From the Captain
By Dale Mack, Crocus, #8244

Happy New Year!  How are those boating projects coming along?  One of my projects for the winter is converting to internal halyards.  I currently have wire and line halyards and the knot that joins the wire to the line tends to wedge itself between the mast and the lower shrouds.  My other project is replacing the aluminum window seals.  I've determined that they are the major source of water in the boat.  Both projects should provide material for some interesting technical articles in the future.

Breakfast Rendezvous.  The Portland Boat Show is just days away and I've already received a couple of RSVP's regarding the breakfast on the 6th prior to heading off to the show.  Be sure to send me an RSVP so I've got some sense of how many we need to seat at Elmer's.

Membership Facts.  Forty-Five membership renewal notices were emailed in December.  While membership in Fleet 20 remains free, we still go through an annual renewal process to update our roster and email distribution list.  Beyond the forty-five Fleet 20 members who receive the newsletter, we also send the newsletter announcement to another eighty Catalina 22 owners in the Northwest.  What usually happens with the renewals is that we get about twenty in the first few weeks, and then the numbers slowly builds back up to forty-plus over the course of the year.  Members that renew and new members that join should expect to receive their first copy of the 2007 Fleet 20 Roster before the February newsletter.

Please join me in welcoming our newest members to Fleet 20:

Rik Robert & Konnie O'Hearn of Vancouver, Washington

Wet n' Nauti, #15618, C22 MkII, (2007 model), Wing Keel

Laurence Olson of Sandy, Oregon

Day Break, #???, C22, Swing Keel

Join the Catalina 22 National Sailing Association.  Ten of Fleet 20's members belong to the C22NSA.  One of the great resources for C22NSA members is the MainBrace which is the official magazine of the Catalina 22 National Sailing Association (www.catalina22.org).  The magazine has been in continuous publication since 1972.

The MainBrace is mailed to C22NSA members six times a year (January, March, May, July, September, and November).   The magazine contains articles about cruising, technical tips, family activities aboard C-22's, racing, regatta notices, and news from more than sixty Catalina 22 Fleets spread across the country who conduct many local activities.  I really look forward to the arrival my copy every two months and particularly enjoy the technical tips, cruising stories, and reading about the adventures of other Catalina 22 Fleets.

Information on how to join the C22NSA and get the magazine is available at www.catalina22.org.  By the way, the Catalina 22 Technical Manual can only be purchased by C22NSA members.  As editor of the manual I'm a little bias, but I believe you'll find it a very value resource to add to your CD collection.

The Year in Review - 2006
By Dale Mack, Crocus, #8244

Portland Boat Show Mast Raising Workshop David Perry Seminar Government Island Cruise Racing C22 National Regatta Antique Boat Show Beacon Rock Cruise Sail for the Cure

January 6-14.  The Portland Boat Show begins its nine day run on the sixth.  Admission to the show is $8.00 (free to children 12 and under).

January 25 - February 3.  The Seattle Boat Show and the Lake Union Boats Afloat Show run from January 25 - February 3.   If you're planning to be there on February 3rd, perhaps our paths will cross as Laura and I will be visiting both shows.  Be sure to visit the boat show websites for details on admission and discounts on tickets and parking.

Depending on how many previous owners your boat has had, you may find yourself with an interesting and sometimes confusing collection of hardware and mysterious holes in the mast, boom, and topsides.  Like many things in life, rigging a sailboat has lots of options, and what works for one sailor may seem totally unacceptable to the next.

When adding additional control options to your boat my advice is to go slow and look at how other boats are rigged.  Until your skills advance to the point where you can notice the sometimes subtle influences the controls are having on your boat, you should probably stick to the basics.  On the other hand, one's definition of "the basics" changes over time.  For example, I installed a winch on the cabin top for use with the main halyard.  Since installing the Cunningham I never use the winch so I'm considering moving it to the portside so it can help with the jib halyard.

The following letter is common of the email I get and reminds me of how I felt when I got started with Crocus.  I'll let you read Dick's description first and then I'll answer a few questions raised in the letter.

Sent:  Friday, December 01, 2006 9:37 PM
Subject: Rigging the Boat

Hello Dale,

I am at the point where I am getting overwhelmed in rigging the boat. This boat had never had anything done in the way of goodies. The first thing I did was the 4:1 outhaul at the rear of the boom. I terminated that with a jam cleat mid boom. Then, with the CD [Catalina Direct] adjustable backstay installed I had to wrap the pigtail around the boom for the boom to be parallel to the deck with the fore end of the boom at the black band. This is OK but now I think that I need a topping lift from the mast head and have no place to terminate it as it has to be adjustable also.

Lets move to the front of the boom now. I want to put jiffy reefing, a Cunningham, and the main halyard all down and back to the cockpit on the starboard side of the boat. This is confusing as there is only 2-1/4 inches of space at the cockpit for the terminators. If I cut the last loop off the handrails that only gives a fraction of an inch more as one doesn't want a line rubbing the handrail. Furthermore, I really can't afford clutches and wanted to use clam cleats but I spent all day yesterday reading the C22 Technical Manual that you published in 2001 and somewhere in there someone said not to use clams in situations that have high loads (like the halyards) so now I am really confused. I wish that I had taken many more photos of your boat at the Fleet 20 Mast Raising Workshop last spring because I can only remember two lines coming back to the cockpit on the starboard side: the jiffy reef and the halyard. How did you handle the Cunningham? Maybe you can see some of my confusion now. There's a lot of stuff going on at the front of the boom and winter is coming on. I want to be ready to launch in the spring and it would be nice to have Catnip ready to go. We have had seventeen inches of rain here in Nov. and today was the first day in a week that I could get on the boat to work on her.

Dick Reynolds
Catnip, #4570
Lebanon, OR

Pigtail.  When I installed the Catalina Direct adjustable backstay on #14286, I found that the pigtail was too long.  Fortunately the top-end of the pigtail was swaged to the backstay at an OK height so all I had to do was remove the stainless thimble and bronze clip, cut the pigtail to the proper length, and swage the thimble and clip back into place.

Topping Lift.  A Catalina 22 topping lift doesn't need to be complicated.  Before eliminating my topping lift when I switched over to using a Boomkicker, I had cruised and raced for years using an inexpensive but highly effective topping lift system.  My topping lift attached one end of a 3/16" diameter line to the aft clevis pin at the masthead using a simple bowline.  The line ran to the aft end of the boom and through a Harken #166 swivel block and then forward along the portside of the boom to a fairlead clamcleat.  A cheek block mounted to the boom would have served the same purpose as the swivel block.  The fairlead clam-cleat was chosen so that I could tie a figure-8 stopper knot in the end of the topping lift and benefit from the fairlead preventing the line from running free when uncleated.

Securing Halyards.  The question of rope clutches versus Harken #150 cam-cleats frequently comes up in conversation about rigging.  I'm not going to argue against rope clutches because I've installed them on both C22's I've owned or currently own, but with rope clutches typically costing three and four times the cost of a cam-cleats one has to ask the question "are rope clutches really required on a Catalina 22?"  To help answer that question I'll share some of what I've seen.

The concern with cam-cleats is whether they are strong enough.  The Harken #150 is rated for a safe working load of 300 lbs. whereas the Spinlock XAS Powerclutch 5/32" to 5/16" (4-8 mm) has a safe working load of 990 lbs.  Is 300 lbs. enough holding power?  I use a cam-cleat for my spinnaker halyard and have had no problems.  In fact, if you purchase the Catalina Direct kit for leading your halyards back to the cockpit, it comes with aluminum Harken #150 cam-cleats.

Below are pictured the top three boats from the 2006 C22 National Regatta for the Gold (#197, Enterprise), Spinnaker (#1110, Hummingbird), and Silver (#886, Top Cat) fleets.  In all three cases the jib, main, and spinnaker halyards use cam-cleats.  The winch mounted to the "Johnson Board" on Enterprise is used for the jib halyard.  On Hummingbird, a winch for the jib is placed forward of two cam-cleats.  Because all three boats are equipped with Cunninghams, none of them use a winch for the main halyard.

Finding Space with a Pop-Top.  Enterprise, Hummingbird, and Top Cat don't have pop-tops so room to layout the controls is abundant.  In the case of Enterprise, everything is brought aft to the Johnson Board, so space on either side of the companionway isn't needed.

Those of us with pop-tops find real estate a precious commodity.  On Crocus (pictured below) I moved several of the controls to the pop-top and I removed the aft loop of the handrail on the starboard side to make room for the winch.  In the time since the photos were taken, I've made the same handrail modification on the portside.

Which Device to Choose?  Can clam-cleats (aka v-cleats) be used in place of rope clutches and cam-cleats?  I crewed aboard a Catalina 25 that took second at the 2004 C25 National Regatta and we used clam-cleats for the genoa sheets.  I don't see why applications like Cunningham, Jiffy Reefing, Spinnaker Downhaul, Spinnaker Topping Lift, or Jib Downhaul should have any problems with clam-cleats. The factory stock mainsheet cleat on my Catalina 30 mkIII is an aluminum clam-cleat (the blocks the sheet runs through provides the C30 a 7:1 purchase).  I've used clam-cleats for dinghy halyards, but nothing as large as a Catalina 22.  I suspect they'd function fine, but that halyard tension might change as the line is pulled deeper into the cleat as tension on the line increases.

So what is the problem with clam-cleats?  In my experience the most difficult cleats to release when under high loads are clam-cleats, followed by cam-cleats.  The easiest devices to release under load are rope clutches. 

Checkout these links to Northwest Catalina newsletters and local racing:

• Columbia River All Catalina Association (CRACA)
• Sail Portland (hosted by Oregon Corinthian Sailing Association, OCSA)
• Small Yacht Sailing Club of Oregon (SYSCO)
• Oregon Women's Sailing Association (OWSA)
• Catalina Association of Tacoma and South South (CATSS)
• Catalina Association of Puget South (CAPS out of Seattle)

Upcoming Events

January

• Boat Show Breakfast: 6, Elmer's - Delta Park
• Boat Show:  6 - 14, Portland Boat Show
• Boat Show:  25 - Feb 3, Seattle Boat Show
• Boat Show:  25 - Feb 3, Lake Union Boats Afloat Show

February

• Open House:  17, SYSCO Social and Membership Drive @ RCYC
• Workshop:  24, Fleet 20 Rigging Workshop

See the calendar