SOLD!!

Patience has been sold to a very nice couple who plan to continue to sail in the Long Island Sound area.

Our Boat

Our 1985 Catalina 25 - Patience

Photos

Here is a link to view photos of the boat.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sueandbrian/sets/72157631540818362/with/7988370322/

Description and Equipment

1985 Catalina 25

Fin Keel
Traditional Layout


 Major Additions

Tohatsu 9.8HP Power tilt motor with Electric start - XL 25 inch shaft  - new 2011
150% Reefable Genoa - Kappa Sails - new 2012
Shakespeare mast top antenna - new 2012
Charles Smart battery charger - new 2011
2 - group 24 AGM batteries - new 2012
Sunbrella Tiller, winch, companionway and grabrail covers (Forest Green)- new 2012
Sail Cover (Forest Green) - Excellent condition
Garmin 421 GPS with Depth sounder - new 2011
4 spring heavy duty Motor Mount purchased from Catalina Direct - New 2011
All new side Stays 2011
Adjustable backstay - new 2011
All rope halyards - new 2012
Stainless Nicro Vent - new 2011
Roller furling line - new 2012
Dock lines - new 2011
Motor mount for Dinghy motor - new 2012
Harken Lazy Jacks - new 2012
Racor water separating fuel filter- new 2012

User built modifications

Hatch board storage under starboard settee - 2011
Insulation of icebox - 2011
Custom made swing out GPS mount - 2011
Custom cut - Memory foam mattress topper in V-Berth - 2012
Brightwork exterior refinished with Cetol - 2012
Tiller refinish  - 2012
Interior Teak - Oiled every year
Bottom painted annually

Features

Sleeps 4-5
Extremely Clean
Pop-Top provides 6'4" headroom
Cushions have no rips or tears
Profurl RL25 Jib Roller Furler
Marine head with holding tank and macerator pump
VHF radio
Cockpit cushions
Separate starting battery which charges from the motor
Like new pop top cover
Like new insect screens for front hatch and cabin
Fully Batten Mainsail - 1 Reef Point - no tears or rips, no repairs
Only 2 owners
2 Burner alcohol stove
Galley sink with electric pump
Head sink
Compass
Shore power connection with 50 Foot power cord
Tall Rig great in lighter winds


Included

Lots of spare parts
Spare Tiller
Fenders
Boat Hook
Winch Handles
Lifejackets
Anchor
Remainder of 2012 summer season at Brewers Pilots point in Westbrook, CT
A-Frame and All equipment needed to step the mast

Getting Patience Home

After purchasing our Catalina 25 from a couple in Long Island, we needed to get her home to our marina in Westbrook, Connecticut. We had never captained a boat of this size before so Brian spoke to the owner Jerry, and asked if he would help out. We quickly came up with a plan where Brian would drive down to the Bridgeport Ferry and take the Ferry over to Port Jefferson, Long Island. Jerry would then meet him at the ferry and take him to the boat. They would sail across the sound to Branford and then we would meet them at a marina there and take Jerry to the Ferry in Bridgeport where he could get back to meet his family in Port Jefferson.

Brian would then spend the night on the boat with our son and sail the next day from Branford to Westbrook.

This seemed like a great plan. So Brian got up at 5 the next Saturday to get the process started. All seemed to go well until they started the sail. Of course there was no wind to help them along. They started to motor but quickly realized that Jerry had not filled up the gas tank and they knew they would never make it across. They turned back to Jerry’s home port realizing defeat. Since the trip would take 2 days, they would need to try again.

Brian returned home with some important lessons learned.

The next weekend, they gave it another try and this time despite the lack of wind again, they had a full tank of fuel. They made it without issue to Branford Brewers Bruce & Johnson’s marina. We got Jerry safely back to the ferry and home and now were officially the owners of a new old boat.

I met Brian for dinner and he and our older son spent the night on the boat. In the morning a friend met them and the 3 of them sailed the rest of the way to our home port in Westbrook.

As with most sailing experiences, you learn a lot from each one. This one certainly taught us that conditions will not always be what you want and you need to be prepared with alternatives. We never leave home without a full tank of gas…at least not with the boat.

Sliding Hatch Noise

Honestly we never really were bothered by the sound of our sliding hatch moving but apparently one of our neighbors in the marina was. He has a Catalina 22 in the next dock and came over one morning to offer his advice on a repair.

His suggestion was to purchase some automotive gasket material and put it under the teak slide rails to raise them up just a tiny bit. I read about a few others that had done this as well with some success. Since I was about to refinish the teak at the end of the winter, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to take his advice. We picked up this automotive gasket material from a local store (Benny’s) that sells automotive parts. Total cost was less than $2. This comes in a roll about 12 inches wide and 3 feet long and looks like very thin cork.

I then cut out strips with a utility knife just wide enough to go under the rails without sticking out. I needed 2 strips for each rail since the rails are longer than the 3 foot length. I lined the strips up with the rails and marked the screw holes with an awl into the gasket material so I could easily find them when we went to rebed them on the boat.

I then used some 3M spray adhesive to stick the gasket permanently on to the rails. We then took the rails back to the boat and rebedded them on.

You can see from the photo below where this ends up.

Now moving the hatch is a nice quiete operation.

Spare Gas Tank

We have a 3.1 gallon tank that came with our newer Tohatsu outboard motor.  We also have a Honda 2HP outboard that we use on our dinghy that does not use a separate gas tank.   We like to carry more than that 3.1 gallons for a longer cruise and we needed a small gas tank that we can use to fill our dinghy motor as well as fit in the gas locker on our boat.   So we began to search around at local hardware stores as well as online for a tank that would fit.  The biggest obstacle for  the size was the height.  Several 2 gallon tanks fit in the space next to the larger 3.1 gallon tank but with their pouring spouts on, they became too tall for the gas locker.

I posted a request to other owners of the Catalina but nobody had a great solution other than some smaller 1 gallon tanks or using a second larger tank with a quick disconnect and a siphon to the dinghy outboard.  Since our teenagers are the primary users of the dinghy, I wanted a method that they could operate without too much difficulty and a siphon seemed like too much to worry about.

We finally found a solution yesterday.  We came up with 2 smaller tanks, one is a Blitz 1.1 gallon tank with a trigger type of spout and the other is a No-Spill brand 1.25 gallon tank with a button push spout.  Though we could have fit 2 of the Blitz tanks in the space, the slightly larger No-Spill seemed to have a few benefits including a nicer spout and just a little more capacity.  Unfortunately 2 of the No-spill would not fit due to the wider tank.

They look like a perfect fit in there now.  Take a look.

Catalina 25 Tiller Redo

Now that we have had the Catalina for a year, we are on to the wood refinishing projects. I’ve been working for a few weeks on the teak but while we were at the boat last week getting the mast raised, we took a look at the tiller and quickly realized that it needed some work. So we took it off and brought it home to work on.

Tiller Before Sanding and Finishing

I did a bit of reading about the best way to strip the old varnish including some toxic chemicals but in the end just got out my random orbital sander with some 80 grit sandpaper and went to it. To my surprise, the remaining finish as well as the embedded dirt on the tiller came off incredibly easily and in no time at all I had it stripped to bare wood and revealing the beautiful laminated layers. I did a bit more sanding with some 180 grit paper to smooth it out before finishing.

Tiller after sanding

Final Finish

I did some additional reading on what to finish it with and determined that the Interlux Schooner finish we had leftover from Brian’s kayak building project would do the trick. The instructions on the can recommended thinning it with some Interlux 333 brushing liquid however I determined that it wasn’t needed on such a small piece in the nice cool, dry weather. I strung a wire through the holes that attach it to the rudder and hung it from a nail in the basement rafters. I opened the window for some ventilation and over the course of a few days put on 4 coats. I did some quick sanding with some 330 grit paper in between coats and wow, what a difference. It looks great, don’t you think. And each coat only takes about 10 minutes to apply. This is totally a worthwhile project for the small boat owner.

Buying Patience

We finally decided as a family that it was time for a bigger boat. But how big? At first I thought, not too much bigger but big enough that we could all sleep on the boat for a few overnight excursions and a place for the kids to hang out below. The kids number one request was “an inside”. Our Flying Scot was 19 feet, so we began to look at boats around 22 feet including the Catalina 22. We started our search on Craigslist but we had never really been on a Catalina 22 nor did we know much about it. So we decided to take a trip to Brewer Yacht Yards in Westbrook to look at a few boats. There we got an opportunity to see several boats in this size range all up on stands in the yard. They were dark and small and I had trouble imagining all 4 of us sleeping on the boat. We did get to see a privately owned Catalina 22 in immaculate condition but it still seemed too small for the 4 of us. Then the salesman wisely took us to see a Catalina 25 that was in the water and all opened up. We all quickly changed our tune and realized that this was the size for us. It seemed easy to manage from a sailing perspective and dramatically bigger inside the cabin. But was the boat he showed us really the right one? And what about the price? Being the cautious shoppers that we are, we decided to continue looking. If that boat was meant for us, it would still be there when we were ready. Now that we thought the Catalina 25 was the right boat for us, we just had to find the right one. So we continued our search. We looked a bit at the Catalina 250 which is the more modern version of the regular 25 but I honestly did not like the layout. The only positive is the head with a door but beyond that it really isn’t set up to sleep more than 2 people. That was easily ruled out. Then one weekend in September, we were headed to New York to visit our family and came across a boat out on Long Island that was for sale. I spoke to the owner’s wife and she said “All he does is clean it”. That sounded like the right boat for us. We decided to take a drive out to see it and then take the ferry back to Connecticut. We met the owner and his wife at their house and then went down to the water to check out the boat. He kept it mored in a harbor near St. James Long Island. He rowed us 1 or 2 at a time in a small dingy out to the boat and we climbed aboard. The boat was incredibly clean even though it was a 1985 model year. He was the original owner and loved the boat but had not really sailed it much. He never stayed over night on it and never ate more than a can of soup on it. We took lots of photos so we could remember the details when we got home. We knew right away this was the one. The asking price was right for the condition it was in. We discussed it on the ferry back home and called him the next day with an offer. He gladly accepted and it was ours.