First Sail of the Season

[NateD]

I vowed to get my CP16 on the water Friday, whether there was wind or not. Unfortunately there wasn't much for wind, but we had a good time putzing around the river. We put into the St. Croix River, just below the I-94 bridge between Stillwater and Hudson.

The river was like glass, not many other boats out (a lot of the big boats are still shrink wrapped on shore).


There wasn't enough wind to fill the main, so we put up the symmetrical spinnaker and flew it more like an asymmetrical. That got us up to about 2 knots.


After about an hour and a half the wind died completely, so we fired up the motor and went for a little ride. Angie took over the helm so I could take some pictures.


The only other sailboat out was this one. He motored up when we had the spinnaker up to say hi. Turned out to be a Com-Pac 23 and the other guy on board owned a Com-Pac 19. I didn't get a chance to get the camera out until they were pretty far off.

It's April, the ice is hardly off the water, the majority of the powerboat and big boats aren't in the water, there's no wind, and who do you find on the water? A couple of guys with Com-Pacs.

[kickingbug1]

    ive had my cp16 out three times so far the last time was thursday. on carlyle lake here in southern illinois there is pretty good wind but both times i had the whole lake to myself minus a few crappie fisherman. a little on the chilly side but it has been a long winter and the 16 was iching to get out of the garage. 70s next week will find me on the water again. fair winds to all

[Steve Ullrich]

NateD - Just acquired a new to me Com-Pac 16 with plans to sail the St. Croix among other places.  Where can you launch on the St. Croix? Trailer parking? Public ramp?  Wish I could have been on the water too but my new 16 is still shrink wrapped behind a row of pontoons at a marina on Medicine Lake. 

[NateD]

SUllrich - Congratulations on the acquisition! We bought our from a guy in Superior WI last October, so we've only had it on the water 3 times, but so far I really like the 16.

We put in at Beanie's (http://www.boatingatbeanies.com/), which is a very nice private launch about 100 yards south of the I-94 bridge. It's usually $10 to launch, but it turns out that it is half-price until the walleye opener. I like it because I know it's deep enough to get the boat on and off, but I'm not big on the price. There is some parking by the ramp, but I'm told when it gets busy during the summer you end up parking along the residential streets and they have a shuttle that will drive you back to the ramp.

We tried to launch at St. Croix Bluffs Regional Park (http://www.co.washington.mn.us/info_for_residents/parks_division/parks_and_trails/st_croix_bluffs_regional_park/) back in October, but there was a fishing tournament and a 2 hour wait to get the boat in the water. I'm going to try this place again though, $25 for an annual permit sure beats $10 a pop at Beanie's. They have a large parking lot, but it reportedly fills up pretty fast on the weekends too.

We tried launching on White Bear Lake in October too (the public launch on the north east side of the lake), but the water level was too low. We'll try that one again this spring.

Have you been able to get under the shrink wrap and do some day dreaming in the boat?

[Steve Ullrich]

Nate - Thanks for the links.  I'll look them up and bookmark them.  White Bear was too low? Wow, surprises me a little but I know all of the area lakes are down.  I was hoping to be able to launch my C16 just about anywhere.  Guess I'd better start praying for rain.

Small world, I drove up to Superior with my wife last Fall and looked at the boat you bought.  I wanted to write him a check but my wife wasn't sold on the C16 yet so we passed on the deal.  I thought she was in great condition and came with a nice set of sails and a good motor.  I had to pass on a couple of others too before I sold her on the Com-Pac. 

Haven't been under the shrink wrap yet.  Bummer.  The marina owner recycles/reuses the shrink wrap so I couldn't just split her open.  Hopefully he will have the pontoons out of the way early this week and I can bring her home before the weekend.  Kind of rash buying a boat that's under shrink wrap...  All I know for sure at this point is that the hull and keel are in beautiful shape and one trailer tire is low on air.  Not much to go on!  The owner assured me they kept her clean and that I'd be happy with what I saw under the shrink wrap. 

We'll have to see if we can pull together a bunch of Com-Pac sailors for Summer Solstice.

Steve

[NateD]

I'm planning on building a tongue extender next month which should help with the launching. I'm used to small fishing boats and roller bunks, floating the CP off takes more water than I expected.

Well, you're wife probably saved you from a bit of a project boat. Since the weather has warmed up I've been looking it over closely and finding all kinds small issues and pieces that need to be replaced. It's funny you mention the motor it came with. I tested it in a trash barrel last week and it was leaking gas profusely from the carb. Took it to the shop which turned into a $125 carb rebuild. I saw a quote somewhere that a boat is just a hole in the water that you through money into, and the smaller the boat the smaller the hole is. I'm glad I only have a 16 foot hole to fill.

Hopefully the rest of your boat is in good (or great) condition, it's going to be a moment of pure exhilaration when they pull the plastic off.

[Steve Ullrich]

Nate - If you look closely at any sailboat you are going to find small issues and things you might want to replace.  I remember your boat. She has a sound hull, keel, deck, standing rigging and a decent set of sails.  And, you are right, it could be a much larger hole!  As for the motor, saw her funning strong in a bucket last Fall.  Small gas engines are always a pain in the butt in the Spring.  Blame the gas. Ethanol clogs up any carb and it can do it inside of a month.  A tip for you: Buy only non-oxygenated gas for your small engines.  Lawn mowers, snow blowers, weed eaters, outboard engines, etc.  Toss a shot of SeaFoam in for every gallon if you want extra insurance. Be sure you have non-oxygenated gas with some SeaFoam in it when you winterize her and you won't have any carb issues next Spring.

[don l]

These are wonderful, great, heart warming, but very painful posts.  But, thanks anyway.  From a jealous cajun in colorado.  <grin>

[mrb]

Welcome to the site guys, no not you Cajun

A thought on that gas problem.  Small boat mechanics I have dealt with in the bunch of years have all told me they don't use gas that is over a couple weeks old as it goes bad so fast now days.  Well I can't be throwing gas away so I always add one of the gas additives to my gas can when I fuel up, motor cycle also if it's going to be sitting for long.  Don,t know for sure if it works but haven't had any carb or starting problems.  A gallon of gas lasts me almost a year in boat.

melvin

[mrb]

Ahoy Cajun

Howsthe season looking for you in the mountains.  By the news and the weather Colorado has been sending Ar. looks as if you may be snowed in for a while.  Warm winds to you

melvin

[don l]

Ahoy mrb,
weather is off and on, today will be wonderful.  Justing checking site, and then out to the boat, which is in the backyard.  My boy put the battery in on sunday.  I can sit, drink coffee, hear songs.  Yeh, the boy getting a lot bigger, for 41. <grin>

[mrb]

Cajun

Yep, simple pleasures, just can't beat them.

Bon voyages 

melvin