Downsizing epiphany

[Hadders]

After decades of paying summer mooring fees and winter storage fees on boats that were bigger than I needed to have, I decided to join the pocket cruiser club. Here's my 1988 CP16 being worked on in the comfort of my garage. Now I'm looking forward to the 2016 sailing season here in Maine with keener anticipation than ever before! A big thank you to all you guys who post on this forum for all of that invaluable information which helped me when I was buying the boat and giving her the TLC she needed.

[hinmo]

its a bittersweet realization.....mainly sweet. I hit the ceiling at a 34 Catalina. Had it two seasons. Then one spring, was looking at the list (massive) of things to get done on her. In a flash of decisiveness, I put her on the market and never looked back.
There were several intermediate steps, but suffice it to say, the CP16 fills the urge, at a darn good price!

Welcome aboard!

[tmw]

It feels like there is a size joke in there somewhere, about how great things come in small packages.  I think I learned from your experiences (or others with similar experiences) and love having the CP16 safe and dry in the garage.

Congratulations on the new ownership!  She looks nice.

[Cats Paw]

 Congrats on your choice of Boat. Nice looking Craft.  I am curious to know of what issues or changes if any you will be working on?

[Hadders]

Thanks to all for your comments. Although I don't have a detailed ownership history for her, I know that she was owned for a big part of her life by a woman in New Hampshire. She was sold a couple of years ago to a guy in Maine who was completely new to sailing and had some fairly traumatic experiences out in Casco Bay. This resulted in a few chunks missing from the front edge of the keel, which I have now repaired. In the process, I also took the precaution of drilling holes in the bottom of the keel. There was some water in there, but not a lot. Otherwise, most of the work has been giving her a bit of TLC (bottom cleaning, topside buffing etc). It looks like the cockpit drains have been leaking into the interior, in spite of huge (and unsightly) quantities of sealant around them. I plan to remove those, clean everything up and then glass them in. I'm lucky, because I'm a very slim 5' 8", so I can wiggle right down the quarterberths and work in that area from the inside.

So far, the interior has just been a cleaning, sanding, varnishing and painting job. There doesn't seem to be any rot of any kind. I'm going to carpet the area for'ard of the compression post and then give some thought to storage options. I'm very impressed that there is a proper arrangement for the anchor and rode which will allow me to mount the anchor in the pulpit area.

I bought a new rudder from RudderCraft and a new anchor and rode. Otherwise, I intend to sail her for a season and see how it goes. The sails look to be very serviceable, but time will tell.

Incidentally, there was no outboard as part of the deal, and I spent a long time reading and rereading the advice on this forum about which to choose. I went round and round the houses on that one! Eventually, because best sailing performance is the main goal, I settled on a choice between a Honda 2.3HP (long shaft) and a Suzuki 2.5HP (which has no long shaft option). There wasn't much to choose between them, except that the Suzuki is noticeably quieter and I have an aversion to noisy engines (!). I felt able to go with the short shaft because the boat is fitted with an adjustable engine mount.

[Salty19]

Welcome to the forum, Hadders.

A couple of thoughts. About the scupper leaks, I just read an article somewhere that epoxy will not stick to PVC, so even if you glass it, there will still be small leak points. The suggestion was to go ahead and glass in the scuppers, but plan to stuff sealant between the two.  I wonder if you can deviate a little and wrap some butyl tape around the PVC nice and thick where it meets the transom and cockpit, then glass over it.  This way the sealant is trapped within the layup. I would think both the transom and cockpit connection points would both need to be sealed to do the jon right.   Butyl tape is nice to work with and easy to mold, stays flexible and it doesn't sag off like typical "goop". I don't know how it reacts with epoxy though...might be worth looking into this more??

As for the engine, I know there are some Honda fans out here, so sorry if I'm offending those, but I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole.  They run very lean (less fuel per volume of air)and will be troublesome around your area (cold temps and sea level-ish). The colder and lower the elavation, the richer (more fuel per volume of air) the fuel mix needs to be.  Plus the centrifugal clutch while seemingly easy to use, would be difficult to let it run at high idle to warm it up.  Which you'll need to do with these motors because of the lean fuel mixture.  One of my slip mates cursed the devil out of it and picked up a 4hp Yamaha which is loves.    I would go with the Suzuki. 

P.S. You'll love the foiled rudder.  Good choice!

Enjoy,

Salty

[hinmo]

I have the Suzuki 2.5  4s....had to put a new carb after the second year.....talk about lean!!! Glad the new carb was <$100.

I swore by my two Nissan/Tohatsu 3.5 hp 2s's for the longest time, until they both fouled this past summer.

right now, all three engines are running after carb cleans, but I don't hold a lot of faith in anyone of them.

I rotate the 3 small outboards between two boats, just to keep two running


(think OARS!)

[Bob23]

Welcome Hadders to the greatest forum on earth! Where in Maine do you sail? I just returned from visiting a friend in Boothbay where I got to row a bit, hike a bit and indulge in the local food and drink.  I Love the state and the people.
Bob23 and "Koinonia", 1985 23/2 in NJ.

[Hadders]

Thanks for the heads-up about the PVC, Salty. I should have remembered that one! I'll take 'em off, clean everything up and then give the reinstallation some more thought.

Hinmo - I guess modern outboards are just notoriously highly strung. All that lean running and dodgy fuel. Having said that, I had a Tohatsu 3.5HP for years and never had a moments trouble (apart from sheer pins - but that was due to the nut holding the tiller). No ethanol in the fuel though (this was in Scotland) - I wonder if that makes a difference?

Bob - I live in Freeport and mostly sail in the Casco bay area. Maine is this sailor's dream cruising ground!