ANATOMY OF THE KEEL PROBLEM/SOLUTION

I went down to the marina, yesterday. I don't know if I was expecting the boat to fix itself or, by some miracle, the problem had somehow fixed itself. Unfortunately, the keel cable was still kaput and it still fell on me to fix this. Oh well. Fortunately, I have gotten tons of advice from many diverse sources. Some of the advice was on point. I gratefully received all of the advice. I am persuaded that I can fix this without inventing some novel approach to boat repair. The first step for me will be to (1) decide upon a specific repair plan, (2) marshal all of the equipment/ tools necessary, (3) estimate the manpower needs and costs for this project, (4) define the objective that I wish to achieve. In nutshell, I will plan the work. However, I will keep in mind that when or if all else fails, keep smiling. Stay Tuned

Happy Sailing

Life and times of Ann best

As promised, I went down to the marina to assess any storm damage. There was damage. At some point, the ruddder lost a lower pintle. No Problem, I had a spare pintle. For the uniniated, the pintles are the parts that hold the rudder onto the stern of the boat. For some unknown reason, I had the presence of mind to buy extra pintles via an internet sale. I wonder if some unconscious premonition prepared me for this minor disaster. However, the worst was yet to be discovered. On the Catalina 22, the keel is raised and lowered by means of a cable and winch. The aft end of the keel is attached to this cable. In essence this is an ingenious system which makes it possible for a boat to both have a long keel and be trailerable at the same time. The designer, Frank Butler, came up with this idea which makes it possible to trailer your boat easily merely by raising the keel. The length of the keel goes from from five to two feet in an instant. However, if this cable breaks there is a major catastrophe. The challenge becomes easy to articulate: How does one get the boat onto a trailer? As such the boat now sits three feet higher than the trailer is designed to accommodate. The keel weighs 550 lbs. It pivots on its forward edge by way of a pin bolted to the underside of the boat. The job will be to get the swing keel to swing up the requisite three feet without the use of it's cable and winch . I hope this all makes sense to you. Stay tuned for further developments. The photo shows the frayed end of the cable and a portion of the winch.

Happy Sailing

THE MASTSTEP PROBLEM-REVISITED

The repair kit arrived from Catalina Direct. Please see my blog of 9/13/09 for background on this problem.I 've had the A boat in the water now for approximately two weeks. We have had some bad weather during this period for a few days. Now, she will get a detailed inspection, by me and others, to see if the keel bolt repair did what it was supposed to do, ie keep the keel attached to the bottom of the boat. Stay tuned. You will note, I've included a photo of the maststep repair kit. It will set you back approx. $31.00. Query, could it have been done cheaper? Probably. However, now is not the time to take chances.

Happy Sailing

INTO THE WATER SHE GOES

I put the boat into the water, yesterday. It was time to find out if she'd float. I motored for a little while. I didn't encounter any problems. The winds were gusting at about 5 to 10 mph from the west on the lake. I put her into a slip for the night though the mast step repair/upgrade awaits completion. I'm waiting on parts from Catalina Direct. Sometime later today, I'll inspect her further. There was a storm front that came through our area last night. I am hopeful she rode it out well.

Happy Sailing