Here's a good tip for you:

Check out the site at www.c-brat.com

It's a C-Dory owner's group. You should find some contacts and comments
there that will help you in your deliberations, and everybody is an
experieced C-Dory owner. If Brock Arnold has an email address on the
website, he'll be happy to put you in touch with folks who have
extensive experience in 16-foot C-Dory boats.

(At the recent Seattle Boat Show, I met a couple who say they *live
aboard* (!) a 22-footer)

If Jehovah designed a 16-foot boat, St Joseph the carpenter built it,
and John the Baptist christened it, I'd still personally be really
reluctant to take it out in serious chop. (Rollers are one thing, chop
is another, both are technically "waves"). 4-foot, 5-foot, 6-foot chop?
That falls under my definition of "serious".

It sounds like your salesperson was putting a serious spin on things.
Spray flying over the windshield is tough enough to deal with, nobody
routinely boats in conditions where waves are "crashing" (or breaking)
over the windshield........they get a bigger boat.