History Behind the "Free" Catalina 22
5/17/17- And so it begins.....
Today, "Wayward Star" and I first met...I've been hunting for a Catalina 22 for several months, having settled on it as the right sailboat for my family. How did that happen? Well, first, I grew up sailing with my parents.....from an 18' Windrose, to a 26' Balboa. I had a selection of varying sailing dinghies in which I ventured FAR OUTSIDE the bounds of parental watchfulness. I managed to prosper at it. We eventually moved aboard a 42' Chung Hwa...allegedly, a copy of an Angleman "Sea Witch." It looked like a pirate ship me me. (And most everyone else who saw it!). It was a completely awesome childhood. We alternated between Lake Washington, Lake Union, and Puget Sound.....vacations were spent under sail with a rotating list of family friends and other sailors.
That however, was a long time ago! Now, I'm mid-forties, with two teenage daughters and one teenage stepson......none of them have ever sailed. I lived aboard a 30' Islander on the Columbia River in my thirties.....again, I treasured the experience.....even though I found the area a bit limiting.
I figured the lack of sailing needed to change. It wasn't really fair to hide that past from my kids....besides, I've finally gotten to where I can appreciate doing less than 30MPH on a lake. We've had several powerboats through the years. But to date, nothing that didn't create its own wind! The list of requirements was pretty basic: I needed something light and easy to trailer and setup. It needed to be able to at least squeeze 5 aboard. It needed to be able to spend days and rugged overnights on my local mountain lakes. Accommodations need not be luxurious, but something to lay a camping pad on was important. Ideally, it needed to be something I could take the kids back to the San Juan Islands on. Most of all, I'm cheap......therefore, it needed to be affordable!
The Catalina fits the bill. With something like 16,000 of them built since 1969, they populate Craigslist like fleas on our family pugs. Prices in my area range from the $1000: "needs a little work," to the $6500: "I'm not really trying to sell my Catalina, but my wife made me list it."
I've looked at a few, and read literally everything on the web I could find. The final deciding factors were the availability of massive amounts of spares new (Catalina Direct).....an active web forum base.....and the volume of Catalina 22 within my search radius. I've monitored Craigslist from Portland to San Francisco. West Coastline to about the Boise longitudinal.
Today, "Wayward Star" and I first met...I've been hunting for a Catalina 22 for several months, having settled on it as the right sailboat for my family. How did that happen? Well, first, I grew up sailing with my parents.....from an 18' Windrose, to a 26' Balboa. I had a selection of varying sailing dinghies in which I ventured FAR OUTSIDE the bounds of parental watchfulness. I managed to prosper at it. We eventually moved aboard a 42' Chung Hwa...allegedly, a copy of an Angleman "Sea Witch." It looked like a pirate ship me me. (And most everyone else who saw it!). It was a completely awesome childhood. We alternated between Lake Washington, Lake Union, and Puget Sound.....vacations were spent under sail with a rotating list of family friends and other sailors.
That however, was a long time ago! Now, I'm mid-forties, with two teenage daughters and one teenage stepson......none of them have ever sailed. I lived aboard a 30' Islander on the Columbia River in my thirties.....again, I treasured the experience.....even though I found the area a bit limiting.
I figured the lack of sailing needed to change. It wasn't really fair to hide that past from my kids....besides, I've finally gotten to where I can appreciate doing less than 30MPH on a lake. We've had several powerboats through the years. But to date, nothing that didn't create its own wind! The list of requirements was pretty basic: I needed something light and easy to trailer and setup. It needed to be able to at least squeeze 5 aboard. It needed to be able to spend days and rugged overnights on my local mountain lakes. Accommodations need not be luxurious, but something to lay a camping pad on was important. Ideally, it needed to be something I could take the kids back to the San Juan Islands on. Most of all, I'm cheap......therefore, it needed to be affordable!
The Catalina fits the bill. With something like 16,000 of them built since 1969, they populate Craigslist like fleas on our family pugs. Prices in my area range from the $1000: "needs a little work," to the $6500: "I'm not really trying to sell my Catalina, but my wife made me list it."
I've looked at a few, and read literally everything on the web I could find. The final deciding factors were the availability of massive amounts of spares new (Catalina Direct).....an active web forum base.....and the volume of Catalina 22 within my search radius. I've monitored Craigslist from Portland to San Francisco. West Coastline to about the Boise longitudinal.
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