Any Catalina 22 Sport owners in/near Fort Myers, Florida

[Cyb3rSail3r]

Looking to go out sailing, but I'm not familiar with the water yet. I have a 22' Catalina Sport MKII with a retractable keel docked 1/2 mile from the San Carlos bridge, rigged and ready to go. I want to take it out but am told the depths, currents, and places to go can be tricky depending on the destination. I'm very curious to know where do people usually go? What is there to explore? How do you navigate, like what are some of the best apps given the area? I currently have Windy, and should I get Navionics by Garman? Grab lunch sometime? Mainly, it'll just be my wife and I for a day trip (4-5 hours), prefer calm days, light wind.

 

[Grotto]

I like to start any sailing in a new area by pouring over nav charts reviewing army corps of engineers sounding (inlets and ICW) to get “the lay of the land” once I have an idea of depth anchorages etc I’ll haunt the marina or boat ramp to “run into” a local sailor compliment their boat, and ask the local waters questions. Or on a nice 5-10kts day just go out and sail

 

[Gene Neill]

Nice boat!

Yes, you will definitely need Navionics, or similar chart plotting capability. A depth sounder would be a very good idea too, because charts aren't perfect by any means.

 

[Jacktar]

Yep rivers and bays there are mile wide and inch deep in places. Personal experience.

 

[Cyb3rSail3r]

Had the motor checked out this weekend, all good to go and have it docked by Fort Myers Beach. Just not sure about that first sail though - its kind of intimidating. Yet, I've sailed bigger boats, 30ft - 75', these smaller sailboats are just different, especially with a retractable keel. I have Windy and Navionics, Savvy Navvy, on my phone. What solar kit would you get to keep the battery charged?

 

[pgandw]

What solar kit would you get to keep the battery charged?

Where are you going to put the solar panel? When underway? When at anchor? Will it be portable or permanently mounted? Measure the space and get the largest panel that will fit the space. Prefer at least 100 watt panel, but on small sailboats a 50 watt panel might be all you can handle. Any shading of the panel (shrouds, lines, etc) reduces the charging by a fair amount. You will also need to wire the panel to a solar charge controller that is/can be programmed for the type of battery you have - LiFePO has a different charge program than lead acid.

I'm currently investigating the same for my Mariner 19.

Fred W
Stuart Mariner 19 #4133 Sweet P
Yeopim Creek, Albemarle Sound, NC

 

[ShawnL]

On a C22 (mine is a '72) I put my main panel in the space between the top of the coach roof and the forward hatch(ish). I was able to get a 100 watt panel there, and barely between the front spreaders). It was tight, but I needed the power (long story) while moored. Interestingly, when sailing, it wasn't a problem. My 110% didn't encroach on it's space -- not saying it put out a lot of power when sailing, but once I put it there, I was able to leave it there and not move it when we were at sail. Before that, we had a 50w panel that we left on top of the companion way that we would remove before setting sail. Worked fine. Before that, I had a 25w panel that we just left on one of the cockpit seats before we left the boat. Again, it worked fine.

As others have said, it all depends on what you're doing and what you need. The only reason I upgraded from a 50w to a 100w is because there was some vandalism in our mooring area and I wanted to make sure that the web cam and LTE router I had on the boat would have plenty of power and the battery for the night and would re-charge in a realistic time frame during the day. Before that, all we ran was a garmin fish finder (aka depth sounder) and the auto pilot. For that, once a week the 50w was more than enough,