old boat, new sailor, lots of questions

[Cope]

I will start by thanking you all in advance for the gerat info here.
my boat is a 1973, Catalina 22. HIN # 2348.

I have been sailing Her on Lake Tahoe for the last few years and have a few (lots)
of questions.

My main concerns are beaing able to sail her flat and keep the rudder in the water.

I have never reefed, but think I sould have more than once. Can I reef my main with no mast gate? (anwser Yes.)

Can I use my jib down haul to "reef" my 110 hank on jib when thins get crazy? (No)

I have one of the newish Honda 4 stroke 5 HP long shaft. In the large waves when trying to out maneuver power boats for docking rights in O sh!t conditions the prop kicks the motor up. (when shifting to reverse) Is there a lock down im not engaging? (Solved, moove pin to correct location)
I hate having to hold the top of the case while steering and sucking my seat into a volcano.

Gots lots more of questions but I save those for tomarrow.
Here some shots of the lake when its not scareing me to death.
Thanks again.

 

[centerline]

Man, Ive always wanted to sail that lake... ive been there many times, but never on the water. someday I hope...

as for the motor, there should be a motor lock. if its unlocked it wont hold down in reverse.

the way it works is, when the motor is in forward or neutral gear, it is always unlocked in case the motor hits something it will rise over it without tearing out the transom... but as soon as the shift lever moves toward reverse, the lock engages and holds the motor down so it wont come out of the water....

a couple of things, the lever could be in the unlock position, which holds it open, or the lock could be bent or corroded so it is not lowering and catching the trim rod/pin.... if you look at it, you should be able to determine how it works and why it isnt.... even without the motor running, the lock works the same way, so check it out while on the trailer and see if you can figure out whats wrong....

 

[azguy]

You can reef without the mast gate but the sail shape suffers, I just ordered a mast gate from CD and will be installing it this weekend so the front reefing point can get to the boom.

You can really reef a hank on jib, if the 110 is over power the boat you'll need to find a an 85, or maybe even a storm job for the afternoon winds.....

Great pictures :dance:

 

[kito]

Not sure how you would reef a hank on jib with a down haul. I guess you could drop the jib lower and attach the downhaul to another grommet along the luff. You would also have to add another grommet on the leech to act as your new clew for your sheets to tie to. Then you have to deal with the excess sail going across your deck. Easier just to get a hank on storm jib.

 

[watercolors II]

tight sails & smooth bottom

First, raise your pop-top and secure it with the latch that slides up and down in the mast, then take the cleat that is in the mast slot below the boom and move it down to almost at the top of the pop-top in the raised position. This will give you much more room to make adjustments to the main.

All new sailors and those sailors who never progress very far in their sailing ability always have their sails too loose! When the wind is under 10 mph you can have wrinkles but, over 10 mph get all those wrinkles out of the luff of both sails. Use the winch on the side of the mast to stretch the main halyard and the jib halyard.

Loose sails adds power, tight sails takes the depth out and de-powers the sails. When sailing up wind, tighten the jib sheet, stretch the bottom of the jib, use the winch to make it tighter than you’ve ever made it before, that’s why that winch was placed there.

As the wind picks up and you have white caps, start moving the jib car back a little at a time till you fill comfortable, but keep that jib sheet tight when sailing up wind.

Once you move the jib car backwards as far as it will go and you still feel uncomfortable, then it’s time to reef the main. You can not reef the 110 head sail, by taking the pressure off the halyard you are adding depth to the jib sail. You will have to slide the bottom two sail slugs out of the mast to start the reef.

Now, smooth bottom! DO NOT sail slow, keep the boat moving as fast as you can when the wind picks up. Speed helps the keel and the rudder catch a better hold of the water and helps you steer quicker in the puffs.

A smooth bottom and keel is the best performance enhancer you can add to your boat, better than additional sail controls and even brand new sails.

 

[CaptDon01]

Also try sailing with only the jib when the wind pipe's up. You'll be surprised how much better the boat will sail, and almost no healing, especially with the 110. That's basically my reefing method. Try it sometime before you get into a reefing situation. The Honda has a lock to prevent the engine from coming up in reverse. If you look you'll see the shifting rod go up and down when shifting. It has the lock system incorporated into this rod and on the back of the engine mounting casting.

We have a West Coast Cruise to Catalina Island coming up this August. All the details can be found in the Main Brace magazine.

Welcome to the C-22 family,

Don

 

[Cope]

Thanks for all the advice.

Afew years ago when I bought this boat I went out with an "experenced sailor" and that guy was telling me to sheet in. Long story short I broach and now I have a hard time wanting to tighten sail in high wind.

My jib cars are at full aft, never used the winch to tighten a halyard but I will start.
In high winds pulling the jib sheet razor tight is better for less heel?

I was going by the "when in doubt let it out"..

With my winches, a few questions.
when wraping line on a winch is it bottem up or top down?
Inside to out or out side to in?
I tend to get my hand sucked into the wraps on the winch.

I would like to dissamble, Inspect and lube all my winches.
With my Lewmar 8's (Jip sheet winches) There is a split ring on top of the drum.
Is this a single use item?

The winch on the mast is a Gibbs and has a flat head inside the handle hex.
can I just pull this flat head out and pull the drum off?

when I remove the winch drum are parts (ball bearings, springs) gonna fall out?

Thanks for the time and advice.

 

[centerline]

Thanks for all the advice.

Afew years ago when I bought this boat I went out with an "experenced sailor" and that guy was telling me to sheet in. Long story short I broach and now I have a hard time wanting to tighten sail in high wind.

My jib cars are at full aft, never used the winch to tighten a halyard but I will start.
In high winds pulling the jib sheet razor tight is better for less heel?

I was going by the "when in doubt let it out"..

With my winches, a few questions.
when wraping line on a winch is it bottem up or top down?
Inside to out or out side to in?
I tend to get my hand sucked into the wraps on the winch.

I would like to dissamble, Inspect and lube all my winches.
With my Lewmar 8's (Jip sheet winches) There is a split ring on top of the drum.
Is this a single use item?

The winch on the mast is a Gibbs and has a flat head inside the handle hex.
can I just pull this flat head out and pull the drum off?

when I remove the winch drum are parts (ball bearings, springs) gonna fall out?

Thanks for the time and advice.

you have the highest chance of a broach when running on a broad reach... dont run on a broad reach until you get more experience/confidence... run straight down and be careful not to jibe. running down has its own challenges...
although, you can have a knock down at any time when the winds are gusty or you have too much sail in the air for the steady winds you are getting, but after a couple knock downs, you will realize they arent as bad or scary as a broach...

on your small boat, as a new sailor, there really is no need to use the winch to tighten the halyard. pulling it by hand will get it plenty good enough until you get a good understanding of all the controls and what they do, and start racing...

let the jib sheet or main sheet out as the wind increases... unless you want more power.
as the wind increases or gusts, you typically need to let out the sail so the wind will spill from it, rather than hold it and over power the boat... an over powered boat lays over too far. one that is about right will heel at about 15-20 degrees... and the hull is more efficient when its upright rather than leaning over...

when in doubt, let it out... yep. if you think you have too much wind for the boat, let the sail out.... if you think you have too little wind to move the boat, let the sheet out a little so the sail will bag and hold what little wind there is a bit longer... but not too much.

when wrapping a winch, lay the line on the bottom and wrap clockwise upwards....

yes, clean and inspect the winches... you will understand them better.
and the parts are ONLY single use items if you should let them loose over the side.... try not to do that!

im assuming you mean a "flat head" screw... yes, remove the screw and the spool will pull off....
and providing nothing is broken inside, it should all stay together until you get it safely to your work area.

to be safe, loosely wrap a towel around the base of the winch when pulling it apart... it is the surest way to insure some loose part gets seen before you hear the Gloop!...
its always good to know what you lost so you can replace it with a new one

 

[Craiger]

Here is a great video on winch overhaul:

http://www.goodoldboat.com/resources_for_sailors/videos/winch_maint.php

 

[Cope]

Going through some random bags of stuff and found these.

Are these mast gates? There are no holes in my mast where the slugs go in and now way to attach them to the mast?
Also if the two lower slugs need to be removed for reefing why even bother with a mast gate?


Is there an easy way to oil the exterior wood with out removing it? I dont want to stain my deck with teak oil and removing the wood is a major pain......


Winch video wont play on my silly tablet...Ill look on U tube and pull the winches today.

 

[allen-deckard]

yep them's mast gates alright. Make it nicer to bring down the main as well getting it a lot flatter on the boom. Least it did for me.


I'm not positive on your motor or model and only have mine to go by which is a 3.5hp mercury which does not have a lock down. duno about a 5 it "should" have one I'd think but I wouldn't wig out if you cant find one either.

beautiful pictures.

 

[centerline]

not sure what kind of a mast gate that would be, but there are better easier to use ones available at an affordable price.... do a google search.

on chalky gelcoat, the oil will stain, but only temporarily... it will eventually wash out, but the best way to oil or varnish your exterior wood is to tape around it like you were painting it.... or if you have a good wax on the gelcoat for protection from the elements, teak oil wont stain the deck, although spilled or dripped varnish will still be messy to clean up...

 

[allen-deckard]

quick off topic question your last picture you posted with you laying on the deck your shroud looks odd to me. Never seen one like that. Looks almost like rope tied to the turnbuckle or maybe wire with plastic around the shroud with tape around the end?

I'm not judging or whatever just never seen one like that or maybe I just never paid attention lol.

 

[allen-deckard]

centerline I have the same mast gate as those and they work wonderfully believe I got them from catalina direct if I'm not mistakin not expensive at all came with the stainless screws and the tap to boot.

 

[Cope]

The shroud just has that white plastic covering. The white tape that fancy rigging tape, it covers the dead end of the cable where its kinds fish hookie, so folks dont cut their foot.
I hate to admit to it but I think that is an orignal stay? Most everything on the boat is fairly new but for some reason I think that is OEM....

If those are CD mast gates what are the pins for? It almost seems like they should slide into some sort of hinge?

Thanks again for the time and advice.

 

[allen-deckard]

no those pins are where it fills the gate at the top and bottom. It's a bit confusing till you hold one up to the mast gate.

You trim those pins to fit a good pair of dikes will cut it easy enough so you trim the top and bottom of those pins so it fits nice and tight and your slides slide past them.

I installed mine thinking the same thing I thought something was missing and that they wouldn't work very good but have been very please with how well they worked.

People smarter than me worked it all out to the best way of doin it and I'm pretty happy they did.

 

[Cope]

Ok Thanks just took them to the boat and I see whats going on. There is even SS screws already in the mast. I must have just neve payed attention to what was going on there.

I trailer my boat so setting up and derigging time is important to me. Would you please explain the benefits of the mast gates and how they affect lowering sail?
With them on can I still drop the main in a hurry or do they have to be removed to reef, remove sail?
In my case anything that hinders my reducing, removing sail area is a huge negative.

Thanks again.

 

[allen-deckard]

2 different things

if your wanting to take the sail off faster for trailering then leave them off you have to take them out in order to remove the sail.

If your wanting to reef way easier or use a single line reefing then you have to have them.

I installed mine when I installed single line reefing.

 

[azguy]

Those are Catalina Direct mast gates. I'm installing mine this weekend.

Currently your sail slugs only drop as low as your thumb screw. The gates will allow the last two slugs to get virtually to the boom for complete and efficient reefing...

The screws you reference should really be threaded bolts so repeated removal doesn't elongate the holes over time. The CD kit comes with a drill bit and tap to thread the mast.

If you like to reef, I think these are a necessity to keep a good shape on the mainsail.

 

[Cope]

Azguy you just answered my next question.
So The "Thumb screw" that is into a steel slug should go above the boom act as a sail slug stop if not using mast gates?

Once my sail goes down I have yet to put it back up the same day..
I normaly jist let the sail slugs drop out of the gate and lash the main down tight then run to the dock.

Ive been reading my "sailing skills and seamanship" regarding reefing and think Ive got my head around it.

Forgive me if I miss use or misname some stuff but here goes.

The point where my main attaches to the boom (cringle?) is attached with some sort of quick release shackle that is stuck and will not open...I had thought that I needed to remove this to reef.
Now Im thinking with mast gates installed and the thumb screw below the boom and or mast gate. I just tension the topping lift (that Im sure I have run wrong, but I will worry about that later) and lower the main halyard untill I can tie some line through (reeve) the luff cringle? Then tie off the leach (rear) cringle to the boom? Next lash all remaning reef points around excess sail and boom.
Tighten main halyard and release topping lift?

At this point I would want to pull main halyard and boom vang (I have one, never used it or even bothered putting it on) as tight as I an get them, Then with main sheet go by the when in doubt let it out?
The letting it out only refers to the main sheet and travler right? In high winds Im gonna want my sail flat, vang and halyard tight to achieve this?

Spent all day yesterday with a sharpened 1" putty knife and hammer cutting the 5200 from the trim on the sliding hatch. Got it off sanded all the old varnish off and teak oiled it, let sit on bench with a razor blade that I had used to clean more 5200 off the back of the wood.
Came out to gaze at the beautifull rainbow of color and on the way out my room mate says.
"yo there was a razor blade out on the bench, set it on that wood for ya"

Shoot, I go out and see my nice wood wet with dew and a now rusty razor blade right in the center... Guess what when I remove the razor there is a sweet rust stain in the shape of a razor on my beautifull wood......

Snazer frazel frizel frack..
Looks like more sanding is the order of the day......

Also the SS screws I was refering to could be called bolts, They are flat not pointed and are not self tapping.(They are machine screws) I think of any fastner that dose not require a wrench a "screw". I alqays thought the difference was the head but I see how it may be the tip..?

Thanks again for the time and advice, shure seems I need every bit of it.