Catalina Fleet 21 - Chicago
Region
FleetSheet Newsletter
September 2004
The meeting is at the Burnham Park Yacht Club, 1500 S. Linn White Drive (follow signs to Museum Campus). We’ll order from an abbreviated menu beginning at 6:30 p.m. Call 312-427-4664 and make your reservation for dinner. We’ll try (again) to make parking available in the Yacht Club lot, but if it’s not possible, you’ll have to go in the pay lot.
A MESSAGE FROM THE
COMMODORE
With this letter we will have seen the end of meteorological
summer. Some of us may be sailing into November, but we plan to have our
boat put away by the end of this month. It seems like every summer has its
own rhythms and characteristics. We’ve seen some seemingly windless
summers recently. Some summers that don’t start until July. This
summer seems to have had a little bit of all the undesirable elements of
sailing. We’ve had a lot of rain on the weekends, followed by sunny dry
weekdays. We’ve had our share of April and November weather in July and
August. Even so, when all is said and done, is there really such a
thing as a bad sailing experience? This summer we’ve watched our puppy
grow from the size of a guinea pig to a 60 pounder at only five months old.
Winthrop has come to love the boat as much as the rest of the family Our
family also spent one of the coldest weeks in August in sunny hot Puerto
Vallarta thanks to our friends at Catalina Yachts. That was deeply
appreciated and our heartfelt thanks go out to Sharon Day. IF you ever get
a chance to go – take it. All in all, despite the ups and downs of the weather
it’s been a memorable summer of sailing and ventures.
We still have Catalina business before us. At our next meeting we will be announcing the slate of officers. We will then vote on them in October. At some point this Fall you may be asked to volunteer in a position on the board to help the next administration. If you’ve never been on the board, please consider it. It can be a richly rewarding experience and enhance your sailing enjoyment. We decided at the last board meeting in October that we would split our meetings between Burnham and Columbia next year. The banquet has been planned and the final touches need to be put in place, but this year will be better than ever with the live band playing as we dance into the night. Don’t miss out so mark your calendars now for November 20th. See Jack and Lois Bretall if you can donate a door prize or give a hand in any kind of way.
This month’s meeting and dinner will be at Burnham. Gentlemen please wear a collared shirt if you plan on joining us in the dining room. The menu will be great and the presentation will be exciting. See you there…………….
Deborah Ruxton
Commodore
MEMBERSHIP
We are all saddened by the death of one of our Fleet Members.
David
Weissman, the skipper of Audrey Too!, passed away August 29.
Our
heartfelt condolences to his wife and first mate, Audrey.
OUTINGS
RECAP
Catalina Campout/August
7
by Carolyn DeAre
Who knew Olive Park was such a
happening place on a Saturday afternoon? We sure didn’t! But it felt
like Spring Break with all the power boaters, music, dj’s, jet skis…you name
it! A big thank you to boats that attended and made the best of it.
Anchoring was no problem for Weak Moment, Railin, Sea Horse, Morningstar with
crew from Team Effort, Allegro, Parrot Eyes, Baysic Necessity, Finesse,
and Rhapsody. We soon found out we needed more dinghies; Sea Horse had
engine problems and had to be towed home and no one actually spent the night,
but it was an adventure. Maybe we’ll try it again next year-- with a few
modifications!
Hammond Overnighter/August 21&12
by Ted
Kuenzli
The Hammond group led by Linda and Chuck Reed put together a fine
weekend for all the members who sailed or walked to the outing this year.
A big thank you to the boaters who sailed and especially to Bill and Mickie
Thompson, Randy and Carla Carie, and Richard Roberts for making their first
outing to Hammond. The group included Wind Dancer, Randa Sue, Railin,
Ultimate 19th Hole, Bleed'n Green, Baysic Necessity, Weal Sea, Bearoness,
Corvair, Silent Dream, Karizmaddie, Pivot Point, Finesse, Allegro, Bill's
Michael-een, and The Lupi. The outing started off with a Tour-the-Boats
where everyone enjoyed wine, hors d'oeuvres and the knowledge gained from all
the upgrades done by each boat. One person was so impressed that a bigger
boat was purchased within the next week. Later the group either enjoyed
the Symphony in Whiting or the hospitality on Silent Dream. Everyone was
welcome Sunday morning to the famous 'Bontekoe' pancake breakfast. Nobody
left hungry; but, the calaries were many as the cooks (Phil, John and Ted) piled
the food on. A special thanks to all the Hammond group for helping make
this a wonderful outing.
BUY/TRADE/SELL
Fleet members may list items they want
to sell, trade, or buy in this column without any charge.
Send listings to
Fleet Sheet Editor, 306 Linden Street, Glen Ellyn, IL 60137
Fax 630-668-8950
email: deare30@sbcglobal.
net. Phone: 630-469-6117
FOR SALE: 1981 Catalina 25 Adios Standard Catalina 25
interior layout, which provides cruising accommodations for six people. Pop-Top
companionway provides extra headroom, light and ventilation. Autohelm ST 1000
Tiller Pilot; 2001 Johnson electric start 7.5 HP outboard engine (used only in
2002 and 2003 seasons); Blaupunkt stereo; all original manuals; more. Located at
Crowley’s Yacht Yard. $8,800.Please contact Ray Cesca at 630-789-3717 or
Bruce Rosenzweig at 312-225-2046; Email: bruce@sailboatsalesco.com
FOR SALE: 1989 Catalina 34 Hull #977 Andiamo Tall Rig, Wing Keel, Harken Roller Furling with150% Genoa, Main with 3 reef points and Lazy Jacks, all blocks, sheaves and traveler have been replaced with new roller bearing Garhauer upgrades, Nearly new dodger and bimini, Many custom interior teak additions, Force 10 cabin heater, A/B refrigeration, 2 burner LPG stove with oven, Auto Helm, Loran, speed, wind, depth instruments. New VHF radio with RAM (remote mike), new stereo/CD with internal & external speakers, folding teak cockpit table, cockpit cushions, two anchors, and lots of other stuff to make the boat safe, comfortable and beautiful. Steel cradle in Racine, boat in water at Montrose Harbor. This is a fresh water, second owner boat in excellent condition. Contact Phill & Maryjane Klein, email: pklein@interaccess.com Phone: 847-971-7445(cell)
FOR SALE: 1982 Catalina 27 Tall Rig Includes Universal 5411 Diesel (well maintained), Wheel, Auto Pilot-Raytheon 3000, Harken Furling, NEW 2204 main sail w/2 reefs-150% Genoa, NEW 2204 Signet SL250 electronics, NEW 2204 Princess gimbled LPG stove, NEW 2204 cabin cushions blue corduroy upholstering, NEW 2204 bottom painted (good condition) and recently faired keel. Boat in Chicago $14,500 FIRM Richard 312/749-1144 or rgr@core.com
RIGGING AND
EQUIPMENT
From Chicago to the Keys
Scott Welty &
Sue Budde
To the Readers:
In June of 2005 we plan to sail Enee Marie, our 1978
C30, from Chicago to the Florida Keys and hopefully beyond. This series of
articles will describe some of the improvements and modifications we’ve made in
preparation for this trip. We hope you enjoy these articles and please know that
we are certainly not the last word on how to do these projects. If you
have questions about any of these projects email me at scottsails@avenew.com.
Additionally, we now are keeping a weblog (blog) of our progress and experiences
in Burnham Harbor. You can read the log and offer comments. Access the
blog via: http://scottsuesailaway.blogspot.com
Battery Wiring
When you are cruising you really need to depend on your starting battery. This is a battery dedicated to starting the engine only. If the house batteries go south and you don’t have lights, or refrigerator that’s uncomfortable. But if you need to get into port and you can’t start your engine that can be even more uncomfortable.
We’ve adopted a system whereby the house batteries can be used to start the engine but the starting battery cannot be accidentally used to power the house or the refrigerator. Here’s a schematic of the circuit. The key is the addition of a second 1-2 – all selector switch.
Alright, it’s not actually all that complicated. . .
We installed a second selector switch at the end of the galley counter. This is the Main Selector Switch in the diagram above. When this switch is set to #1 the engine starts on the starting battery alone. If this switch is set to #2 the house bank is used to start the engine. This could be house battery #1, #2 or both depending on the House Selector Switch. If the main selector switch is set to all, then the starting battery and whatever is selected on the house switch are brought to bear on starting the engine.
The same logic works for “who’s being charged by the alternator”. If the main
switch is on #1 then only the starting battery is being charged by the
alternator. If set to #2 then the house bank (1,2 or both) are being charged. If
set to all on both switches, then all three batteries are being charged by
the alternator.
Notice that there is no path whereby the starting battery
can be used to run the house. That’s the key to installing a second selector
switch. The house runs completely off the house bank as shown. At one time we
were using house battery #1 on oddnumbered days and #2 on (you guessed it!) even
numbered days. Now we just treat the two house batteries as one and that switch
is normally left on BOTH. We like having the option, however, of taking a
battery out of service if it develops problems and keeping things going ok.
For day sailing, we start on the starting battery and just leave the main selector switch to #1. This is the only charging our starting battery gets as the on board charger (not shown above) right now is only wired to the house batteries. So as we motor out and then later motor back from the day’s sail, we easily recharge our starting battery from two starts. When we are cruising, the engine is our only charging device and we will switch to #2 or both on the main switch to keep up with usage.
The other advantage of this system is that the current required to start the engine is large so a long cable run is not what you want. We have the starting battery mounted down in the engine compartment so the cable run is from there to the end of the galley counter and back to the starter as opposed to all the way over to the nav station and then back to the engine compartment.
CYA REPORT
By
Lori Lauraitis
News from the CYA meeting held August 26 at the Museum Shores Yacht
Club.
According to WesTrec, 2004 has been the most incident- free year
ever! However, security is becoming more and more of a problem with
break-ins at Diversey, Burnham, 59th, and Jackson. Scott Stevenson wondered if
they should bring the guard dogs back and those at the meeting agreed.