It's been a while, but I'm back.

Although it is just January, the preparations begin again!


Catalina 22 Fleet 77 has set the dates for the 2014 Northern Gulf Coast Cruise. You can look at my posts from last spring for our misadventure last year when we tried to join the cruise, only to lose a wheel off the trailer less than 5 miles from home and then discover a hub getting warm about 15 miles later. This year the trailer has a new axle and bearings. We are hopeful that nothing gets in our way this year.


But there are quite a few items on the to-do list before I will feel both we and the boat are really ready for the trip. A few of the items are simple and obvious. We've never actually spent the night onboard. We think we will be able to sleep comfortably by dropping the dinette table and setting a piece of plywood across the cabin. That way, we will sleep with our bodies across the boat, not fore and aft. One factor helping us is the fact that I'm just 5 feet 7 inches tall and my wife is just 5 feet 2 inches.


On the same night or weekend we test the sleeping, we need to figure out the best arrangement for cooking. Early Catalina 22s like ours originally came with a galley that would slide into the starboard quarter berth area. By the time we bought Serene Dream the galley was long gone and I've not been able to find a replacement. Another member of our boat club has an alcohol stove he's willing to part with, but I've never used one so I'm a but shy about it. So we're probably going to use the 2-burner Coleman propane stove we've used for years while camping.


We also plan to hook up the boat & trailer and drag them with us for a couple of trips to gain a little confidence in the trailer & hubs.


This evening (January 30) I installed a replacement traveler car. The old one had worn down the top roller to the point that there was almost no nylon wheel left, just the steel pin.

Other items still on the to-do list include:


Sand & repaint the bottom. I'm thinking of using VC 17, but I also like the sound of the Pettis Vivid line. Not so much for the color, as I'm going for basic red, but both say they are ablative, withstand drying so are trailerable, and take a hard smooth finish.


I plan to remove and refinish all the exterior wood. I may also do some of the interior as the mood strikes me.


Our Catalina fleet plans to do a group maintenance day and replace as many keel cables as we can.


I will add a couple of vertical guide posts to the trailer to help center the boat when we're loading it.


If I can find another couple of 18” stanchions I may try to add lifelines to her. I have one pair, but it takes a total of 4 stanchions.


I hope to find the time to re-route the cockpit drains, enlarging the diameters and leading them out the transom.


I will try to remember to take photos and post them as I do the jobs and hit the snags that invariably occur.


I think I have found a work-around for the water in the gas tank that was plaguing me last year. I have documented it and written it as an maintenance article. I have been told it will appear in the March issue of the Catalina 22 National Association's publication The Mainbrace.


Until the spring thaw I wish I could “See you on the water.”