Certificate of Inspection--Sister Vessels

[BrooklynSail]

Dear C34 Forum,


I'm a new registrant to the forum and proud Catalina 34 owner--any help in this matter would be much appreciated.

I'm looking for a sister vessel--a Catalina 34 sailboat (preferably 1994 in the New York sector) that has, or once had, a valid certificate of inspection (COI).

If anyone owns an inspected C34 or knows of one, please let me know. A thread for C34 sister vessels would be very helpful.


I'm looking to increase from 6 to 8 passengers and I hope this is a reasonable expectation considering the safe operating capabilities of a well-maintained 1994 Catalina 34.

Cheers,
Ian

[Ron Hill]

Ian : Please explain what a Certificate of Inspection is?  The only Certificate that I know of is the one given to the owner by the USCG Auxiliary after their annual safety inspection? 

The old "Master Carpenters Certificate" now the "Facts of Build" need to come from the Catalina factory.  I had the factory send mine back in 1989 to the Documentation Center in Norfolk Va. for my vessel documentation. (back before Senator Byrd moved the center to the Deep Water Port in Falling Waters WVa!)

BTW, 6 pax + an Owner/Capt is just above my comfortable limit in cockpit while under sail.  I would like no more that a total of no more than 5 people in the cockpit, especially if the wind pipes up!!

A thought

[Jim Hardesty]

Ian,
I think the Certificate of Inspection you are inquiring about needs to be done at time of manufacture at several steps by the USCG.   Try calling Catalina they may be able to help you.  FWIW, if my memory from my USCG masters class serves me, the 6 passengers are paid passengers only, the captain and crew are not part of the count.  Don't take my memory for that, check that yourself.
Having said that 6 on board is a full boat in my thinking.

Jim

[Patches]

As a charter captain on my Catalina 34, I'm kind of with Ron on this.  While obtaining a COI to take 8 passengers might technically be possible, I'm not sure I would want to do it.  Granted, I have a 1990 Mark 1.25, and my cockpit may be a little smaller than the Mark IIs.  But I'm kind of maxed out with 6 in front of the binnacle.  With 8 on board, passengers would have to be on the rail (not where I want them) or aft with me (also not where I want them). 

Because I need to handle docking and sails, I need those areas clear.

A thought.

Patches

[Breakin Away]

Related question:

To take up to 6 paying passengers with an OUPV license, the vessel must have a coastwise endorsement on its USCG documentation. To do this on a boat like ours, I believe that a "facts of build" letter is needed from the manufacturer, and then I believe you need to redo the documentation for ~$300. For those of you who have done this, can you describe how you went about getting the letter from Catalina?

[Patches]

Pretty easy to do.  You call Catalina Yachts, who will direct you to the appropriate person.  In my case (last year) it was Dani Monterosso.  She will ask for proof of ownership, and then a $45 fee is charged for the notarized "Facts of Build" letter--which they send to you.  You then submit that letter (which I believe is in a sealed envelope) to the Vessel Documentation Center with their required paperwork, pay their fees, and then the VDC will send you the Certificate of Documentation when review is complete.

Once documented, you have to "permanently affix" your documentation number to the boat.  After spending too much time reading about how to do this, I used vinyl 4 inch letters/numbers stuck to the inside of the hull in the forward seat locker on the port side, next to the bulkhead.  I then taped off the area around the number, and coated the number with clear, two-part, epoxy.  IIRC, it took a couple of $8 tubes from the local hardware store.  Let it mostly set up, then peel off the tape before it completely sets up for a neat job.

There are people that will sell you a piece of wood or starboard with your number on it for $100, which you then have to mount somewhere in a "permanent" fashion.  Basically glue and screws, and if someone wants to remove it they will usually be damaging a bulkhead.  That didn't make sense to me, so I did it in the way mentioned above. 

Hope this helps,

Patches

[Breakin Away]

My boat was already documented when I purchased her (no coastwise, no fishery). I need to have it revised if I ever take paying passengers, which means paying all over again.

Even though the boat was already documented, there were no doc numbers anywhere on the hull. I adhered vinyl numbers inside the hull above the exhaust exit, and brushed some clear epoxy over them.

[BrooklynSail]

Hey All,

Thanks for the responses. The COI is a certificate your vessel gets after an inspection the USCG does to certify your vessel for more than six paying passengers. The USCG Six-Pack license is for an uninspected vessel--to take more than six passengers your vessel needs to be inspected (and you need a master's license).

If somebody else with the same vessel, make and year, has a valid COI--you can claim that vessel as a sister vessel--and thereby skip the tedious process of submitting diagrams of every corner of the boat--because the USCG already has all those diagrams on record.

So I'm wondering if anybody else out there has a COI for a 1994 Catalina 34. (I'm pursuing some other channels with the USCG to ask if they have an inspected 1994 Catalina 34 on record (submitting a FOIA).)

I take out friends all the time and eight-ten friends is completely comfortable--I'm also wondering if the inspection would clear me for 7 or 8 paying guests based on the capabilities of a 1994 Catalina 34--plenty of room, plenty of stability, would make sense to me.

Cheers,
Ian

[Ron Hill]

Ian : I believe that a 1994 C34 is a MK1 with the smaller cockpit.  I stick by my preference of no more than 6 Pax + a captain!!

As Stu says "your boat your choice"!

A thought