As owner of Catalina Capri 16.5, boat has capsized multiple times on mooring in West Falmouth Harbor in wind gusts (not heavy storms), looking for advice. Swing keel was down. Rudder off. Boat had 2 HP Honda Outboard (27 lbs.) on port stern mounting. Boat consistently goes over on port side. Mooring line attached to chock mounted on bow deck, rather than being attached to the Catalina installed bow eye. Any advice?
Capsizing on Mooring
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Are the sails all stored down inside, i.e. below the gunwales?
Looks like the common denominator is the 27# weight on one side, on a light-weight unballasted dinghy.
Perhaps best to remove motor and stow/lash it in the center next to the trunk, if that model has a trunk.
I would definately change the main mooring attachment point to the much lower bow eye, and have the line continue up to the bow as a backup.
L
Might cross post on the Capri 16.5 Yahoo Group (groups.yahoo.com). I think I saw a similar post back when we had our Capri 16.5.
I agree with FastOlson - the Capri 16.5 has quite a bit of windage in the bow and putting that motor on the port quarter will only make it worse. I used a Group 27 battery & Minnkota trolling motor and the stern squatted pretty badly. It was in the center though, between the scuppers. If we'd kept the boat I was going to move the battery up into the cuddy to help balance things.
If you use the bow eye I'd double check to make sure the backing is plenty beefy (can't remember what they use) and probably rig it with some kind of rubber snubber so it reduces the shock loading. If you don't want to tie the motor in the middle of the cockpit (not sure I would) maybe think about putting it up in the cuddy. There's plenty of room and it might just be low enough to help keep the boat from flipping over.
You might try mooring with the centerboard up. I bet the boat is sailing on the mooring and getting tripped over the centerboard. Without the CB it should skip across the surface better. IIRC we always put ours up at the dock.
There's no backstay but I bet you could rig an anchor riding sail. I made one for Verboten that ties to the boom, a cleat near the base of the mast, and uses the main halyard for the top.
Another thought, if you're actually going completely over, would be to get a Hobie float or hoist a gallon bleach jug up the mast to keep it from going turtle.
Hope you get this figured out; the Capri 16.5 is a fun boat. I'd have kept ours if I could afford 2 boats.
I agree with FastOlson - the Capri 16.5 has quite a bit of windage in the bow and putting that motor on the port quarter will only make it worse. I used a Group 27 battery & Minnkota trolling motor and the stern squatted pretty badly. It was in the center though, between the scuppers. If we'd kept the boat I was going to move the battery up into the cuddy to help balance things.
If you use the bow eye I'd double check to make sure the backing is plenty beefy (can't remember what they use) and probably rig it with some kind of rubber snubber so it reduces the shock loading. If you don't want to tie the motor in the middle of the cockpit (not sure I would) maybe think about putting it up in the cuddy. There's plenty of room and it might just be low enough to help keep the boat from flipping over.
You might try mooring with the centerboard up. I bet the boat is sailing on the mooring and getting tripped over the centerboard. Without the CB it should skip across the surface better. IIRC we always put ours up at the dock.
There's no backstay but I bet you could rig an anchor riding sail. I made one for Verboten that ties to the boom, a cleat near the base of the mast, and uses the main halyard for the top.
Another thought, if you're actually going completely over, would be to get a Hobie float or hoist a gallon bleach jug up the mast to keep it from going turtle.
Hope you get this figured out; the Capri 16.5 is a fun boat. I'd have kept ours if I could afford 2 boats.
I've seen contraptions that are placed in the water on either side of the boat that are intended to reduce the rocking. I think that they are called "Rocker stoppers".
One issue that I have seen with moored boats is that they aren't always bow to the wind and waves when moored in certain situations. I was at this bay during a fairly strong sustained storm and wind. The moored boats were in a bay and the waves tended to turn around the corner and head towards the boats in a different direction than the wind. Because the boats were then not pointed to the waves, the rocking was pretty violent and some of them were loosing their masts.
One issue that I have seen with moored boats is that they aren't always bow to the wind and waves when moored in certain situations. I was at this bay during a fairly strong sustained storm and wind. The moored boats were in a bay and the waves tended to turn around the corner and head towards the boats in a different direction than the wind. Because the boats were then not pointed to the waves, the rocking was pretty violent and some of them were loosing their masts.
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