Ever wonder what's really inside the CP 16?

[bro t]

BON VOYAGE!!

[Craig]

Rick,

Let us know how it goes.  My only advice is take it slow and be deliberate about setting her up for her relaunching.

Craig

[Rick Evans]

The fact I'm posting this message means I either chickened out or made it back alive.  In fact, it's the latter.  Sweet Laraine and I made our aquatic debut at Canyon Lake, Texas.  63 degrees and not a cloud to be found.  Also, no wind to be found either but that was probably a good thing since it made it easier to rig & launch her and putter around on the 4 hp Suzuki to see how she responded.  And, we did get a few puffs or two so I could sail a few miles.  Here's some observations & questions I've got for you fellows.

I now know what you mean when you say she has a big boat feel.  She reminds me of my old Catalina 22.  A hefty, solid girl.  I also own a 16 foot Wayfarer which is renown for it's seagoing ability and it's records crossing the North Sea.  Yet, by comparison, the Wayfarer is like a Sunfish.  Very tippy and absent wind, you can't just sit on one side or the other without causing too much heel.  By contrast, I could lounge on either side of the cockpit without that much impact.  The cockpit seems bigger at sea than on land.  Easy to stretch out with a cushion against the transom and still have room to spare.  I also found that the long shaft motor is definitely the way to go.  I'm able to keep the motor mount in the up position even when under power making it easier to start & turn.  I lowered it once and found it to be a pain in the rear to have to lift to the up position to tilt the motor clear of the water when under sail.  If any of you are in the market for a new motor, I would certainly encourage the long shaft version.  

After a few hours and a six pack of beer, I was ready to head back having had a great time.  But, here's a list of new questions perhaps you'll be able to help me with.

First, and I'm confident this will get me permanently booted off this site, but I'd like to test the honesty of my fellow CP 16 owners.  Be honest now.  Just how many of you have found the scuppers to be a semi private urinal?  I've got to confess that with a few beers I didn't feel like going down below to use the porta potti and there were just one too many boats out there to just stand up.  I doubt Hutchins planned it this way, but it seems to me this is one of the more useful design characteristics of the boat.  Please don't tell me I'm the only one to have thought of this.

Second, is there any way to launch without getting wet up to your knees.  I found that I had to back down the ramp to the point that my rear wheels were in about 3 inches of water.  I could then push her off but, to get to the point that she could be pushed, I had to get in knee deep water.   To walk behind the car and stand on the trailer tongue still was pretty wet.  That's fine in the summer but, despite the sunny weather yesterday, it was cold enough that I wondered if there was any easier solutions?  I've seen people with lighter boat fly down the ramp backwards, slam on their brakes, and the boat glides off the trailer into the water.  Can this be done on a CP 16?

Third, where do you keep the boom while in transit?  Mine is just about 18 inches too long to be able to fit in the cabin.  My solution has been to keep the mainsail foot attached to the boom, roll the sail around the boom, and then bungee the boom to the companionway hatch with the boom running back to the transom parallel to the mast.  I've got the mast resting in two crutches forward and aft and my rigid roller furler bungeed alongside the mast.  Is there any more convenient way to stow the boom other than this?  It's sort of like a third wheel.

[multimedia_smith]

Congrats Rick...
Any outing you return from is a good one... my maiden voyage was a drifter also... which was probably a good thing too as it was less hectic sorting out the running gear out without a lot of loading forces involved.

About the inboard cockpit urinal concept... you're on your own there... you see, I'm one of those scupper pluggers so distained in this group... but heck, I usually have a crowd and seldom ship water into the coclpit, so...

With regard to the launching, I can help you out there... after my first launching where I had to do the reverse-slam-brakes-slide-off launch and wet tire retrieval... I set about designing a simple yet really useable trailer extension... here is the link to an image of same:

http://www.com-pacowners.com/4images/details.php?image_id=173

It has been one of the most useful, inexpensive, home-made devices...
I walk from the back of the van and down the tongue and don't even get my feet wet.

The Boom goes into the van for the most part and if towing with the car, it goes under the mast and partially into the companionway like you're doing.

Best of luck to you...

ENJOY!!!

Dale

[bro t]

Rick, as for the call of nature, I have found it's a good excuse to take a swim, but that is really difficult on good wind days unless you are good at 'heaving to'.  However, my sister's Welsh terrier found that the entire hatch does eventually drain to the cockpit, where certain guests did the limbo over the seat on the lee.  Needless to say, the Captain was of a mind to walk the dog (down the gangplank!) and keelhaul the owner who forgot to curb the pup!  (Which owner spoke overly sympathetically to the aforementioned canine, while the Captain raised his voice with outstretched bailing jug, demanding immediate attention to the swabbing of the deck!)  It may be useful to consider a drink less diuretic in nature, especially on crowded lakes or with company on board.  We still carry the pac-a-potti (I have kids).  As for launching dry, Dale says it all (I figure the water is part of the experience - at least for now).  In regard to boom-tying, I use only one crutch (in the cockpit), homemade 'X' shape, so the mast goes on the pulpit rail through the top of the 'X', and then I just tie the boom to the mast at either end, but outside the 'X', so they don't abrade.  It's ugly, but cheap and quite stable; so far no probs, I've been a long road that way.  Congrats on a happy maiden voyage!
bro t. from Upwest Maine

[Rick Evans]

Just FYI, last night I reviewed a diary I kept to chronicle the restoration of Sweet Laraine.  The total cost of this little project was $4,500 which includes the cost of the boat & trailer which I bought for $1,500 (probably more than what it was worth).  So, I spent twice as much to restore her as I did to buy her.  Now, in fairness, I hasten to add that some of the expenses were either unnecessary or would have been incurred even had I bought a brand new boat or a second hand boat in good condition.  For example, $100.00 of this is for license & registration.  I spent about $250.00 for a stereo system.  I bought things like a tool kit to keep on board and spare parts.  Also, she boasts brand new sails and a roller furler.  Even brand new boats don't have these unless you add them as options.  And a good second hand boat, although cheaper, wouldn't have these items either plus it would have second hand sails, maybe an old style rudder, older trailer tires, etc.  I question if I could sell her for what I put into her although, on the other hand, I've seen plenty of used CP16s at $3,000 to $3,500 in good shape but still with ten year old sails, no stereo, furler, etc.  

The total time I spent on this project was 101 hours most of which was done in 3 hour snippets over almost exactly 2 months.  One couldn't do it in much less time than two months because progress had to be halted while waiting for paint to dry, adhesives and epoxy to set up, etc.  I hasten to add that this 101 hours did not include the one billion trips to West Marine and Home Depot.  Okay, maybe not quite that many trips but I can guarantee you I spent about another 24 hours collectively in driving and shopping.  So, even if I could sell my baby for what I put into her, all my time would have been for nothing.  Of course, this is all academic because it was a labor of love and more fun than work.  If I didn't want to do it or didn't enjoy this kind of stuff in the first place, I would have just taken the $5,000 and bought a slightly used boat ready to go.  

I've got one other question you might be able to help me with.  When rigging Sweet Laraine for her maiden voyage last weekend, obviously I was no longer in my garage near my handy step ladder.  So, I found myself climbing in and out of her by standing on the wheel fender and pulling myself on board and then jumping off.  It really was pretty easy given my height of 6'2" but does anybody have any other solutions?  I'm sure you don't bring a step ladder with you but do you use a step-stool type device?  On bigger trailerable keel boats, I've seen some trailers with a little ladder welded on the tongue by the winch which you can climb to get on and off the bow.  Has anybody done something like this?  How about the swim ladder on the stern?

[Craig]

Rick,

At 6 foot even I just step on the fender and throw my leg over the side and climb into the cockpit.  I've been doing it for 6 years with no ill effects to the fender(s) or its owner.

Craig

[multimedia_smith]

Yeah... the fender...
One thing to make sure of... and this only applies to those using the hitch extender ( or doing work in the garage ) ... Make sure the trailer is either attached to the vehicle or has jack stands under the rear of the frame.
Once while setting up at the ramp... I walked to the stern and the boat started to rock backward... needless to say... it's the type of thing you do only ONCE :oops:
One thing with buying these boats used is that you will always be able to get your money out... it's the guys who buy new that take the worst hit on depreciation.  You will also have more "pride of ownership" than if you had bought new.  
Congrats... I've enjoyed folowing the saga.
Dale

[CaptK]

Rick - YOU'RE BANNED FOR LIFE!!!

LOL, just kidding. :mrgreen:

Here's what I do when I can't swim to pump my personal bilge:

Get a gallon jug (water or milk jug works fine, but a bleach bottle lasts longer). Opposite the handle, near the top, cut a 8-10" circular hole out of the bottle. Pump bilge wattle into bottle at your leisure, sitting or standing in the cockpit or cabin, dumping ex-bilge-contents overboard when finished.

I named this invention of mine "The Harbor Head", since it is useful when other folks are about, and less likely to cause stares than standing and dangling off the stern in public. :mrgreen:

Rinse the Harbor Head immediately after use, and it also makes a handy-dandy general purpose bucket that has many other uses. Urine is nearly sterile, I've read, but it has enough biologicals that your scuppers will grow green with a steady diet of liquid nutrient, unless rinsed. The Harbor Head also works well the boat is underway, maing it more likely that you'll stay aboard when bilge-pumping.

Congrats on the first sail, Rick, and thanks for all the info.

[Rick Evans]

I like the idea of the harbor head.  If anybody saw it, at least they wouldn't know exactly what it was or think you were some type of wierdo.  I had thought about keeping one of those portable urinals like the type you get when in the hospital but that's a dead giveaway.  Way too obvious.  The subtlety of the harbor head may be the answer.  Certainly the option of giving up beer isn't.  I'm not sure I'd know how to sail without beer.

I plan on keeping in touch because the story of Sweet Laraine isn't over.  Once I get my sea legs on her, she's going to Mexico via the Gulf of Mexico.  I haven't figured out the details yet but I'm convinced I can make the trip.  I'm only 2 hours from Corpus Christi so I can launch her there and be on my way.  I'll let you know when I get the plans firmed up.

I also plan on inventing a better way to jump in and out apart from the fender method.  It worked for me and I sense that's what everybody else does to.  I'm going to see if I can come up with a better mousetrap.  I'll let you know.

[Rick Evans]

Well, I went to manufacture my Harbor Head and my wife said the dimensions for the hole didn't need to be that big.  She suggested that I could just punch hole in the bottle with a finishing nail and that I'd have room to spare.  So, I'm now accepting new names for Sweet Laraine since I certainly won't be calling her after my wife anymore.

[CaptK]

LMAO! :mrgreen:

Maybe you could rename the boat "Sarcastic Laraine"?  :lol:

[Rick Evans]

Thought I'd check in to give ya'll a report on an interesting sail I had this past weekend.  I went out to our local lake with my son knowing there was a risk of afternoon thunderstorms with the approach of a mild cold front.  It didn't happen but there was enough of a pressure gradient to kick up Beneteau.  Unbelievable!