A Helping Hand

I know several members plan to launch their boats this month.  If you have any questions, need a hand rigging, or would like some help with the launch, just give me a call or send me an email.

For those who are new to the Catalina 22 this year, here is a helpful tip about rigging the boat.  When dropping the rig, only the forestay and the two forward shrouds need to be disconnected.  The upper shrouds, aft shrouds, and the backstay never need to be released.  Laura and I have done a lot of C22 trailer sailing, so we learned a wealth of information on how to get from the parking lot to the water in twenty minutes.

Plan to Attend the Lemon Island Rendezvous
By Dale Mack

May 20.  Fleet 20 will be holding its annual Lemon Island Rendezvous on Saturday , May 20th.  Lemon Island is the most downstream portion of Government Island (the island that I-205 crosses).  Motoring, you can get there in under an hour.

We'll informally rendezvous near buoy "14" at 1 pm, and then head upstream to the north side of Lemon Island where we'll raft-up and share snacks (keep it simple).  If you miss us at buoy "14", just head to Lemon Island at your leisure.

The plan is to anchor between the two wing dams, just offshore of Lemon Island (location #3 on the photo).  The river's bottom is always changing, so comparisons to conditions from past years may be useless.  What I have found in the past is that the cove that normally forms between Government Island and Lemon Island is almost dry when the river's level is between River Stages 2 and 4 (River Stages).

In 1999 we rafted off the beach at #3.  In 2000 & 2005 we managed to navigate between the sand bar and the tip of Government Island to raft up in the cove between Lemon Island and Government Island at #1, and Chris Mountford showed us that at really low levels in 2001 a channel existed between Lemon Island and the sandbar to its north at #2.

I hope to see you out there, just look for the yellow-hulled C22 with sail number 4248 and that will be me.  The sail back in the afternoon should be great.

Report from the Bartlett Landing Cruise
Meeting old sailing friends along the banks of the Columbia River
By Dale Mack, Crocus, #8244

Our April cruise had us rendezvousing with the Catalina Owners Association about ten nautical miles upstream at Bartlett Landing on the Columbia River. We shared the facility with the Hunter Sailing Association of Oregon (HSAO). Several members of HSAO were Catalina 22 Fleet 20 members before they moved up to larger boats.

With nearly thirty-five sailboats at the event, the Saturday afternoon potluck appetizers laid out quite an impressive spread. Better than the food was company as everyone shared their plans for the season, discussed recent cruising and racing activities, and connected with folks they hadn’t seen in months. It was a wonderful cruise under sunny skies.

Racing is a Growth Experience
Graduating Crew
By Dale Mack, C22, Crocus

Crocus is having a very successful Spring Series.  Success can be measured in many ways, and here are a couple of mine.  First, I and my crew set out to teach ourselves how to fly a spinnaker on a Catalina 22.  While we still have lots to learn, we've gotten past the first time jitters.  Secondly, we wanted to function well as a team.  During the series we've settled into roles, me on the helm, Dan Dugan on the bow, and Tim Taylor working the cockpit.  With each race our tacks get smoother, our mark roundings more efficient, and our communications better.

Another sign of success is Don Woodhouse and his crew on Togarty (#7260).  Don has enjoyed the racing so much that he's decided to add a 150 Genoa to his boat's sail inventory to help with those downwind legs, particularly when they are against the river's current.

Although I'm losing a crew member, I'm very pleased that Dan Dugan has decided he's learned enough to enter his own boat Harmony (#14286) in the Summer Series.  Harmony is a former series winner, so Dan is starting off with a solid boat.

The Summer Series starts on June 8th.  Drop me an email if you are interested in racing.

Dale Mack:  360-260-4196 or celtic-myst@comcast.net

End Embarrassing Sliding Hatch Screech
Fiberglass repairs to the sliding hatch
By Dale Mack, Crocus, #8244

Since acquiring Crocus the sliding hatch had always made this high pitched screeching sound as the leading edge rubbed along the poptop.  The problem was so bad I'd taken to pushing up from underneath every time I opened or closed the hatch just to avoid the embarrassment of having all my dock mates looking at me.  The odd thing was that the problem only occurred at the forward twelve inches of the poptop.  After some investigation I discovered that the poptop crowns more as you approach its forward edge.  You can observe this  by watching the distance between the forward edge of your hatch and the poptop decrease as you push the hatch forward.  In my case, about halfway forward the sliding hatch would make contact with the poptop. 

After giving up on the idea that I'd somehow create a method for flattening out the crown a little, I started focusing the the sliding hatch.  The way I saw it was that the hatch probably didn't rub when delivered from the factory, and that the problem had evolved over time has either the teak wood slider rails had worn down, or the hatch's port and starboard flanges that slide in the rails had worn.  What I discovered is that the wood looked fine, but that the fiberglass flanges were cracked all along the forward half of the hatch and flexing.

What follows is a pictorial essay on how I repaired the hatch and eliminated that screeching sound.

Over the years the fiberglass had worn away.  What remained was very thin, cracked, and in some places not much thicker than the gelcoat.
I ground away the cracked fiberglass cloth in order to have a sound foundation on which to rebuild the flanges.  I also sanded off all the paint from the underside of the hatch.
A pair of 2x4's covered with wax paper became the forms for the new flanges.
Resin was applied to both sides of the hatch for the full length of the flanges.  The excess resin was always spread on some portion of the previous painted areas.
With the resin still very tacky, the fiberglass tape was laid down so that one side extended beyond the original flanges.  The tape was then smoothed out as it followed the contours of the hatch.  Next a coating of resin was added to fully impregnate the cloth.
Twenty-four hours later and its time to start building up the flanges.
A strip of cloth is cut for both sides.  It is laid down where the intact flange ends and then extends to the forward end of the hatch.  The inside edge of the tape was offset about 1/4" in order to create a tapered transition.
Three layers of short tape where added to create the missing flange portions.  Twenty-four hours elapsed between adding each layer of tape and resin.  Finally another full length stripe of tape was laid on top of the flanges.
With the resin full cured, the width of the old existing flanges is used to mark a line to establish the edge of the new flanges.
A hacksaw blade duct taped to a block of wood serves as the cutting tool.
Using a straight-edge, the shape of the flange was adjusted by wet sanding.
With the hatch flipped right side up the new flange is further shaped and sanded smooth by wet sanding.
Two coats of white gelcoat where painted over the new flanges.
Because gelcoat won't cure in the air, a fiberglass mold release product was sprayed on the gelcoat to seal it off from the air.  Twenty-four hours later everything was cured.
The water-based mold release has been washed off and the hatch is ready to paint.
The underside of the flanges were left uncoated just like the original flanges.
The hatch has been restored.  It's now back on the boat and working great.  Best of all, no more embarrassing screech.

Catalina Newsletters of the Northwest
By Dale Mack

Checkout these links to Northwest Catalina newsletters and local racing:

Columbia River All Catalina Association (CRACA) www.ColumbiaRiverCatalina.org Sail Portland www.sailpdx.com Oregon Women's Sailing Association www.owsa.net

Catalina Assoc. of Tacoma and South Sound (CATSS) home.earthlink.net/~catss/CATSS Web Page.htm Catalina Association of Puget Sound (CAPS) www.capsfleet1.com/News Letters.htm Small Yacht Sailing club of Oregon (SYSCO) www.sailpdx.com/sysco.htm

June

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The Fleet 20 newsletter is published online once a month.  Articles are the opinions of the
authors and don't necessarily represent the consensus of Fleet 20.