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Arlyn Stewart
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2984 Posts

Initially Posted - 07/30/2026 : 12:52:44

Hi all,
Haven't sailed my C250 since a Great Lakes cruise in 2003 but kept it in case circumstances provided a return to sailing. It didn't happen and at age 80, it won't now so will be considering what to do with R&R and monitoring here for perspectives.

Arlyn C-250 W/B #224
N/E Texas and Great Lakes

Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5498 Posts

Response Posted - 07/31/2026 : 06:14:54

Hello Arlyn - good to hear that you�re still going strong! The C25/250 community is still happening, however, there are far fewer people posting here these days. Henk, Steve, and Dave Bristle are still posting from time to time.
I�d like to hear about your Great Lakes cruise sometime, since 2003 is just before I found this forum. So if you�d like to retell the stories I�m sure you�d have some interest. Welcome back.

Bruce Ross
Passage ~ SR-FK ~ C25 #5032

Port Captain � Milford, CT

Buzz Maring
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1774 Posts

Response Posted - 07/31/2026 : 06:40:10

Hi Arlyn,

'Great to hear from you! 'Sorry that sailing isn't in your future ... but ... maybe you're still flying R/C airplanes. I doubt you do much sitting around, even at age 80!

Stay in touch!

Buzz

Buzz Maring

~~Freya~~
C-25 SK/SR #68
Lake Dallas, TX

Arlyn Stewart
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
2984 Posts

Response Posted - 07/31/2026 : 11:18:52

Bruce, thanks for the welcome back. I hauled and cruised my 250 from Texas to Michigan seven years in a row and accumulated 3,500 miles on the water of Northern Lake Huron, the North Channel and Georgian Bay and wrote accounts of most if not each cruise.

Some of them I think were posted to this forum and may still exist here. Others were posted to my internet site that no longer exist, though I still have the stories. I'll do some checking here to see if any exist here and maybe post others if this site still allows.

I also was credited for the cruising time in Sail but would have to dig into a file cabinet to find the issue.

Suffice it to say, fond memories of those cruises remain. Though now 23 years since sailing, that reality seems hard to believe. Sailing spirit seems to be like a first love, a forever thing, eh.

Arlyn C-250 W/B #224
N/E Texas and Great Lakes

Arlyn Stewart
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
2984 Posts

Response Posted - 07/31/2026 : 11:54:40

Hey Buzz,
Can you believe the PT-19 you traded for the steering conversion kit remains airworthy and is flown regularly.

Yep, RC building and flying continues with it nice that it is ten minutes to the field rather than 23 hours of driving time to where I liked to sail. I fly usually three afternoons a week with great flying friends.

The post above saying no sailing since 2003 forgot to mention the RC sailboating done at a local city park that helps alleviate the missing of sailing.

R&R was kept thinking the window to sail cruise might open again, but realism is setting that my sailing era is fond memories.

Do stay active with a morning bike ride.

It is fantastic that You, Steve, Dave and others are still active posters here enjoying the good fraternity. Among the local RC guys, too many have taken their eternal leave.

In that regard, my brother in law who was my cruising companion for so many of the Great Lakes cruises, took his leave last fall. Actually I should report that he was more than a BIL as before he married my sister, I had boarded for two summers on his dad's farm and we became life friends.

Hopes and wishes that all is well with you and it was more than nice to get the response from you.

Arlyn C-250 W/B #224
N/E Texas and Great Lakes

OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3518 Posts

Response Posted - 07/31/2026 : 20:57:43

Arlyn,

Good to hear from you again.

In regards to RC models, I have to report that I went to the dark side on this but well my excuse is that my kids gave me a Traxxes Spartan (high speed racer) as a gift a number of years ago, The issue I then found was that these high speed RC boats are banned from many lakes, etc waterways, But U found one place I could use it, well, at least no one out there to complain about it and that is bringing it onboard my sailboat, then before sailing, motoring out and then just drifting while I use the RC for awhile. I guess you could call this motor-sailing?

Larry
'89 Robin's Nest#5820, Potomac River/Quantico, Va
http://catalina25.homestead.com/olarryr.html

crystal_blue
1st Mate

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USA
82 Posts

Response Posted - 08/01/2026 : 17:37:13

Arlyn, I lurked on the forum for a (very!) long time until I was finally in a position to buy my own C250 a couple years ago; and your posts and perspectives have been invaluable both in the decision to buy and in various maintenance/mods since then. I still refer back to the Internet Archive's cache of your excellent website. Sorry to hear you don't see more sailing on the horizon; but hope you're well and enjoying other pursuits.

Jim and Crystal Smith
Lehi, Utah
1996 Catalina 250 WB #191 "Mariah"

Arlyn Stewart
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2984 Posts

Response Posted - 08/01/2026 : 20:01:00

Jim and Crystal

Hearing that tips aided you and yours was uplifting. Over several years, I provided 75 wheel steering control conversion kits to C250 owners and receiving many nice compliments such as the conversion exceeded expectations.

The deepest felt mail came from a reader of one of the cruise logs that featured a video taken on a Lake Huron crossing. A breeze was driving the boat briskly into a good swell on a reach with the helm fixed sending noisy spray from each wave cycle.

The reader was hospitalized and dealing with a major health issue and related he had watched the video over and over and it had carried him beyond anxious thoughts of his health to feel the same sailing spirit that had caused the taking of the video.

Arlyn C-250 W/B #224
N/E Texas and Great Lakes

Russ.Johnson
Commodore

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USA
860 Posts

Response Posted - 08/08/2026 : 11:43:50

Hi Arlyn,

It's nice to hear from you again.
Your Wheel Steering conversion is still working well.

Just for fun, I searched a website archive tool.
A) Clicking the link below doesn't work directly
B) Copy this entire string below and paste into a separate browser.

https://web.archive.org/web/20060714042022/http://www.stewartfam.net/arlyn/steeringkit.html

This should bring back memories.

Russ Johnson
2005 C250WB Hull 793

Edited by - Russ.Johnson on 08/08/2026 18:26:16

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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.