Sailing and restoring "Avalon" - 1984 C-22 #12640

Mar 31, 2019
64
Catalina 22 12640 Rose City Yacht Club
The least interesting update in the world

I almost didn't bother posting this, but I figured what the heck, it's pretty quiet around here and if it helps even one person then it was worth the time it took to type this out.

I was starting to get angsty about the PNW weather resulting in green slime building up on my boat sitting on the hard in my backyard, not to mention at least one leaky cabin window is letting in water.

So, I sprung for a King Canopy 20x10 8-leg shelter. The highest point of my trailered boat with the mast laying on it is 9'6" and the peak of this canopy is 9'9". Just about one foot of the bow of the boat is uncovered out the front, and the mast extends out the front and back, but the entirety of rest of the boat is well protected.

Anyways, it was about two hours start-to-finish to set up the shelter, and I'm really pleased with the results. And now I can work on the boat when it's raining too! (Or have a place to sleep when I get in trouble.)

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Dec 5, 2011
550
Catalina Catalina 22 13632 Phenix City
Nice! I need to look into this in the worst way. My boat sits in the backyard and gets a green algae growing mostly on the eastern side, leaves in the cockpit and other not so nice problems from sitting out in the weather 24/7/365.. She doesn't get sailed near enough and every year I promise to work less and sail more, then life drops the monkey wrench into my plans.....
 
Mar 31, 2019
64
Catalina 22 12640 Rose City Yacht Club
B&G Triton2 and Sensors

This has been a project many months in the making, culminating today with drilling out the hole for the Triton2 display.

Last fall I bought the B&G Triton2 depth, speed, and wireless wind pack, and added the B&G ZG100 GPS compass. The entire system is NMEA 2000.

For the sensors, I did the following:
  1. I had a boat yard install the DST800 through-hull transducer, forward of the keel, for depth, temperature, and speed through water readings. (Not pictured)
  2. I mounted the ZG100 GPS+compass on the deck near the mast step, drilling through the deck for the NMEA 2000 connection. (Not pictured)
  3. I left the WS320 wireless wind bluetooth receiver under the starboard settee connected to the NMEA 2000 backbone. In the future, I'll do a better job of securing it, but this will work for now. (Pictured)
  4. The mast head wind device was a bit of a project. I needed a bracket to install it on the masthead, and thankfully my friend and co-worker came to the rescue. He has a 3D printer and enough CAD skills to fabricate a bracket that sits on top of the mast and allows for the wind device to spin freely, forward of anything else. (Pictured, blue bracket on masthead)
  5. The NMEA 2000 backbone itself runs the length of the boat between the hull and the starboard bulkheads, with T-junctions along the way for sensors and the Triton2, and runs aft to the battery for power. (Same picture as 3)
Last, but not least, I cut out the spot in the cockpit for the Triton2 device itself. The cutout template provided by B&G made this fairly straight forward. I used a hole-saw for the corners and a jigsaw to cut out the rest. (Pictured x 3)

I used West Systems 105 + 206 to fill & then re-drill the deck hole for the GPS device and screw-holes, and counter sunk and used butyl tape for extra water proofing. Overall, I'm really happy with out everything came out. Just a few more projects to go and then it's time to splash and go sailing.

Best,
Andre
 

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Apr 11, 2017
571
Catalina C22 Solomon's Island, MD
That dang green slime is in Maryland too. I used poli-glow, and for year it stayed pretty clean on its own - but it's come back with a vengeance.
 
Mar 31, 2019
64
Catalina 22 12640 Rose City Yacht Club
Halyards Led Aft

I'll let the picture do the speaking since it's pretty straightforward. (The starboard side of the boat is an exact mirror.)

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The deck organizers are Spinlock T38/2Y organizers and the cleats are Spinlock PXR 0206 cam cleats. I was determined to not cut the handrails, or remove them, so this setup was a compromise that achieved that goal, albeit with only two lines led aft on each side of the boat. All the holes for the deck hardware were over-drilled, filled with West Systems 106+206+406, re-drilled, counter-sunk, and bedded with butyl tape. Everything is bolted through the deck with washers and lock nuts on the other side in the cabin. I converted the halyards to all line and used 6mm New England Ropes Endura Braid. I also installed the CD mast step halyard plate and CD improved SS mast step and attached Harken blocks at the halyard plate.

- Andre
 
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Mar 31, 2019
64
Catalina 22 12640 Rose City Yacht Club
Also, all the teak on the boat is restored except for the hatch rail wood, as you see in the previous post's picture. I removed the screws for the hatch rails, but the rail wood appears to be glued or otherwise adhered to the hatch. Is this an OEM installation feature? Or did some PO glue them down at some point, with god-knows-what adhesive? I'd love to remove them so I can restore the teak wood, and rebuild the hatch in a way that it won't screech like a banshee out of hell whenever I slide it open/closed.
 
Mar 31, 2019
64
Catalina 22 12640 Rose City Yacht Club
Here's a brief video I filmed of my B&G WS320 wireless wind device on top of my mast. It took my friend with a 3D printer many iterations (and patience) to arrive at a design which gave clearance for the windex, maintained the VHF antenna location, and left room to eventually attach an anchor light. I'm really happy with how it all turned out. At the end of the video you can see the B&G ZG100 GPS+compass installed on the deck as well. (The small white hockey puck on the starboard side of the mast.)

 
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Mar 31, 2019
64
Catalina 22 12640 Rose City Yacht Club
Nice work, Andre! I'm jealous!
Thanks! After launching her Tuesday I did a brief motor from the boat launch to the marina where she'll stay the summer. Even after that short 10-minute motor I can't believe how I sailed all last summer without depth readings, let alone all the other speed and wind data. Such a game changer!
 
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Mar 31, 2019
64
Catalina 22 12640 Rose City Yacht Club
Solar Power Battery Charging

This work was heavily inspired by the "Solar charging options" thread, and specifically the work done by @Gene Neill and @Zinger88.

Parts:
  1. Newpowa 30w Watts 12v Monocrystalline Solar Panel
  2. Victron SmartSolar MPPT 75/15 Solar Charge Controller with Bluetooth
  3. King Plastic Marine Starboard 1/2" thickness (cut to size)
  4. Mantus Marine Rail Clamp Set for 7/8" Rail
  5. 2-Wire Weather Resistant Quick Disconnect Connector
  6. Misc stainless steel fasteners, washers, nuts, etc
  7. Misc Ancor wire, butt connectors, terminal connectors, etc
Labor:
The installation was pretty straight forward. I cut two pieces of the Starboard marine plastic to run width wise across the back of the solar panel. This gave me options for mounting the rail clamps in a manner that the weight of the solar panel is distributed lengthwise down the rail. To those pieces of Starboard I drilled and mounted the Mantus rail clamps, slightly offset from center. (Pictured)

The charge controller is installed vertically against an interior bulkhead underneath the aft, port settee in the cabin. Basically, if you're seated at the dinette table facing forward, it's below and just behind your butt. It's close to the battery, and an easy run to the solar panel underneath the port side of the cockpit. (I forgot to take a picture of it, will follow up with pictures next time I'm at the boat)

At this point, I just needed to attach the 2-pin quick disconnect connector to the leads from the solar panel and the leads from the charge controller. The leads from the solar panel go through the gas line cowling. (Hooray, I don't have to cut another hole in the boat!) With the quick disconnect, if I want to totally remove the solar panel from the boat, say for trailering, I can do that easily right at the panel.

In terms of the panel mounted on the rail, my thinking was when I'm not at the boat it would be angled towards the sun. (Pictured). When sailing, I can rotate the panel out of the way so it's hanging vertically on the outside of the rail. In theory, I haven't actually tried this yet. (Not pictured)

Conclusions:
Based on my power budget calculations, this panel will be more than enough to keep the battery topped off for our evening river cruises. And for overnights, it should still afford us plenty of headroom. I don't have any type of shower power, so this solar panel will be the primary source of charging the battery when she's in her slip during the day at the marina.

I love the Bluetooth capabilities of the charge controller, especially the device's ability to retain weeks of charge history that you can view on the app the next time you're at the boat. In full sun I saw it hit 29W of output. (Pictured)

The Mantus rail clips are solid, but I was disappointed that they're actually 1" rail clamps with a 1/8" rubber shim to match a 7/8" rail. I'm a little worried that rotating the panel vertically to "sailing mode" will be harder than I want since those rubber shims seem to want to work their way out when moved. Time will tell here.

- Andre
 

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Sep 30, 2013
3,538
1988 Catalina 22 North Florida
I'll be keenly interested in how those Mantus clamps work out. Given the price, I would expect them to far outperform Sea Dog clamps.
 
Mar 31, 2019
64
Catalina 22 12640 Rose City Yacht Club
I'll be keenly interested in how those Mantus clamps work out. Given the price, I would expect them to far outperform Sea Dog clamps.
Agreed. I went sailing yesterday for the first time this season, and I ended up not rotating the solar panel while under-way from the position you see it in the photos above. For most of the evening until sunset it was blowing 12kts steady and gusting to 18kts, so it was an active sail with some chop, and the clamps didn't budge. The panel wasn't really in my way so I figured I'd just keep it at that angle. I think if it were a slower sail with more relaxing time, I'd probably rotate it out of the way so I could lean back.

And, the B&G instrumentation worked great. It was really fun to see the wind speed, wind angles, etc to confirm what I was seeing and feeling in the boat.

sailing.jpg


sailing1.jpg
 
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Mar 31, 2019
64
Catalina 22 12640 Rose City Yacht Club
I had to make a stop at the boat this evening, so while I was there I grabbed a quick screenshot of today's power output from the solar panel. 100Wh - not bad for a day when it was on / off sun, clouds, and rain.

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Mar 31, 2019
64
Catalina 22 12640 Rose City Yacht Club
A Week on Priest Lake, Idaho

My partner and I wanted to start off the summer sailing season with a bang, so in early February we booked a week long campsite on Kalispell Island on Priest Lake, ID. Our campsite was for the Silver Cove area of the island, which is on the South side of the island and well protected. We booked it for the second week of June, and for the most part really lucked out on weather and crowds.

This would be my first long distance tow, so I did a full bearing / hub replacement on my trailer. It was roughly a ~9 hour / 450 mi drive from Portland to the Priest Lake boat launch. I kept my speed to about 60mph and my Tacoma averaged around 14mpg.

We had a fantastic week of camping and sailing. Our third night featured some wicked thunderstorms and 48 hours of high winds. I nervously kept an eye on Avalon, and much to my relief neither the anchor line off the stern nor the bow line to shore moved one bit.

And last, but definitely not least, I flew my asymmetrical spinnaker for the first time. And single-singled handed at that! Sure, the wind was only 3 kts but it was still a very rewarding moment that I'll never forget.

Here's a bunch of pictures of our campsite, the cove, and a photo my partner took from shore as I flew the spin for the first time.

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On the way there, I didn't have any support under the mast amidship, and now I know why everyone puts a PVC pipe underneath it. It was nerve wracking watching the mast bounce and flex. On the ride home, we tied the spreaders to the handrails with ratchet straps. That significantly decreased the bouncing and kept the mast from rotating.

Otherwise, it was a fantastic trip and we can't wait to go back next summer.

Cheers,
Andre
 
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Mar 20, 2015
3,094
C&C 30 Mk1 Winnipeg
Nice trip ! :waycool:

The camping and sailing idea is something i have wanted to do since I started shopping for a small trailerable.
I originally was planning on a Wayfarer/CL16. Using a boom tent onboard, and a small 3 man tent for onshore camping.
Ended up with the C22 instead. Hehe.

There is week long "race" with camping each night, around a huge lake, about 3 hours away. I hope to do it next year depending on getting the free time.

I always worry about anchoring. It"s a good thing IMO. Makes me pay attention to the details.
 
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Mar 31, 2019
64
Catalina 22 12640 Rose City Yacht Club
Evening Spinnaker Sail on the Columbia River

I'd only flown my asymmetrical spinnaker twice previously, but tonight seemed like the perfect evening for a longer excursion with it.

I've generally followed Stingy Sailors guide for flying a spinnaker. I added the CD spinnaker crane to my masthead, re-used my jib-downhaul as a pendant at the tack, and used soft shackles + blocks attached to the aft cleats for sheeting.

It was a cloudy, cool evening in Portland (a first for this summer) but that meant we had light, steady NW winds around 7-9kts out of the NNW. This put the wind directly on our aft port quarter and perfect for the asymmetrical spinnaker. We sailed directly upriver for two hours without having to jibe once. (Which is good, because I'm not super confident jibing the spinnaker yet)

Here's a quick video of our evening that I filmed. The only other boat out was a small catamaran.


Cheers everyone, I hope you're all getting out and enjoying these late summer evenings.

- Andre