TunedRef
New Member
Hi! I recently bought a '95 Catalina 14.2, and I'm very excited to own my first boat. I used to crew on J24s and the occasional FJ back in college, and I've rented Lasers and Hobies a handful of times on vacations, so I know a little bit about sailing, but this is the first time its my own boat, and suddenly I'm responsible for stuff like rigging it, negotiating boat ramps, it's a lot of fast learning and I'm loving it.
I bought the boat for a pretty good deal, knowing it had a leak in the centerboard area, but thanks to a thread I found on this forum, i felt confident pulling the centerboard, getting the boat flipped over in my front yard, finding an obvious gap, and filling it with 3M 4200. So far it seems to be holding great.
I dunked it in a lake up here in New Hampshire for the first time last weekend, and I had a great time despite a number of, lets call them educational moments.
-I forgot to plug the drain plug before dunking the trailer, didn't plug it until right after we left the boat ramp. I decided to carry on, thinking maybe a slower boat wouldn't be the worst first outing, especially with 2 adults and 2 kids on board. And hey, the water didn't finish draining until I got all the way home parked on my steep driveway, so I think my hull repair held!
-About 7kts of wind coming straight towards the ramp and dock, and I had a pretty hard time getting out into deeper water. It was tough to keep the boat facing towards the wind, one of us had to jump out several times and push it away from rocks, trying to turn it towards the wind to raise sails, and then again a few minutes later, I couldn't get enough momentum to effectively use the tiller and I kept drifting towards shore. Once we did escape from shore though, it really sailed fine. It felt very stable and predictable, and at one point the wind picked up to where I had to lean off the side of the boat, so good! I think next time if the wind is similar, I might try to paddle away from shore a bit before raising the sails.
-Pointing ability was just OK. Measuring the angles on the GPS tracking from my FitBit, on average we were doing 64 degrees off the wind. I don't think that's great, but enough to sail upwind and anchor on the sandbar with all the power boats, let the kids swim. My cheap Amazon grapple anchor didn't hold very well, pretty sure I need to find a Danforth.
Kids loved jumping off the boat on the sandbar, and I definitely want a swim ladder. On the port side of the transom I have the motor mount and an inspection port. Peaking inside the motor mount is bolted into two rectangular pieces of wood on the inside of the transom. Figure I can add a port to the starboard side and rig a ladder in the same fashion.
I found quite a bit of discussion about pointing related to the traveler. My traveler line was way too short and way too thick, so I bought a new line from West Marine, added some knots so the mainsheet block only has about an inch of room to move side to side, and is now sitting about 26", 26.5" above the transom. Between that and the not letting water fill the hull at the boat ramp, I assume performance should only be better.
I have a couple questions about my Furling Jib. There seems to be no Jib Halyard, I just attach the ends of what I guess is still called the forestay to the mast and the bow, one of us pulls on that as the other steps the mast. Then I unroll the jib and good to go. Is it normal to not have a jib halyard if you have a furler? The guy in this Youtube video seems like it makes it easier to step the mast. (
) Besides stepping, I imagine it would allow me to adjust the tension underway. I attached a picture of how my furled jib/forestay attaches to the mast, right above what I believe is the jib's halyard pulley. How legit or how wrong is this?
The previous owner warned me that the string (furling line?) that's spooled up on the bottom had ripped and is not long enough, so I've just been reaching forward and furling by hand. That will be the next line I replace. Does anyone know the correct length and diameter for it? The furling mechanism is not listed in my manual.
Last question is about negotiating the boat ramp, cleats, fenders. I have a couple good cleats on either end of the transom, but nothing up front besides the bow loop. How do you guys mount fenders or something to keep from bumping up against the dock? My crew held the boat at the dock with a line, but also had the kids. Just in the minute it took me to go get the car it banged up against the dock more than I'd prefer to have happen again. I only managed to find one small fender in a local store, but if I can't find more I'm going to at least try to use some pool noodles.
This is really awesome though, I've been talking about buying a boat for years, and finally pulled the trigger. I'm watching a couple thunderstorms on this weekend's forecast, but if they don't materialize I'm going to go again!
I bought the boat for a pretty good deal, knowing it had a leak in the centerboard area, but thanks to a thread I found on this forum, i felt confident pulling the centerboard, getting the boat flipped over in my front yard, finding an obvious gap, and filling it with 3M 4200. So far it seems to be holding great.
I dunked it in a lake up here in New Hampshire for the first time last weekend, and I had a great time despite a number of, lets call them educational moments.
-I forgot to plug the drain plug before dunking the trailer, didn't plug it until right after we left the boat ramp. I decided to carry on, thinking maybe a slower boat wouldn't be the worst first outing, especially with 2 adults and 2 kids on board. And hey, the water didn't finish draining until I got all the way home parked on my steep driveway, so I think my hull repair held!
-About 7kts of wind coming straight towards the ramp and dock, and I had a pretty hard time getting out into deeper water. It was tough to keep the boat facing towards the wind, one of us had to jump out several times and push it away from rocks, trying to turn it towards the wind to raise sails, and then again a few minutes later, I couldn't get enough momentum to effectively use the tiller and I kept drifting towards shore. Once we did escape from shore though, it really sailed fine. It felt very stable and predictable, and at one point the wind picked up to where I had to lean off the side of the boat, so good! I think next time if the wind is similar, I might try to paddle away from shore a bit before raising the sails.
-Pointing ability was just OK. Measuring the angles on the GPS tracking from my FitBit, on average we were doing 64 degrees off the wind. I don't think that's great, but enough to sail upwind and anchor on the sandbar with all the power boats, let the kids swim. My cheap Amazon grapple anchor didn't hold very well, pretty sure I need to find a Danforth.
Kids loved jumping off the boat on the sandbar, and I definitely want a swim ladder. On the port side of the transom I have the motor mount and an inspection port. Peaking inside the motor mount is bolted into two rectangular pieces of wood on the inside of the transom. Figure I can add a port to the starboard side and rig a ladder in the same fashion.
I found quite a bit of discussion about pointing related to the traveler. My traveler line was way too short and way too thick, so I bought a new line from West Marine, added some knots so the mainsheet block only has about an inch of room to move side to side, and is now sitting about 26", 26.5" above the transom. Between that and the not letting water fill the hull at the boat ramp, I assume performance should only be better.
I have a couple questions about my Furling Jib. There seems to be no Jib Halyard, I just attach the ends of what I guess is still called the forestay to the mast and the bow, one of us pulls on that as the other steps the mast. Then I unroll the jib and good to go. Is it normal to not have a jib halyard if you have a furler? The guy in this Youtube video seems like it makes it easier to step the mast. (
The previous owner warned me that the string (furling line?) that's spooled up on the bottom had ripped and is not long enough, so I've just been reaching forward and furling by hand. That will be the next line I replace. Does anyone know the correct length and diameter for it? The furling mechanism is not listed in my manual.
Last question is about negotiating the boat ramp, cleats, fenders. I have a couple good cleats on either end of the transom, but nothing up front besides the bow loop. How do you guys mount fenders or something to keep from bumping up against the dock? My crew held the boat at the dock with a line, but also had the kids. Just in the minute it took me to go get the car it banged up against the dock more than I'd prefer to have happen again. I only managed to find one small fender in a local store, but if I can't find more I'm going to at least try to use some pool noodles.
This is really awesome though, I've been talking about buying a boat for years, and finally pulled the trigger. I'm watching a couple thunderstorms on this weekend's forecast, but if they don't materialize I'm going to go again!