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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 25 Specific Forum

where can i find info on the C27 circumnavigation

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77Gypsy
Captain

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USA
356 Posts

Initially Posted - 05/21/2003 : 13:30:31

a few of you have mentioed this before. where can i do more reading on hat. i want to eventually move up to a 27 in a year or 2. that kind of reading/research would be extremely useful.

Steve
78 C25 SR/FK - Gypsy

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frankr
Captain

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256 Posts

Response Posted - 05/21/2003 : 14:06:36

try the following
http://cruisenews.net/cgi-bin/dockside/webbbs_config.pl/noframes/read/78

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JimB517
Past Commodore

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3285 Posts

Response Posted - 05/21/2003 : 21:08:53

The Seaworthy Offshore Sailboat, by John Vigor (available from Amazon.com) is a great book, covering all aspects of seawortyness.

Appendix 2 covers the Catalina 27 circumnavigation by Patick Childress of Newport Rhode Island in the 1980s. His boat was named Juggernaut. This chapter is about the modifications made to the boat. The Catalina 27 is described as a great boat for what she was designed for - great interior room, good looks, good value for the money, family cruising and racing, and the occasional coastal passage. Most everything said about the 27's can be applied to our 25s.

Advantages of the 27 are the hull, balance, maneuverability, simplicity, high freeboard, fairly long fin keel/swept forefoot, and more boat for the money than almost any other choice (except the Cat 25 IMHO).

Disadvantages are light construction, interior adapted for the harbor not the sea, rudder, aluminum spreader sockets. Also lack of proper backing plates, weak stanchions, and through-hulls. (We know about all of that already - and it's fixed on most of our boats).

Juggernaut did the voyage with an outboard, no dodger, and few luxuries. He kept her light and carried no more provisions than needed to make the next port.

The worst storm was in the Indian Ocean. The skipper ran a sheeted in storm jib and set the self-steering to keep the boat 45 degrees to the sea. This supports the theory that fin keels should be kept moving through the sea inorder to adapt to capasizing energy of wind and waves.

If he did it again, Childress would not do it in a Cat 27. His advice to others is buy a different boat. But it can be done.

Following this is a list of 41 significant structural alterations that were made to the boat, such as

boarding over outboard well to add transome mounted outboard.

beefed up transom with 1 inch mahogany

installed 4 cockpit drains

added shelf to lazerette to hold water jugs

built wood frames around fuel tanks in lazerette and installed tie-downs

rebuilt companionway to raise entrance

beefed up all hatches

fiberglassed in bulkheads to all storage compartments

moved electrical panel to a point high and inside the quarter berth

opened fiberglass panels behind salon backrests for additional storage

drilled drain holes in all storage compartments to drain water onto salon floor

installed salt water pump for the sink

installed chainplates for aft lowers

changed to kerosene stove

installed double headstays

increased weight of upper shrouds and aft lowers (forward stayed the same)

upsized all turnbuckles (open-faced)

double backstays with adjuster

beefed up rudder and tiller

moved lifelines aft from foredeck

installed handrails and grabrails inside cabin

caulked all through deck fittings

replaced backing plate for main anchor cleats with 3/4 inch mahogany

installed galley harness

cam cleats for jib sheets

rerouted icebox drain from through hull to bilge

installed electric bilge pump. Used solar panel and generator on the outboard

re-caulked hull deck joint with 5200

________________

If I was beefing up my Cat 25 in addition to this I would get a new stronger foredeck hatch and hardware, replace windows with lexan, add lee cloths for sleeping at sea, modify foredeck for 2 anchors, and figure out a way to securely bolt the pop-top down for a passage.

3, 3/4 inch stainless bolts right through the hatch and deck on each side should do the trick.

Indiscipline 1978 FK #398

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ClamBeach
Master Marine Consultant

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3072 Posts

Response Posted - 05/21/2003 : 21:33:44

IMHO, If you're going to step up and 'out' of a trailerable boat and want to go bluewater sailing, you might as well step all the way up into the 30' - 36' class and go for a full keel livaboard/cruiser. (budget permitting)

If you want to stay small, there are purpose-built bluewater boats like the Pacific Seacraft Dana 25, Norsea 27, etc.

That said, there was an article in Latitude 38 awhile back about a guy busy circumnavigating on a Cal 25... with wife and 3 kids !

Currently maintaining two holes in the water...'77 Venture 23 and new to the family,
'78 Catalina 25

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triley
Captain

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USA
251 Posts

Response Posted - 05/21/2003 : 21:37:19

Wow, Jimb, you sound like you are tipping towards blue water sailing in your little cockleshell. I wouldn't even think of it. I have seen what god hath wrought out there. Pulpit doubled over, each and every locker unable to close because the boat has been literally wrenched out of plumb, and alot worse. And that was in a Cheoy Lee cutter! I can't imagine what a little Catalina would look like, Sprung wrose than a slinky, I imagine!

Tom

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JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 05/22/2003 : 13:48:00

I was just reporting on what is in the book. No way am I doing it. I am just learning to sail and having some fun for a few years until I buy my Westsail 32. Then I plan to sell the house, retire from San Diego County government and sail San Deigo - Carribean - cross Atlantic - and explore Europe by boat. That's the Admiral's cruise. If it was me I would go from San Diego and cross the Pacific on the way to Europe.

The Catalina 25 is a lot of coastal cruising boat for the money. The Westsail 32 is a lot of bluewater boat for the money. Sail away for under $50K in the boat that survived "The Perfect Storm".

We have already taken a year long, 5000 mile cruise from San Diego to Milwaukee by truck then to the Bahamas (on a 35 foot power boat with a family of 4 and a little dog). www.indiscipline.org

Indiscipline 1978 FK #398

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JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 05/22/2003 : 13:50:48

I should have read Frankr's link before I did all that typing!

Indiscipline 1978 FK #398

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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.