Well, my Dad's buying a Cadorette...

[Tyke]

...a Cadorette Nuova 170, to be precise. I don't know too much about it, except it's 17 feet long and he's paying $8 grand for it. He took it out for a spin and it seems to run great. It was built in 1991.<br /><br />So, I was looking around for info on Cadorettes, hoping to find some reviews or something on epinions, and there's nothing there. The Cadorette website seems to be exclusively in French. Any one have any general sense of the brand? Neither of us know anything about boats...is there a good 'checklist' for buying a boat secondhand that I could get somewhere?

 

[studlymandingo]

Re: Well, my Dad's buying a Cadorette...

Welcome to iboats!!!<br /><br />I've never heard of the brand, it's a 15 year-old boat. You should post some more information... what type of hull (fiberglass, wood?) what type of propulsion system (I/O, outboard, jet drive, inboard?) What size is the motor? Has the motor been replaced or rebuilt recently? What is the intended use of the boat? Will you be running it in a lake, river, bay, open ocean? These things will give us a better idea of what you are looking at. <br /><br />There are several lists in this forum that will give you an idea of what to look for. Use the red "SEARCH" button at the top of this page and you will find many many posts on things to look for. <br /><br />There are many boats in that year/size range that are less expensive than this boat. If it has a brand new motor or something, it could very well be worth that much.

 

[Boatin Bob]

Re: Well, my Dad's buying a Cadorette...

I can try and give you a little history about them. Back in the Eighties they were a good company producing decent boats in Quebec, Canada along with Doral and Thundercraft. In the early 90's a mini recession hit and the first casualty was Thundercraft to go under. Cadorette had always struggled with their name so they went ahead and bought the Thundercraft name but the only boat from the Thundercraft line that they produced was the 34' which was called a 340 and they renamed it to a 350 (ironically this 340 was a big contributor to putting Thundercraft out of business, too much investment at the wrong time) Anyway Cadorette starting naming their boats Thundecraft by Cadorette I believe in 1992. They did this for a couple of years and then Doral fell under hard times so Cadorette bought them too and now you have all 3 in one. They struggled for a few years and Doral ownership changed hands a few times was even picked up by a French (France) company famous for sailboats called Junneau but since the last ownership change things have been pretty stable and Doral seems to be doing fine. Sorry for getting off track but about your Cadorette, they were a well built boat but with any boat that old you need to really check things like the floor, stringers, engine and drive. If your Dad has already bought then there's not much to be done but if not then you may even want to contact a local surveyor and see if he will give you a small boat survey for a couple of hundred $$, could be the best money you've ever spent.

 

[Tyke]

Re: Well, my Dad's buying a Cadorette...

Thanks guys! I'll see if I can get some more info. I know it's a bowrider, and that price is in Canadian dollars. It'll be used in Georgian Bay and Lake Ontario. I've passed this info on to my Dad (thanks for the history lesson!) <br /><br />He hasn't actually 'bought' it yet, but he's indicated that he's very interested. Now he's running around trying to figure out if he would be making a mistake.

 

[Tyke]

Re: Well, my Dad's buying a Cadorette...

Well, here's a picture:<br /><br /> http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e267/Glyke/Picture057.jpg <br /><br />and some specs:<br /><br />1991 Cadorette Nuova 170 Bowrider, 17 feet, 3.0 Liter 130 HP, OMC

 

[cobra 3.0]

Re: Well, my Dad's buying a Cadorette...

...ahhh OMC. I have an OMC and it's ok. Just be aware that OMC no longer makes drives and their worth is less than the popular Mercruiser. I'd bargain him down or keep looking just because of the drive being an OMC. It's becoming more difficult to find affordable parts(compared to Merc) and there are less and less mechanics working on them.

 

[Tyke]

Re: Well, my Dad's buying a Cadorette...

I will duly warn him...we'll see what he says. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[studlymandingo]

Re: Well, my Dad's buying a Cadorette...

Where are you located? Here in west central Florida, 15 yr old bowriders are easy to come by for much less than 8K. You may want to have him check around, may run into a great deal.<br /><br />The pic looks nice, but I think I would negotiate on the price a bit. Especially with the OMC outdrive. <br />

 

[Tyke]

Re: Well, my Dad's buying a Cadorette...

We're in Toronto, Canada. It looks like in American dollars that would be about $7,134...does that sound a little more reasonable for this boat? Or should we definitely haggle anyway?

 

[tommays]

Re: Well, my Dad's buying a Cadorette...

It looks like a great boat EXCPET for the OMC drive<br /><br />I would never knock a persons boat BUT walk away and find a boat with a Volvo or Merc driveline that you will be able to get parts and service in the long term<br /><br /><br />tommays

 

[Tyke]

Re: Well, my Dad's buying a Cadorette...

Well, one last piece of info, apparently the hours of use are very low for a boat this old (250 hours?).<br /><br />Anyhow, it looks like, despite the OMC drive, he's going to go for it. Here's hoping everything works out well, and at least now we have some idea of what we're getting into. <br /><br />Thanks so much for the feedback guys!

 

[Boatin Bob]

Re: Well, my Dad's buying a Cadorette...

Well at least being a 1991 OMC it's just a regular Cobra nothing fancy so there should still be a good supply for parts and hopefully if you need it you can find someone that knows how to work on them. If you or your dad plan on doing any work on it yourselves I strongly recommend you get a service manual....good luck and Happy Boating!