First time sailboat owner, new to the forum from San Diego, CA

[dmichael]

Hi, we just bought a 1979 Catalina 25, Serenity, that my wife and I plan to use to get our feet wet for cruising. In the meantime, I need to remember how to sail again since it's been at least 15 years since I last sailed, and that was mostly Lazers and 420s. And more importantly, how to deal with a keel boat, outboard motor, sailboat maintenance, etc. We have some projects planned for just about everything on the boat, but are starting with the interior.

So far, we motored her to her new slip, where I re-learned how to turn off an outboard a little later than I would have liked to, and took her for our first sail which went great until we couldn't get the outboard started when it was time to head home! The gas cap vent did the trick when nothing else worked, which my wife figured out by googling on her phone as I sailed in circles in the channel with just the mainsail up. Good times!

Still, we love it, even with my outboard operating issues! It's a beautiful place to relax and escape the cabin fever of the house, even just sitting at the dock, and we're really excited to get her (and us!) ready for an overnight and eventually heading to Catalina Island for our first real trip.

[Tayana42]

dmichael, welcome back to sailing. Your Catalina 25 is a fine boat for San Diego and Mission Bay and Southern California coastal sailing. Don’t worry too much about the learning curve with your outboard. Until you get it mastered a good canoe paddle can get your boat back into your slip. Sounds like your wife is quite a resourceful partner. Good sailing and fair winds to you both.

[WanderIVth]

Congratulations! We were on a Catalina 250 until just a few weeks ago when we made the jump to a bigger boat to live aboard. The 25's are fantastic. Outboards can be a nightmare and a godsend. As long as you don't drop it in the water, you're doing okay.

[Cheechako]

One thing about outboards that seems to happen a lot is the exit tube for the exhaust water plugs up with salt readily. Mostly if it sits more than a week or so. So keep that in mind to look for that stream. You can often clear it out with a copper wire or something. Of course, fresh water flushing for a few minutes would avoid this.
I don't know how many times someone has thought they need to change their impellor when this was all it was.