Cape Dory 25D

The Cape Dory 25D is a 25 ft (7.62 m) full-keel pocket cruiser designed by Carl Alberg and built by Cape Dory Yachts of East Taunton, Massachusetts from 1981 to 1985, with 189 hulls completed. The "D" denotes its inboard diesel — a one-cylinder Yanmar — and distinguishes it from the earlier, lighter, outboard-powered Cape Dory 25, an unrelated George Stadel design.

Cape Dory's original 25 (1973–1982, 845 built) was a raised-freeboard version of the Allied Greenwich 24 by George Stadel; when its sales faded Cape Dory commissioned Alberg for a replacement that shares only the overall length. The 25D was wider, heavier and deeper, with an inboard engine and a radically different interior, and was marketed as a serious small cruising yacht rather than a weekender; some period material called it the Cape Dory 25 Mark II. After Cape Dory closed in 1992 the moulds passed to C. W. Hood Yachts of Marblehead, which built a handful of boats around 1996 as the Octavia 25.

A classic Alberg hull: long overhangs, narrow 8 ft beam, a full keel with 2,050 lb of encapsulated ballast (40% of displacement) and a keel-attached rudder, carrying a 304 sq ft masthead sloop rig (I 32 ft, J 10.25 ft, P 27.25 ft, E 10.25 ft). The interior dispenses with the conventional V-berth: the head is in the bow, the galley to port amidships, two settees and a starboard quarter berth, which lets the cabin trunk give nearly 5 ft 11 in of headroom — unusual for a 25-footer of its era. Power is a Yanmar 1GM (7.5–8 hp) single-cylinder diesel with a 13 US gal tank; 20 US gal of water.

There are no factory generations or keel/rig options; the only distinction worth recording is Cape Dory production (1981–1985) versus the few C. W. Hood "Octavia 25" boats. The Cape Dory 25 (Stadel design, 1973–1982) is a different boat and is not part of this family.

Practical Sailor's free summary gives the overall length as 24 ft 10 in for both the 25 and the 25D; every spec sheet gives the 25D as 25.00 ft, and the 24.83 ft figure matches the older Cape Dory 25, so 25.00 ft is used. Engine output is quoted as 7.5 hp (Yanmar 1QM) or 8 hp (Yanmar 1GM) depending on source.

The Yanmar 1GM is simple and long-lived but check for raw-water corrosion of the exhaust elbow and mixing elbow, and confirm the shaft log and stuffing box. The shower drains to the bilge, so look for a smelly or wet bilge. Bronze hardware, teak trim and the 1980s deck core should be checked for water ingress at the chainplates and stanchions. With fewer than 200 built, clean examples hold value well; the Cape Dory Sailboat Owners Association (capedory.org) keeps a specifications page and an active board for this model.