HOW DID YOUR COMPAC FIND YOU?

[Gerry]

I specifically went on-line looking for a Com-pac because my grandkids didn't like the "tippy" sail boat I had at the time.  After a long search I was ready to drive 1400 miles to check out a boat in North Carolina, when ZAP!, one showed up on-line only 100 miles away.  Bought it on the spot.  I spent the winter reconditioning it and will enjoy it until I can no longer sail.  Perfect boat to handle and just right for day trips around Door County and the Green Bay.

[Mas]

Hello No Mas here. Glad to have my "Why a Compac?" thread bumped here and stickied. Along with the "How did your Compac find you" theme, would love to have folks add the "Why a Compac?" piece as well. Would love to hear both why your boat chose you and why you chose it.

The starter for my thread gave the reasons for why we chose No Mas, but we did have a Compac choose us! Must admit as we research and document the history of No Mas, (have now spoken with previous owners), wish i had kept up with our CP16 that we bought used in 1984. In that case she chose us as we knew nothing about Compacs. We had been visiting family in Florida and were getting ready to come back home to Virginia and there she was, sitting on her trailer, all rigged, whispering "hello sailor, wanna go for a ride?" 

It was the beginning of a love affair.

[tmw]

I have fond memories of spending my youth on a Sunfish and similar small sailboats, and enjoyed a two week summer ICW/southeast trip on a Morgan Out Island 41.  After getting property along the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay, my wife talked about how we need a sailboat.  The first stop was a Sunfish to teach the family how to sail.  The experience also taught me that our family would not like a tender boat.  I wanted a sailboat with a cuddy cabin, because the cabin makes it a "real" sailboat.

Considerations were obviously price range, a boat suitable for shallow bay water near the property, stability of a significant ballast (not a tender boat), while light enough to tow with our existing car (Ford Escape).  Trailer-ability alleviates fear of hidden long-term costs (slips, removal, storage, etc).  Hurricane prep: close the garage door.  Sailboatdata.com and Craigslist were invaluable.

After searching, the Montgomery 15 was another strong contender, but far less prevalent on the east coast, especially in my price range.  Craigslist set me in touch with someone who had a Compac 16 they no longer needed, and thus a great relationship was created.  The deposit on the boat forced me to install the hitch required to tow it home.

[HeaveToo]

I was selling my Catalina 30.  The main reason was the expenses with that boat as the price for one sail on that boat you could buy a main, jib, and spinnaker for the Compac 23. 

I started with a list of must haves for a new boat.  I wanted one that I could put on a trailer to save costs.  I wanted a fixed keel because of the horror stories I have heard about centerboards and dagger boards.  I wanted a stiffer boat than a Catalina 22 and a Hunter 22/23.  The boat had to be able to do some longer cruises.

I searched the internet and found the Compac 23.  I joined this board to get information on them and ask questions.  That is when Norm found me and told me that he would be selling his Compac 23.  He actually held his boat for quite a while while I was selling the Catalina 30.  The day after the money cleared for the Catalina 30 I gave Norm the check and I was officially a Compac 23 owner.

[crazycarl]

i was looking to replace our storm damaged starwind 19.
i was familiar with compacs and decided i wouldn't settle for less.
i looked at several on the web and finally drove from northern illinois to cincinnati, ohio to check out a 19.
she had been sitting in storage for 2 years and needed some tlc. 
what sold me on this particular compac was the p.o. hadn't altered the boat.
the owner, a power boater, accepted our offer and we towed her home.

parked in the drive next to the damaged starwind 19, a starwind 22, a hullmaster 15, and an o'day widgeon, the neighbors were beginning to think i opened a marina!

C.C.

[Mas]

Hey Crazy Carl, I am a musician and my wife has been so gracious in her acceptance of our multiple instruments. I mean multiple! Got more than one boat too, but only one sailboat, No Mas. Did a bunch of whitewater paddling for a couple decades and have the residual stable of 6 kayaks and canoes. I don't see too many boats for you!

[MHardy]

I wanted to buy a small sailboat and learn to sail in 2010 (it was my mid-life crisis thing). I initially was thinking about a Flying Scot or something similar, but then stumbled upon Keith Scott's Sailboat Company website. I read his Com-Pac 16 article (it's still there by the way) and decided that was the boat for me. I purchased a restored '83 CP16 from him shortly after. I have enjoyed sailing Seagull ever since. I toy with the idea of moving to a bigger boat, but only consider Com-Pac. Maybe a 23 is in my future...

[Catawampus]

I've been sailing since 1973. Have owned and sailed different boats through the years. From my first styrofoam hulled snark sunflower, I moved through a minifish, force 5, buccaneer 18, hobie 18, victoria 18, merit 25 and then a hunter 31. The hunter 31 was way too much worry, maintenance and expense. I started searching for a boat that two could weekend on comfortably, would be easily trailerable, require minimal maintenance, and able to be rigged, launched and sailed single handed. There was one best answer to my needs: a Sun Cat. Started my search in October 2011, and in March of 2012 I found her on Cape Cod. Been delighted ever since!

[Mas]

"Maybe a 23 is in my future.."

Hey MHardy, just got a 23, we learned to sail on a 16. Will let you know, but so far even sitting on her trailer till spring, we love the feel of her space! Same designer so similar feel.

No Mas

[HeaveToo]

The 23 is a toy.  It is easy to sail and it is pretty forgiving.  Life is short, go for the 23!

Heck, eventually I will go back up to 30'+ when money, and my wife, allow.  The hard part is the wife part!  LOL

I have single handed all three of my last boats (Hunter 22, Catalina 30, and Compac 23).  It all was very easy with the help of the autopilot. 

[Bob23]

I've had my 23 for 9 years. Or should I say, she's had me!  I find her fast enough, forgiving, a real looker and built tough. I always refer to the 23 as a small boat that thinks its big!!!  There's plenty of room down below and compared to the 16, it's cavernous down there. It has good side decks and plenty of room for improvements in the cabin. I've even toyed with a complete gut and a new interior layout, although the lazy part of me says "Just sail it the way it is". 
Bob23

[Mas]

We absolutely love the cozy, well laid out interior of these little boats. I also agree, they are proper little yachts and their tenure on the boating scene speaks to something that is going right! Lotta companies have come and gone, many models of boats have come and gone, but same company and same boat (albeit upgrades over the models) for pushing 40 years well it just feels right.

[GeeW]

Hi chaps and chapesses
I thought It was about time I added our story for your delectation.
Having had and sailed quite a few trailer sailers over the past twenty years, including a couple of real nice ones we had migrated up the slippery slope of up-sizing to a Wharram Tiki 21 catamaran which was excellent to sail but very cruel on knees and lower backs once you get past the first flourish of youth. All seemed pretty good sailing wise except for the creeping cost of the annual mooring.

Life, as it is sometimes apt to do, decided to throw in a curved ball and the Admiral was diagnosed with the big 'C'. The operation and radiation treatment and subsequent recovery took about 18 months which rather messed up the sailing so we decided to go back to our sailing roots and find another trailer sailer. The biggest stipulation was that it had to fit through the garage door which is an 80" square.
After first trying to find another Shipmate Senior, a marque we had enjoyed several years previous it became apparent that time had not been too kind on the light mouldings and all the examples we looked at were, to be polite, rather "tired" shall we say....... back to the drawing board.
Then I fell over an ad for a ComPac 16, a rare boat in the UK, which had all the attributes we were hoping for except it had a shallow fin keel....hmmmm. Looked really pretty so thought we would take a peek. The Admiral was also a little quick to point out that the garage still contained the Tiki on its trailer and where was I proposing to put any new boat? Don't you just hate it when the obvious hiccup in your 'master plan' gets pointed out to you?
Luckily (for my 'master plan') she also had a good idea of suggesting that perhaps her daughter might just allow us to put any new boat in her garage until the Tiki was sold.
Following Saturday longish drive to go and look. Having spent lots of hours on this forum looking up possible issues (which were all there to some degree) she was pretty and ticked all bar one box (keel thing). A deal was struck and a deposit left. We returned the following weekend with an envelope of beer tokens and Applejack was ours. A small detour of about 400 miles to put Applejack in said daughters garage and we were home on Sunday evening feeling very pleased with ourselves.
The Tiki sold we moved Applejack home and we set to work. One of the big delights of downsizing is all the jobs take less time and money to complete!
The first sail was a real pleasure from which we believe we've chosen well. A point also noted by our knees and lower backs.
If you're still with me, images and more of Applejack at http://cpyoa.geekworkshosting.com/forum/index.php?topic=8427.0

[Bullseye22]

I have grown up on the water on the Delmarva Peninsula, from fishing on a 50+ acre pond to spending weekends on the Choptank River.  I learned to sail on a plastic coated styro-foam Snark sailboat.  Fast forward to 1991 when I met my wife.  To make our relationship work, she advised that I had to do two things-learn to sail and play tennis. The sailing was easy, but I never really accomplished the tennis part.  After we got married, we both sailed on the Rehoboth Bay racing Sunfish sailboats.  But the "big" boats in the marina kept calling us.  The Catalina 22's, Catalina 25's, Tanzer 22's, etc.  In 1994 we bought our first "big" boat, a Tanzer 22 with a swing keel.  This was a great boat, fast, very seaworthy with a large cockpit.  But time went by, and the family grew-so in 1998 when the twins came, the Tanzer went.  We still had the Sunfish, but no longer raced.  Then in 2008 we had the opportunity to buy a Catalina 22 with a trailer.  That boat was alot of work to restore, and so was the trailer.  But we sailed it for several years, but ended up selling it for family reasons.  This past Summer, my wife came to me and let me know our name had come up again for a slip where we sail and that she really wanted to get another "big" boat.  But wisdom dictated what type of boat we wanted.  Shoal draft with no swing keel, trailerable so we could store it at home and work on it when time permitted, finally we didn't want a massive project boat.  We looked at several boats, to far gone, to much work, trailer in poor condition or too much money.  Then one morning I read a Craig's List ad, "1986 ComPac with trailer and motor-$2,000".  What size ComPac was it, what condition was it in?  I called, and after speaking to the the couple selling the boat, getting many more details we bought the boat, sight unseen (no pictures either).  A 1986 ComPac 23! Either we made a great purchase or committed a big mistake.  Since we could not pick the boat up for a full week, the anticipation was killing us.  When we finally went to pick the boat up in Annapolis, the boat was better than we expected. The interior was perfect and the boat was well equipped-it even came with dishes.  A Performance Trailer with new tires, roller-furling,  almost new 2 stroke Tohatsu 8 h.p. motor, bimini, depth finder, dock lines, fenders, ladder, and a gin-pole setup the owner had made. I had always loved the classic lines of a ComPac 23, but never considered I would ever own one.  Other than a few maintenance items the boat only needed a good cleaning.  Funny thing, the previous owner bought the boat in an estate sale in Lewes, Delaware and now the boat is back in Delaware after sailing on the Chesapeake since 2001. So how did our ComPac find us-being the first to call, taking a leap of faith and good karma.

[rbh1515]

Downsized from a Catalina 28.  We only daysail so I did need a bigger boat with a diesel...wanted to simplify.  I had been looking for a simple boat with a large cockpit.  I happened to discover the HDC which was a brand new model.  Had everything I wanted:  large cockpit, tiller steering, and mount for an outboard.  Loved that it was a cat boat.  Ordered it exactly how I wanted it and walked away with cash from the 28.
Rob