Is my search over... Already?

So.... It's Saturday afternoon... a gorgeous day here in the Pacific Northwest, in fact the best day we had had so far this year, so I took my motorcycle on a little road trip to the Gig Harbor Marina to look at a Catalina 30 that I had been eying for quite some time on the internet.  Why had I been eying it?  I don't know, just a feeling.


Nice Dock appeal... yes?



Nice, Clean Decks with good texture

When I got to the boat, my first impression was that this one was pretty clean. It looked pretty well taken care of, for the most part. The deck was very clean, and all the portholes look really good.  There was a nice solar powered ventilation fan over the V-berth which is really great for keeping the air moving even when you're not on the boat.  Having stagnant air on the boat is not a good thing.  Now although this boat does look pretty clean, it isn't perfect.  Virtually all of the bright work needs some very serious attention. 



Furler, and a tired Jib




The Bright work needs a lot of work, but all of the running rigging is Brand New!

Really Big Lazerettes

In addition to that, the jib looks very tired and may need to be replaced soon. There is no dodger which is something I would really like to have, especially because some days when you sail around here the weather is not the most ideal and you can end up getting pretty wet. The four Barient winches were in good shape but were non tailing. That is not really bad thing as there are ways to deal with that as my friend Mike explained recently in his Blog. On the positive side, all the lines lead back to the cockpit to make single handing the boat easier, and all the running rigging looks brand new. This is a tiller steered boat and it has an autopilot which I really like.  There are also see some very large, commodious lazerettes in which you could probably smuggle an entire football team in...  OK, that was an exaggeration…  Maybe an entire baseball team...  Anyway some of them are really big.

Now it is time to take a trip through the companion way and down the stairs (for which I'm sure there is some nautical name).  On the left, the first thing you'll see is the galley.  It features a fairly new, gimballed stove and oven and, get this,  a full blown refrigerator with freezer.  Very cool. 

Nice Broadwater Stove/oven

Nice Norcold Refrigerator/freezer

To the right is the navigation station, with lots of storage and portable VHF radio, as well as a regular VHF radio  stereo system.  There is a very nice propane heater for heating up the cabin on those chilly Pacific Northwest days.  There he is an L-shaped settee on the left, and regular settee on the right.  There is lots of storage under the settees as well as a lot of shelf space throughout the cabin.  There is even a very interesting hurricane lamp mounted on the wall.  The cabin felt very spacious for this size boat.  I could easily see two or three people moving around in this cabin with ease.  There was a very large table mounted in its normal position up on the wall, but that can be easily be taken down a used on the left Settee.  It still left a lot of room for getting by to get to the head and the V-berth.  The head featured a Jabsco marine head that looked fairly new, and, like the rest of the boat, was very clean.  I chuckled at the sign that mentioned not putting anything into the head unless you had eaten it first.  The V-berth was good size for a boat this size.  I could easily stretch out in it.  And of course, there was lots of storage under it.

Propane heater to keep you warm

L-Shaped Settee gives a nice conversation area

The V-Berth is quite roomy, with good storage

Neat little hurricane lantern

The engine is mounted under the L shaped settee near the galley.  It is a good sized engine for this boat (25 HP) and I was impressed with how clean it was.  The oil filter had just been changed in February in the engine had a low number of hours on it for its age.

 Very Clean engine

Easy access to Oil Filter and belts

Another bonus with the purchase of this boat, was that it came with its own tender, complete with engine and fuel tank.

a Dinghy! Cool!

After touring the boat, I called up my sister, who lives in Gig Harbor, and we had lunch.  I think I talked her ear off about this boat.  I even snuck her on to the boat to get her opinion.  She really liked it too.  After I got home, I called Sue, and told her I thought that this might be the one.  We talked for a bit, then I decided I was going to put an offer in, as I felt that this was a good value if I can get the price down to where I can afford it.

I saw Sue this morning, and officially signed the paperwork and gave her a check for the earnest money.  If the owner accepts my offer, then the next step will be to take it out for sea trial and make sure that everything works and that there are no unexpected problems. If all goes well, I will be a boat owner in 2 weeks!  Just in time for the rainy, cold weather to return... LOL...

I am really nervous but excited about this whole process.  I will keep you posted.  Stay tuned!