New sailor in Conroe, Tx

[M.B. Naegle]

First post here to kick off a slew of annoying threads and questions (after reading as much as I can I promise!)

I'm Miles hailing from Conroe Texas (north side of Houston). Born in Central California but lived in Texas most of my life. I'm an Eagle Scout and enjoy the outdoors, but spend most of my free time working with vintage machinery and classic cars. I'm a mechanic and machinist with a company that specializes in leatherworking machinery (service and manufacturing).

I'm married with three little kids (2, 4, and 8) and we try to get out for a "big" vacation once a year. I really love road-tripping the American West and camping, but really any kind of traveling adventure where we get to soak up some scenery.

So a few years back I started watching Acorn to Arabella and the Tally Hoe Restoration on YouTube and while I doubt I'll ever have the time or means to undertake such a project, I love the practical functional skill that goes into ship building and the adventure that follows. I'm very much the kind of guy that if I want to get into something, I'll start with restoring or rebuilding something old (aka: experienced) so that I understand how it works and I trust it's track record. This often leads me into biting off more than I can chew at times, but I enjoy the results more than just "buying" things.

Other projects I've got going include a frame-off restoration of a 54' Chevy sedan, continuing work on my daily driver a 53' Chevy sedan, similar "rolling restoration" of a 49' Ford 8N we use around our machine shop, and several old mills and lathes getting repaired, refitted, and a few turn of the century pieces becoming part of an overhead-shaft driven shop in my garage at home. All this while I 8-5 my day job and live the family life dream at home.

So a little while back I started looking at sailboats in my area. I wanted something multiple people can go out on, nothing big enough to require dockside storage, BUT something that could handle overnight camps. With my naive desire for a project and limited budget, I ruled out most of the more sensible leads and found myself the owner of a Gulf Coast 18. It was once part of a university's sailing program or club, that for some reason was abandoned on a property with 30-40 other boats. The property's new owner starting selling them off until when I got there there was 4-5 left. Super nice guy though like me, not a sailor, but we tried to piece together what was left. The Gulf is going to need quite a bit of fiberglass work, but if nothing else, the $200 I gave for it bought me a decent small boat trailer and some hardware that can go towards another better project. The gulf fits the above criteria, but is perhaps a little small for all five family members, so it might just be a starter boat before stepping up to something bigger like a Catalina 22. Someday when the kids are grown up, I do like the idea of sailing to offshore destinations, but for now I'm content with lakes and the gulf shoreline.

I'm still learning the eb and flow of this forum, so not sure if I should start a "build thread" or separate threads for the different challenges I need direction with?

[Adelie]

Welcome.

I would suggest updating your profile with your general location and your boat make & model or “Looking” in the "Boat" category. This info shows up under your UserName in every post in the web view. Many questions are boat and/or location dependent and having these tidbits under your UserName saves answering those questions repeatedly. If you need help setting up your profile then click on this link: https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ml#post3308797

I would happily help more if the link above is not enough.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Miles.

[JPA Cate]

Hi, Miles, and welcome aboard CF.

My husband, Jim used to have a Catalina 22. He and his former wife and two children used to weekend on it often, and even trailered it north to Pt. Townsend and sailed it to Victoria, CA. They had a great time on it, for a number of years. He didn't like having to rig it every time they took it out (each weekend, weather permitting), and eventually berthed it where he could leave it ready to go.

You're going to have a lot of fun. Do wear a good sealing mask when you're working with epoxy and fiberglass, people develop sensitivity to it that can make it impossible for them to work with it any more.

You'll probably be able to find some good instructions for fiberglass work on You tube or here in CF. Use the CF Custom Google Search.



Ann

[Don C L]

Welcome Miles! First, do you have a place to work on a boat, the time and the money? (I bet you have the tools already.) my first thought reading your post was that you ought to buy two boats, one to restore and one to sail. It is very easy for a project boat to take much longer than expected and then you never go sailing and feel the joy of that, which will then motivate you to do more boat work! I think you are right about your current boat not being big enough for the whole family to go together on. I think a boat like the Catalina 22 is a good choice, but you may not looking to be a two boat owner!! When I was a kid, the first boat I bought for myself was an open 20’ scandinavian dory the builder called a Valgurda. It was a beautiful thing and just needed a little more work to get her sailing. Needless to say since I had no real workspace, no money and the wrong tools, I never got her out sailing. I sold her to a couple of cousins who finished her, sails and all, and took her out to do commercial fishing with her, engineless! They had a lot of fun, but their venture didn’t last too long. My point is a project boat can be fun if you love the work but frustrating if you want to go sailing.

[M.B. Naegle]

Originally Posted by Don C L

Welcome Miles! First, do you have a place to work on a boat, the time and the money? (I bet you have the tools already.) my first thought reading your post was that you ought to buy two boats, one to restore and one to sail. It is very easy for a project boat to take much longer than expected and then you never go sailing and feel the joy of that, which will then motivate you to do more boat work! I think you are right about your current boat not being big enough for the whole family to go together on. I think a boat like the Catalina 22 is a good choice, but you may not looking to be a two boat owner!! When I was a kid, the first boat I bought for myself was an open 20’ scandinavian dory the builder called a Valgurda. It was a beautiful thing and just needed a little more work to get her sailing. Needless to say since I had no real workspace, no money and the wrong tools, I never got her out sailing. I sold her to a couple of cousins who finished her, sails and all, and took her out to do commercial fishing with her, engineless! They had a lot of fun, but their venture didn’t last too long. My point is a project boat can be fun if you love the work but frustrating if you want to go sailing.

Thanks.
Yes, I'll be working on this boat out behind our machine shop whenever I can steal a few hours after work or on weekends. We have woodworking, fabrication, and mechanic tools on hand. I enjoy machining the most so I might end up making some rigging pieces myself.

I agree that it will likely be awhile before the boat gets wet, but for now I'm OK with that. In addition to getting the fiberglass work started, I want to get the trailer fixed up and registered, so if a "good deal" presents itself I can be ready. There is a Catalina 22 up for free a little ways away from me that is sitting in the grass, and it looks Iike another project, but the hull is in better shape. Not yet sure if my trailer would be big enough to grab it, or if it would be worthwhile to get.