1168 miles later, I am the new owner of a 1986 Catalina 22, Sail #13577. After about 6 months of looking, and several heartbreaking missed opportunities, I finally found the boat for me. I had been scanning the local classifieds for months until the end of last season. Once everyone in Maryland and the neighboring states had winterized for the season, I decided to expand my search area. I came across this one through a C-list posting in Greenville, SC. After several conversations with the owner, and multiple pictures, I was definitely interested. One owner boat prior to her, and she had only owned it for one season. She realized shortly after purchasing that the boat/cabin was too small for her family to enjoy so she was looking to upgrade to a C-25 or 27. It had been a fresh water boat all of its life which was a major plus for keel condition. There was only one major problem I could find with the boat. It had no trailer! I set out on my search and was able to find one just after the first of the year. Unfortunately, with every good deal comes the work needed to make it safe and street legal. With no garage space to use to work on the trailer, I ended up dodging snowstorm after snowstorm to try and get the trailer ready for inspection. One of my biggest challenges was the hydraulic break system. Big thanks to $tingySailor for the blog write-up and trailer part recommendations with the quick disconnect. At the end of March the trailer was finally road worthy.
4/11 Day one of the trip.
We left around 04:00 which put us in Seneca, SC right around 14:00. The trip down was great, no hassle or issues. The boat looked great, outside of a good cleaning and some TLC, it seemed sound. The furler headsail was just re-stitched and the main wasn’t too bad, probably another season or two. Standing rigging was in good order, but it does need some new lines. After about 6 attempts to get the boat on the trailer, I realized the benefits of a keel guide. Getting the keel exactly on the resting point was a PITA to say the least. After a good look at the bottom, the keel showed minimal spots of corrosion and only two small blisters (one the size of a nickel and the other was a dime). We agreed on a price and I was exhausted and happy. Now the pressure of de-rigging the boat in the morning.
4/12 Day two.
Neither I nor the prior owner had de-rigged the boat before. I’m sure it could have gone much better, but I’ll take the 3 hours for a first time. The boat was all ready to make the trip and secured on the trailer around 11:00. Optimistically this would have put us back in Maryland around 21:00. We made it out SC with no trouble at all. After stopping for a quick bite to eat and fuel in NC, we had our first issue. The driver side trailer tire blew out on the highway. I was able to control everything and bring it to a slow stop. Luckily I had ordered a new spare for the trip. Since we were only in NC, I was a bit concerned that it was my only spare, and we had a few more states to go until we made it home. As we got back on the road I happened to notice the blowout busted the weld at the front of the fender. We couldn’t have been at a better spot to see this issue. I had used up all of my bungees to secure everything on the boat, but I could see at an upcoming exit a store called Northern Tool+Equiptment. I had no idea what it was since there are none near where I live. It was a mecca having all the parts I needed. I was able to buy bungees to hold the fender in place, and they also had a mounted tire a wheel to fit as another spare. This definitely put me at ease. Returning to the truck with my new treasures I noticed the blowout made a small cut in the rubber hose brake line from the frame to the axle. It was drivable, although not as good as before when the pressure would kick in. We made it right outside of D.C. in Virginia where we stopped for our last fuel up. At the pump we check everything one last time. All of a sudden, the trailer lights were going off when the turn signal was turned on, and if the brakes were used. With a bit of testing, we pulled the ground off and reset its position twice before it worked again. After about 13 hours we finally pulled into the marina to drop off the boat for the evening/morning (12:30).
It was a good trip all in all, but I sure am happy to be done with it. The boat, Wolverine, as it was originally named is ready for cleaning and prep for its new life on the Chesapeake Bay.
