It has been almost a month since
we took possession of the boat, and this Saturday was literally the first day we've all had free since then. We've been talking a lot about everything that needed to be done - namely, buying and installing new running rigging, getting some paperwork done, and investigating getting it scraped and bottom painted - and this weekend we started tackling our to-do list. Starting with the rigging.
I'd used the
Catalina Direct website to get price estimates, so we were expecting to spend a bit over $300 for the running rigging and halyards with shipping. Then I realized that we have a West Marine about thirty minutes away (
as opposed to the one 2+ hours away that I thought was the closest one) so we decided to buy it there and save the shipping cost (which was substantial). The thing about buying them there, however, is that we had to know exactly the length and dimensions of each piece of line, instead of ordering them specifically for our boat and having them arrive already cut to size.
I spent several hours over the course of several days looking for some website that listed the pieces we'd need, to no avail. Everyone said the info would be included in our owner's manual, so naturally, I checked.
It wasn't. Dad insisted it had to be, so he checked.
It wasn't. We called West Marine to see if maybe they had the specs on file or something similar, to be told that no, we definitely needed to know exactly what we wanted when we came in.
Finally, I pulled up the CD website to see if the "item descriptions" included length and dimension - and it did! Hallelujah! So we made out a list and headed out. :)
For the record - in case somebody else out there also wants to replace the running rigging on their Catalina 22 - here's what we got:
- Mainsheet: 65' X 3/8"
- Replacement boom vang line: 28' X 5/16"
- Outhaul line: 15' X 1/4"
- Traveler control lines (2): 10' X 1/4" each
It ended up coming to less than $150 for rigging, and we estimate we'll spend another $60 for the halyards, so we saved quite a bit over the CD prices. Plus, we were able to introduce ourselves to the very friendly employees at West Marine, which I understand from seasoned boaters is a must. :)
Now, even though I knew that "running rigging" is just sailor-speak for "rope for sailing," I've had this mental picture of running rigging being complicated pieces of rope with precisely placed pieces of complicated hardware fused in, that required great skill and knowledge to install.
Turns out, not so much. Running rigging really
is just rope, in various sizes and colors (
we amused the guy doing the cutting when we debated which colors were prettiest). We took Dad with us to keep us from looking like idiots
(which ended up being an excellent decision, lol) and pretty soon we had everything cut and fused and ready to go.
With my dad's help, once at the dock we had everything installed in under an hour, including some stops to learn how to tie knots: bowline, figure eight, and double half turn. My dad also fiddled with the halyards a bit (which we hadn't bought, since we weren't 100% sure what we needed) and gave me the final decision on what to get.
We also took the time to off-load everything from the cabin, inventory what we had and properly stow all the stuff that was staying aboard.
As soon as we were done rigging, it was time to clean! We had picked up some "boat soap" at West Marine (pink, to Cris's delight) and began by hosing everything down and doing some scrubbing. It soon became pretty apparent that the boat soap wouldn't cut some of the heavier grime, so we switched to using the bottles of SoftScrub and Tilex that the previous owner had left us. The SoftScrub worked better on the toughest stains, and we'll probably do another cleaning session using just that. Our boat seemed to expand the longer we scrubbed, lol, and there were some spots that seemed impossible to reach without falling overboard - the narrow strip between the rail and the side of the cabin, for instance. We'll be picking up a skinny brush to get into some of the tougher spots later on, but it was a good start.
About halfway through our cleaning, I volunteered to go refill Maggie's Camelbak (I had ulterior motives - I was dying of thirst myself! lol). As I was walking back down the pier, I noticed the extra wooden door we had discovered in the cabin (and set on the pier) was now in the water, floating away! I pointed this out in a bit of a panic, and Maggie reacted by informing me that her cell phone had been sitting on top of it! :( She ran down the pier and retrieved our door (thank goodness for long arms) but her cell was nowhere to be seen. :( Since she had a pretty hefty case on it, we thought it might be floating around somewhere, but we didn't see it and figured it had either sunk immediately or floated off. I walked back up the hill to ask my Dad if he'd like to try to use a net and see if he could scoop it off the bottom of the creek; he was extremely skeptical about the possibility of retrieving it, but agreed, and began scooping. Wonder of wonders, a couple of minutes later, he actually fished it up! :) Maggie gave it a good rinsing in clean water, we bought her one of those drying sacks for wet electronics, and we're waiting to see if it can be resuscitated.
The only other casualty of the day was Crisy's jeans; she was scrubbing in a kneeling position in the cockpit when Maggie noticed that the area she'd just worked on had turned blue! Sure enough, the bleach from the cleaner was making her jeans run. I was also covered in splotches of cleaner, so we figured both our jeans were toast, but when I pulled them out of the dryer today, they didn't have a speck on them. Niiice! The shirt I was wearing is toast, however... I forgot to rinse the cleaner off when I got home and it's pretty splattered. No worries - I already have a craft project in mind! ;)
Still a lot to do before we get to cast off and sail away... but we're getting closer! :)
