LONG DISTANCE CRUISING

[asea]

I have a 1986 Catalina 34 Hull #101. She is in good condition. My wife and myself are thinking of taking her around the U.S. starting from New England waters sailing to the Pacific North West by way of the canal. We do plan on upgrading her for this kind of voyage, new standing rigging, inner forestay, wind generator, refrigeration, epirb, life raft.,etc. I know that our boat is not a blue water cruiser, yet we don't plan on crossing any oceans. I was wondering if anyone knows of a Catalina making long passages like this. On the voyage web page I saw those that went across country trucked their boat. I would appreciate any comments on our plans.

[Rick Johnson]

I have tried to find a trucking company and have found that the quotes are all over the map!  Anything from $2,200 o $6,000 to truck my C34 from Southern California to Corpus Christi, Texas.  I have not decided to pick one yet.   If you look on the Catalina Yacht site there are several C36s and a C320 that have done some blue water cruising and there was a great article in an old issue of Good Old Boat about upgrading a C36 for blue water.  I would be interested in what you decide and how it goes.

[Stu Jackson]

Raplh & Mary Lou McCormick (#478)  took their boat to Alaska and back.  Wrote something up about earlier voyages in the Voyages page on the main website and a four part feature story in Mainsheet starting in May 2001.  I'll do some more digging and see if I can find an electronic copy of Marilyn's Alaska cruise and post it here or on the main website.

(Updated by Stu 7/20)

[Ron Hill]

Rick : Go on the C36 site and look for a boat name "Poor Boy".  He's a Catalina Honoree because he's sailed his C36 from Alaska thru the canal up to New England.  Think he's also sailed around the Pacific and Hawii.

He can give you all of the hints you need.  He's retired USCG aviator.  Can't remember his name this minute.  

[paule]

Ron is talking about Mike Gartlnd i belive.  Great guy lots of stories

Paul

[Stu Jackson]

Arnie

Still sounds like a good idea.  Notice I updated an earlier post above. Email me at mraquaq@aol.com and I'll put you in touch with Mary Lou and Ralph off line.  They could probably get you an electronic copy of their starting-in-May 2001 four part article.  As peviously mentioned, there are lots of stories in the Voyages section of the webiste and I'll bet you can get in touch with most of those people by using the Personal Message" section of this message board.  Most use their real names for sign on to this board.

[astudentklms]

http://www.catalinayachts.com/hof.cfm

This should be helpful

[Ted Pounds]

I would suggest taking a good hard look at the rudder.  The early ones were famous for leaking and the webbing for the first few years was plain steel and not stainless.  Mine leaked and when Catalina opened it up the webbing was VERY rusted.  The re-cast rudder has the new, larger eliptical shape which performs much better, especially in higher winds.  Do a search on "rudder" and read all about it.  Or go to  http://www.c34.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1389&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=eliptical+rudder&start=15

also  http://c34.org/faq-pages/faq-rudder-rust.html

Even if the rudder seems sound it might be worth it for peace of mind and better performance to have it recast anyway.  Just a thought...