New to Sailnet, New to the Bay

[mpickering]

Greetings all,

I'm new to Sailnet and thought I'd drop an introductory note.

My wife and I are onto our 2nd sailboat, a 1982 Catalina 27. Our first was a 1977 O'Day 22 we were lucky to obtain on the Potomac River. Wonderful little shoal draft boat, immaculately kept but we sold it after one season because my wife didn't like how "tippy" it felt on the water. So we upgraded and landed on our C-27 last October.

What an adventure!

I have discovered in the process of fixing up and upgrading this boat that everything costs twice as much and takes four times longer than I expect. Here are the things we've done:

* Replaced all running and standing rigging (standing rigging was 27 years old and in saltwater)
* New four-stroke outboard with remote controls (replacing manual two-stroke)
* Upgraded the roller furling
* Replaced the bow stem chainplate and lower shroud chainplates to recommended Catalina upgrades.
* New carpet
* New cockpit bilge pump
* New freshwater plumbing
* Modified head plumbing to be Coast Guard legal, replace all hoses and clamps
* Refinished the teak
* Filled and painted some deck gouges above the starboard rub rail
* New bottom paint
* New bilge paint and painted inside the hull lockers
* Replacing incandescent lights with LEDs
* New electronics including stereo, DSC VHF, AIS and chartplotter

And lastly: Installed three new keel nuts on the aft keel studs after discovering the previous ones had rusted away to powder and shavings. Strangely, the forward three were in good condition.

And we're still not done! But today is the day she is going in the water and we're looking forward to sailing this season on the Chesapeake Bay south of Annapolis. For me, I have waited 10 years to have a boat of my own on the Bay and that day is finally here!

So here's to fair winds and reasonably calm seas. Sea trials begin in a week and I can't wait!

Matt

[Adax]

Hi Matt. Welcome and fair winds to you.Hope her first day in the water went well .

[wwilson]

Welcome Matt,

We will look for you out there this season. You will love sailing the Chesapeake in your newly revamped Cat-27 - If you see us hail... there is always an anchorage.