Association Forum - Living on board full time and going South (PART 9)

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Living on board full time and going South (PART 9)

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

zeil
Master Marine Consultant

Member Avatar

Canada
1316 Posts

Initially Posted - 03/09/2007 : 11:04:29

Of course it unavoidable to miss points of interest along the way. We had every intent before leaving Mobile, Alabama to make our next stop a splashdown in the Pensacola area and meet with Ken Davis who offered assistance in orientating us to the area. But... a phone call changed our mind and we went on to meet our Vancouver friends who were on the beautiful Port St Joseph peninsula, FL south of Panama City. We e-mailed Ken to advise him that we hopefully plan to return to the Pensacola area. Yes we had a great time with our friends Frank and Reeny Timmermans. We missed the storm in Alabama but experienced a severe thunderstorm that had the night light up as if it was daylight. Snug in our boat, with the mast down, we felt safe and secure.

The RV park in Port Richey about an hour away from the Catalina factory in Largo, Florida showed us the extent how snow birders swell the population during the winter months in Florida. The RV park community, consisted mainly of Seniors from Ontario who, for the most part live in permanent housing, filling their days with a wide variety of activities including sports, tours and bingo... However we also found some younger people among the more mature... We stayed 5 days and due to the amount of interest shown in our unusual “RV”, we thought that if we had any more curiosity in our abode, we would either start group tours or charge a fee in US dollars. Fun though to inspire people to think outside of the box.

Hey kids... this is your advance warning that we booked a flight yesterday to visit Vancouver and Smithers BC starting April 11th, till May 4th. This is a great time to have you look after us for awhile and... if you have projects, get them done before we arrive... (just kidding). This also puts us (like it or not) on a time schedule to be in Toronto, Ontario, about 2500 miles North of here, during the first week of April, '07... hope the snow is melted by then!!

One of the destinations when planning this trip was to visit the Catalina Yachts plant in California... For several reasons the timing did not work out and regretfully we missed it... So... when we arrived in Florida we made sure that our travel coincided with Catalina's scheduled tour on Wednesdays 3:30 pm precisely. When making the tour appointment we were advised that camping next to the boat's “birthplace” would be fine... And so we did.

Again first impressions count and are long lasting... Catalina Yachts, Manager of Service and Technical Support , Warren Pandy, met and introduced the group's participants for an informative plant tour. Starting the tour at an empty hull mold and ending inside a magnificent almost completed interior of a Catalina 470 we saw the many aspects and details that go into the making of a great boat. Not fair Warren... how will we ever fit into our humble #151 C250 WB after having seen so much spacious luxury!! We are totally impressed with the 22 plus acre boat building facility, the in-house fabrication and, what is my greatest interest, the teak woodworking shop... (I tried my best to find some reject teak remnants but failed... every last inch seems to be used)!

In our opinion, as stated in their brochure, Catalina's philosophy makes no empty claim (and I quote) “Design boats that stand up to real world conditions and sail well. They must be comfortable above and below, easy to maintain and hold their value. For over 35 years, Catalina's unwavering dedication to building well-designed, durable, family oriented boats has resulted in long production runs where each model is improved and refined. A commitment to owner satisfaction has enhanced customer confidence and loyalty, so that Catalina has become the largest builder of sailboats in the United States with manufacturing facilities on both east and west coasts and an extensive national and international dealer net work”. It is a good feeling that this includes our boat as well...

Thank you Warren, Stephany, Brenda and staff for your warm welcome, hospitality and care during our 2 day stay next to the plant and to Warren for taking us to the place where C250's are assembled from start to finish. Johanna really enjoyed the tour as well and this has given her even more confidence in the quality and strength of our C250 boat now that she has seen the materials and the care and pride people have put into the production of the Catalina Yachts. We would highly recommend this tour to every one...

Until we see you... greetings
Henk and Johanna

Henk & Johanna
"Floating", a few off your "barnacles".
"Someday Lady" '95 C250WB #151 ('03 - 2016)
"Sea ya" 30ft Bayliner (04-2018 - 09-2018)
"Mariah" '96 C250WB #191 (05-2019 - 15-05-2023)
"Lady J" '00 C250WK #499 (05-2021 - 09-2022)

Edited by - on

KenDavis
1st Mate

Members Avatar

USA
69 Posts

Response Posted - 03/09/2007 : 12:47:02

thanks for the trip report, and if you make it back to the
Pensacola area count on me for a grilled fish sandwhich and a cold beer for both of you.

the catalina tour sounds interesting. I was wondering if we could tell from our boat # which factory it was produced in?
Mine is 5679E I considered that might be for East.
Anyone end in W?

Sunny and 3knt winds here,
Ken

Edited by - on

djn
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1561 Posts

Response Posted - 03/09/2007 : 20:09:20

Another great installment Henk. I am submitting your newer stories to the Mainsheet in a day or so. Did you get the copies you needed of the last issue? Cheers.

Edited by - on

Tom Potter
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1913 Posts

Response Posted - 03/09/2007 : 20:33:20

Henk,
Looking at your last picture, I'm left wondering if you traded in your 250 for a new "Larger Trailer Sailor" while you were at the Catalina plant.

Edited by - on

DanM
Captain

Members Avatar

USA
256 Posts

Response Posted - 03/10/2007 : 07:15:57

Great Story, Henk
We have been eagerly awaiting every installment.
Can't guaranty that they won't have a snowfall in Toronto in April. But,they closed a few streets last week because sheets of ice were falling off buildings (like, the CN Tower). Our snowpack in the ski country south of Buffalo is rapidly declining. Today is my sailing club's ski day at Holimont. It's 42f and threatening to rain.
Do you plan to drive up the east coast? We will be in Fernandina Beach and would love to meet you.
Dan

Edited by - on

stampeder
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

1608 Posts

Response Posted - 03/10/2007 : 11:45:33

Good stuff Henk.
I was in Vancouver two weeks ago and there was a lot of snow, but its now safe to return. Spring has arrived on the coast. Which is a good thing because despite global warming we've had a very cold and snowy winter. My boat is still in a snowbank just outside Banff.

Thanx for the pictures and travelogue.

Labarca
on the hard, in a snow bank

Edited by - on

zeil
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Canada
1316 Posts

Response Posted - 03/15/2007 : 13:49:23

We were sorely tempted to upgrade... only thing holding us back was the "wide load flags"

Thanks guys for the weather update further North... going in that direction, like it or not, is coming closer...

Edited by - on

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.