Encounter with a Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle (Photo by Yathin S Krishnappa CC BY-SA 3.0)

After Sandi got off work, we went down to check the boat and make sure she was doing okay. As we were walking to the dock, Greg startled a huge adult bald eagle down at the water line. It was about 15 feet from him and about 30 from the boat. The bird flew away. It must have had about a seven foot wingspan and a gorgeous white head and tail.

We had noticed a fish on the dock a few days earlier, so it had probably caught one and was eating it.

There are now quite a few bald eagles in the area, fishing from where the Sammamish Slough enters Lake Washington. Their recovery is amazing. There were only 417 breeding pairs in the lower 48 states in 1963. Now they aren't even on the Endangered Species List. Greg remembers when the first bald eagles came into the Puget Sound area after their recovery. Now we can see them flying overhead on most days. However, this was by far the closest we've ever come to a wild bald eagle.

New Mast Raising System and Finally at Moorage

Fantasia at moorage after sunset

In the morning, we built the new mast raising system. It not only has the gin pole, but a mast stepper in the aft of the boat so that it can be raised without having to do a lot of lifting. Using the boom pulley, it should take tugging on a line to get the mast up in position ready to be put into the mast step.

The mast stepper raises the mast high enough so it rests without touching the cabin sliding door. The roller allows sliding back with little effort. We need to make a few tweaks to move it just a little further aft in the cockpit so that we don't have to lift the shroud spreaders over the mast stepper supports when moving it into position to put the mast pin in place. As soon as we have all the bugs worked out, we will post complete plans with parts list and pictures and everything.

Building all this, with measurements, trips to McLendons for hardware, Home Depot for wood, and adventures with power tools took a good part of the day.

When everything was in place, it just took about a minute to crank the mast upright. We then had to launch on a crowded boat launch. All the power boats were trying to come in from the weekend as we were trying to launch. This was our second successful launch, and we are learning a little each time. This time was mostly smooth. From arriving at the boat launch to motoring away took 1.5 hours with just two people. Better than the five hours last time with four people. We are sure we can get it under an hour with a little more practice.

We then motored to our moorage, about four miles away. We got there just before sunset, which was good because we still don't have working lights (more on that on a future post). We put out a bunch of fenders and tied up. Greg snapped the picture as the last of the light was fading and we walked away from the dock.

Dock Preparation and Attempted to Get In the Water

The dock was being prepared for us to arrive by our contractor and friend Chris. He fastened 2x6s to the dock and put four extending down into the water. This part of Lake Washington gets pretty heavy wake and wave action, so making sure that the boat doesn't wind up rolled under the dock is important. The deck of the boat is about even with the level of the dock. Rubber cushioning material was fastened to the wood to lessen the impact of the boat hitting the dock.

We attempted to get Fantasia in the water, so that we could get her down to our new moorage. We failed. We were down at the boat launch preparing the boat for sailing. As we were preparing to raise the mast, Greg let go of the gin pole for a moment. The gin pole was made of a 2x4, and had already started to split along where we cut a recess for the mast. Even though the jib halyard and the winch line were supporting it, it split entirely. We decided to quit for the day and build a better gin pole out of a 2x6.

Trailer light

Earlier in the day, while hooking up the trailer, we realized that the left turn signal wasn't working. It was working the last time we tried. After some investigation, we found that the seal around the light fixture had failed and when we launched the boat the last time that the bulb had shattered in the water. We have since learned that it is a good idea to unplug the lights while actively launching the boat.

We got a new light bulb and some silicone sealant from O'Reilly Auto Parts. We placed silicone sealant on top of the rubber gasket on the plastic surround for the light bulb. This should keep out the water. The light now works.

Repairing the Tiller on the Catalina 22

End of the tiller, showing the bolts.
The center one doesn't have the nut.

We made a repair to the tiller. The three inches closest to the rudder had rotted out and the laminated wood had split at a seam about six inches down the length. A new tiller costs about $130, so we decided to try to repair the tiller we had. We removed the plates that hold the tiller to the rudder, which is held on by three bolts and nuts.

We then glued the split with Elmer's Carpenter's Glue and clamped it with C clamps. After it dried, we then cut four inches off the end of the tiller. Finally we drilled two new holes further down the tiller and reassembled the whole thing.

The repaired end

The tiller is four inches shorter, which means there is a little less leverage on the rudder, and it will require a little more effort to move the rudder around. Eventually, we will probably buy a new tiller. But for the moment, this saved $130 and it is almost as good as new. We still need to slap some varnish on the end or by next year we'll have to whack off another four inches!

The rotted end after being cut off

Put the New Vinyl Name on the Boat

Applying the vinyl name to the boat

We applied the new name to the boat on Thursday and Friday. We ran out of daylight on Thursday, so only got one side on. We finished the job on Friday.

We used the technique found in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pZi0Yjg3jw, which is basically pretty helpful.

Applying the home port was a little trickier than the main name of the boat because the letters were a very thin script instead of a large bold san-serif font. We had to be extra careful that parts of the the letters didn't stick to the backing paper when we removed it. If we had to do it over, we would have chosen letters that were a little thicker. Maybe a bold font.

We will hold the new naming ceremony later.

As said before, the remnants of the old name should fade with time. If not, we will perform some more aggressive techniques to remove it.

The final result

Obtaining a MMSI (Maritime Mobile Service Identity) for the VHF Radio

Standard Horizon Eclipse DSC GX1000S

The VHF Radio that came with Fantasia is a Standard Horizon Eclipse DSC GX1000S 25 Watt VHF/FM DSC Marine Transceiver. Since this radio has DSC (Digital Selective Calling), it can radio in a distress call essentially with a touch of button. However, to use it, a MMSI must be registered with the FCC. There are various requirements to get a MMSI, but for a Catalina 22 being operated as a pleasure boat, one may be registered for free.

The easiest way to do this is with BoatUS. You fill out a couple of online forms, and it assigns you a MMSI immediately.

However, if we ever take the boat to Canada, we need to remember to get a new MMSI directly from the FCC. The reason is that the MMSI received from BoatUS is only placed into a US national database, not the international database. So a distress call placed with the MMSI in Canada will not be found in the database that the Canadian coast guard would use. It is conceivable that we will sail to Victoria or Vancouver BC at some point. Until that time though, the US MMSI will work fine.

The radio has an interface for a GPS, but it isn't built in and the boat didn't come with one. So a distress call will not give the location unless we get one.

We learned that most of the VHF radios don't let you make a lot of changes to the MMSI. The radio we have only lets you make two changes before you have to send it back to the manufacturer. We don't know whether we need to do that yet, as we have some electrical issues to resolve first.

Impulse No More—Renaming the Boat

The new vinyl decals for the new boat name arrived from signspecialist.com. We spent several hours removing the old decals. Halfway through the removing the decals, we realized that if we had renamed the boat from Impulse to Imp instead of Fantasia, the rename would have been easier!

Many people recommend using a hair dryer or heat gun to remove the old decals, however we found it really didn't make the job easier. The best tool was just a fingernail, or a cotter coil if your fingernail wasn't strong enough. If we were lucky, it came off in a sheet. After removing the letters, we cleaned up the adhesive with a razor blade and WD-40. There are lots of recommendations for other products to clean up extra adhesive, but Greg has always found that WD-40 works great.

One minor tip: Take off any rings you are wearing when working on the hull. Greg noticed his wedding ring making marks on the hull.

There is still the image of Impulse on the hull in a dull yellow. The rest of the hull is a bright white. From what we've read, this is normal, and the yellow turns white eventually when exposed to sunlight, although it might take as much as a year. We have noticed the same phenomena where the boat number decals were when we replaced those and the hull is already turning white. It seems counter intuitive that the boat would be yellow underneath vinyl and change to white instead of the other way around, but that is what seems to happen—something about how fiberglass reacts with sunlight.

We have yet to apply the new boat name. I don't know that we will do the whole boat re-naming ceremony written up here, but we should probably do something.

The decals were relatively easy to order. Although signspecialist.com has different parts of the web site for truck decals and boat decals, they are all the same in how they get produced (I asked). The truck decals part of the site allows more customization, allowing uploading fonts and specifying things such as drop shadows and blends. We spent lots of time playing with the colors of the blend to get it right.

The decals came about five days later rolled loosely in a direct mail box. Since we don't have them on the boat yet, we are looking at them through the paper, but they look great. We will see how they go on and hold up soon.

Moorage

Look for flying pigs out your window. It looks like we'll have moorage for the summer on Lake Washington a few minute from the house for a very reasonable price! We will have to do some minor improvements to the dock before mooring it there.

It was recommended that we buy some snubbers to reduce the stress on the boat and the dock. We went with these:

Dock Edge 3/8-7/16-Inch Snubbers

We'll post a review when we get them and let you know how they work out.

Catalina HIN and Boat Insurance

We acquired boat insurance from BoatUS. The rate was pretty reasonable, and covers both the boat and the trailer. One of the questions the insurance guy asked was the HIN (Hull ID Number) of the boat. While researching it, I realized that the HIN on the title for the boat didn't match the pattern of the Catalina HINs and couldn't possibly be right.

A HIN is the boating equivalent of a VIN (Vehicle ID Number) on a car. It is supposed to be a unique identifier that is permanently attached to the vehicle. On a Catalina, this is scratched by hand (literally) into the fiberglass on the transom of the boat while the fiberglass is drying. It is in the upper right corner of the transom and very hard to see.

The guy scratching it on our boat had bad handwriting and it is hard to read. You'd think they would use a better method for something so important. Whoever applied for the title for the boat years ago misread it, and probably read it over the phone after that, because the last four digits were completely mangled on the title.

The pattern for Catalina 22s 1985 and later is:

CTYH9999X999

CTY = Catalina
H = 22 (Model #)
9999 = Serial Number truncated to the last 4 digits (this should match the serial number plate inside the cockpit)
X = Month built A = January B=February ... L=December
9 = Last digit of year of manufacture (5 = 1985, 1995, or 2005)
99 = Model Year (85=1985) Model year starts in August

Since the HIN was mangled on the title for the boat, I needed to make a rubbing of the HIN from the boat itself (rub a pencil across a piece of paper over the HIN). Then I presented that to the licensing people. Since we are both on the title, we both needed to be there with photo ID. The cost was $17 for a new title, which should arrive in about four weeks.

Looking for Moorage

We are trying to find a place to moor the boat. While our mast raising system works, it is still a pretty labor intensive operation to make the boat ready for launch and put it back on the trailer at the end of the day. It would be much better if it was in the water for the summer. Or alternately in dry storage on land, with the mast up.

Unfortunately, every slip in the north end of Lake Washington seems to be full. Ideally, we'd find a slip for about $200 a month, five minutes from our house, for May through September each year. And pigs can fly.

We went out and looked at a slip on Portage Bay, between Lake Union and Lake Washington. We also looked at using dry storage at Sail Sand Point. The Sail Sand Point dry storage only allows hand launch boats. Ours is a little too big for that. There is another dry storage place in Bellevue, but it is undergoing maintenance and closing for a time.

Back on Land

After another fabulous day, we pulled her out.

Trailer Winch Repair

Winch with new strap in place

While the boat was in the water, it was time to repair the trailer winch. The winch had a 3/16" metal cable with an eye and hook at the end. The cable at the eye had broken. This was temporarily fixed by tying a knot in the cable around the hook, which was enough to get the boat into the water, but not good for the long term.

We decided to replace the cable with a hitch strap. At times that cable has a fair amount of pressure being applied to it. If the cable ever snaps because it is old, a whipping cable could damage something nearby, such as fiberglass or a person's nose. Also, it is likely that the eye repair would fail again, causing other problems at an inopportune time.

We bought a new 2" x 25' 10,000 pound winch strap at North Lake Marina in Kenmore ($19.95 + $1.90 tax). Possibly overkill for what we are doing, but Greg really likes to have overspec hardware.

Greg removed the cable from the Fulton two-speed winch with a pair of pliers. But putting the new cable strap on wasn't going to be easy. Normally for a winch strap, there is a bolt that you thread the end of the strap over. However, this winch was made for a cable, not a strap, and there were no holes lined up on both sides of the winch to put a bolt through. Greg drilled a 3/8" hole through the side of the winch. He then acquired a 4.5" x 3/8" galvanized grade 8 bolt, two fender washers, and a nut at McLendon Hardware in Woodinville. (McLendon has a better selection of hardware than Home Depot or Lowe's) Total: $1.85 + $0.18 tax. Turns out a 3.5" bolt would have been long enough, but the purchased bolt worked without binding to anything.

With the new hole drilled, the bolt was threaded through the winch, two fender washers and the end of the strap. The new strap works great.

She Floats! Putting the Catalina 22 in the Water

First launch was a success! The day was not without its share of hiccups, which we've been warned is standard operating procedure, but it was a great day nonetheless.

Not only was it our first attempt at launching our new-to-us boat, it was our first attempt at launching any boat...Ever. We were of course a little nervous. We had gone over all the things we'd need to do the night before and made lists. We got up super early, dragging ourselves and the kids out of bed, excited by the prospect of a fun day out on the water, a new adventure for us all. We were blissfully unaware of all the things we didn't yet know!

Once the trailer was hooked up to the car, we drove down to the boat ramp, arriving before 6:30am, to make sure we'd be able to get our choice of parking spots from which to step the mast. Trailering the boat with our Caravan is pretty much right on the limit of what it can handle, but as the trip is less than 3 miles from house to boat ramp, it's very doable. Backed in, wheels chocked, ladder set up and cabin open. We set about the task of raising the mast. With the mast propped up and walked back, the mast bolt went in without any trouble. We started hooking up the gin pole, but soon realized we couldn't get the jib halyard to budge. With the mast head now well out of reach from the boat or the ground, we scratched our heads for a bit before realizing the 2 inch strap securing the gin pole to the mast had been accidentally wrapped around the jib halyard as well, underneath the mast and out of sight!

With the jib halyard freed, the mast went up relatively easily, alternately cranking, then stopping a couple of times mid-raise to free shrouds that were determined to get caught on each and every protruding cleat, cam or bolt on the deck. With our mast raising system, only the two forward shrouds and the rolling furler jib (which incorporates the forestay) have to be removed and reconnected/retensioned. We'd decided that for our first run, we'd just get the boat off the trailer and motor over to a nearby public dock and hang out, and tie up for the night in another nearby marina's guest moorage. With the mast up and secure, we started loading the rest of the things we'd need for our day out. Water, check. PFDs, check. Lines, check. Keel raised, check. Gas can.......gas can......DOH! We drove off this morning without loading the gas can, kind of a must-have for motoring. We quickly unhooked the trailer from the van and Greg drove back home to get the gas can.

While waiting for Greg to return, a very nice and curious guy named Charlie came over and asked me about how we went about raising our mast. Charlie it turns out also has a Catalina 22, in the water just a few houses away from the boat launch. I showed Charlie the pieces of our mast-raising system, explained the mechanics of it and gave him my email address to send him a link to the construction details. Little did I know that just a little while later, Charlie was going to be my guardian angel!

....to be continued

Fantasia under sail, with a Kenmore Air seaplane taking off and kayakers

Connected the Trailer to the Van

Raised hitch mount

We have a Dodge Caravan. This is not the ideal vehicle for hauling a boat around. For one, its maximum towing capacity is 3500 pounds, which is near what we are hauling around. We probably wouldn't want to tow the boat across country, but it is fine for taking it a few miles around here.

Second, it is front wheel drive. Towing a vehicle usually works best with a rear wheel (or four-wheel) drive vehicle.

Third, is is close to the ground, especially the trailer hitch.

When we went to put the trailer on the van, we found that the straight hitch mount we had put the trailer too close to the ground. We needed one that brought the trailer up about four inches. We headed off to our local U-Haul for a new hitch mount. After we got there, we realized that the hitch mount that raises the trailer up four inches is also the one that lowers it four inches...you just mount the ball on the other side. It just so happened we had one of those at home with the ball on the wrong side for what we needed.

After spending half an hour with some monkey wrenches, we got the ball off and moved to the other side and remounted. Problem solved! When connecting to the trailer, it's at the right level now.

Sanded the Teak

Sanded down the teak. This is a job in progress and will continue over time.

Catalina 22 teak hand holds, nicely sanded

Cleared the Drains on the Catalina 22

The Catalina 22 drains. Clearing these from time to time is necessary.

The Catalina 22 has two drains in the forward part of the cockpit that empty into plastic pipes below deck. These then empty through a seacock into the volcano under the boat. The holes in the drains are fairly big, and quite a lot of debris accumulates in these plastic pipes. One side was completely clogged, and the other was mostly clogged, keeping water in the cockpit. We detached the hoses and cleaned them out.

Raised the Mast on the Catalina 22

We tried out our mast raising system. With some problems to solve, it worked! In the picture you can see the gin pole attached to the front of the mast.

Sandi and Fantasia, with the mast raised

Vessel Registration Numbers

In Washington State, each vessel that doesn't have a Coast Guard registration must be assigned a state Vessel Registration Number. Catalina 22s are too small for Coast Guard registration. The rules for the registration number are specified in WAC 308-93-145.

Section 3 says:

(3) How do I display the assigned vessel registration number on my vessel? The registration number assigned must:
(a) Be painted on or permanently attached to each side of the forward half of the vessel and easily visible for law enforcement except as allowed by subsection (6) of this section or required by subsection (9) of this section and must be on a vertical surface;
(b) Be in plain vertical block characters of not less than three inches in height;
(c) Contrast with the color of the background and be distinctly visible and legible;
(d) Have spaces or hyphens that are equal to the width of a letter other than "I" or a number other than "1" between the letter and number groupings (example: WN 5678 EF or WN-5678-EF); and
(e) Read from left to right.

The numbers on our boat are not right as there are no spaces between the groups. We will fix our numbering next year when we get the new annual registration stickers, as we cannot move the ones for this year. We will get the annual registration stickers in exactly the right spot and then put new registration number stickers on the hull with spaces or dashes.

Trailer Hitch Wiring Installed

Trailer hitch wiring installed

The trailer hitch wiring was installed by the guy at U-Haul. It's a little awkward, as it is inside the back of the van. You have to pull the wiring through the back and lower the tailgate over it. It compresses into the gasket, but it can't be that good for the wiring.

Trailer Wheels Repaired

The wheel after the repair...the parts inside are all new

We were fortunate to know a guy who knows a guy who could come out and repair the wheels on the trailer. David and Chris completely repaired the wheels.

This is what the repair description said:

Inspected and found stuck master cylinder, leaking wheel cylinders and saturated brake shoes. Installed new brake master cylinder, both rear wheel brake assemblies, clean and repack wheel bearings with new seals. During installation one fitting broke which needed new fitting and reflared for proper seating, bleed brakes and test operations.

Cost: $843.24 + 80.11 Tax = $923.35.