who was done with bashing along in an open cockpit sailboat. She had a full keel like a sai
The 300 MS, was designed as a proper motorsailer, a boat that could move very nicely under a tall, well-proportioned rig as well as with her forty-six-horsepower Westerbeke diesel. This was a boat built for comfort, with an older buyer in mind, one who was done with bashing along in an open cockpit sailboat. She had a full keel like a sailboat, and more than eleven feet of beam, a lot for a thirty-foot boat. Even under a press of sail, she stood up pretty well and did not heel excessively.
The pilot house featured seats with the ever-important arm rests, sliding windows, and vents for all the breeze you could want. There was a wide cockpit aft with seats that folded down, and an opening transom with an optional swim platform. With that platform, it was a cinch to bring a boat up to the stern and let the passengers board the boat.
As a smaller sister to the now established 36 PowerYacht the overall hull characteristics followed the same theme. Modern but with homage to traditional New England boats. The 33, as the 36, was to be a rugged well-built seaworthy powerboat that could be handled by a couple and provide years of enjoyment to a family.
The CD 33 PY proved to
As a smaller sister to the now established 36 PowerYacht the overall hull characteristics followed the same theme. Modern but with homage to traditional New England boats. The 33, as the 36, was to be a rugged well-built seaworthy powerboat that could be handled by a couple and provide years of enjoyment to a family.
The CD 33 PY proved to be a popular boat. It was introduced in 1988 and we sold twenty-two of them, almost twice as many as the CD 36 PY. Now we seemed to be on a roll. Our strategy for our sailboat line had been to offer a wide variety of sizes so that Cape Dory customers could get in where they were comfortable and have some place to move up to when they were ready for a larger boat. There was no reason that that would not work with powerboats as well, so we continued to expand our line.