Hello from San Diego

[Ajlawson2]

Hi there. My name is AJ. New to the forum but been around boats for a while. I sail weekly on in mission bay San Diego on a Hobie Getaway Catamaran. I sail typically once a month on a friends 32 foot Catalina.

Im heading to Washington state in two weeks to check out a Marples CC 35. It needs a lot of work(paint, some fiberglass, epoxy) but is definitely the right price. This will be my dream boat!

Goal is to buy a trimaran and be able to do the Baja haha. I’m open to questions and will be utilizing the forum and search function for its wealth of knowledge.

Boatworkstoday is my current curriculum!

[Heathenly Twins]

Hi AJ. Good luck on your voyages. Will you bring the project boat down to socal before starting work on it?

[Ajlawson2]

Hi and thanks. I have family in Washington so my plan is to repair the bottom and do bottom paint in Washington. I would also love to add some bright led running lights and possibly some electronics. I have a raymarine radar setup and two raymarine E120s that I put LED backlights in and are working great. I would love to have chartplotter and operational lights if I’m going to sail from PNW to San Diego. Like everyone else in trying to do this as inexpensively as possible while still doing it correctly and not taking shortcuts.

[Ajlawson2]

Pics of the boat as it sits

[tkeithlu]

Welcome to the forum, AJ.

For some useful reading, check out Nigel Calder's books.

There are advantages to not taking on a project boat before you get to sail. A non-project boat is time consuming itself (I'm welding up some new anchor cleats today), and our local yard is littered with project boats that never made it to the water. Some have gone through several owners as the first one ran out of money, got old and died, found the job too big, or lost interest. This seems particularly true when the owner wasn't a boat pro, as you can imagine. Consider finding a starter that is ready to sail (Ha!) or nearly so, even if it is less boat than you would like to own.

I made it to the water with my build-it-yourself, but the two year job took twelve years, one of them full time.

[tkeithlu]

If you're trying to save money on Nav, try OpenCPN and a tablet or small laptop to run it. OpenCPN was designed and built by members of this forum, and is free. I really like the newest version. A refurbished tablet in a waterproof case is under $200 - it doesn't need to be fancy.

Consider an AIS transponder (not just a receiver). It's a godsend if you're trying to avoid that run-down feeling.

[Ajlawson2]

Fortunately I already have two Raymarine E120 units with west coast maps loaded. I use the Raymarine when I sail from San Diego to Catalina and have had good success. I will definitely look into an AIS transponder. I would love to have a basic electronics setup until I determine my cruising needs etc. At that time I would be more willing to throw money at the electronics portion.
I have some familiarity with Nigel Calder books.

Recently I have read: Sailboat electrics simplified by Don Casey, Chapman Piloting : Seamanship and Small Boat Handling by Elbert S. Maloney, the big book of wooden boat restoration by Thomas Larsson and I have read through the Jim Brown Searunner plans.

The Marples I plan to purchase isn’t in horrible shape. It definitely needs work but I will happily do that work myself and with family and friends help. I know it’s a lot but it will be good to know the inside and out of the boat from first hand experience and I will appreciate it much more.

[Ajlawson2]

My first task will be to motor or motor sail from Olympia, Wa to Camano Island, Wa hopefully in mid to late July.

[MichGoBlue]

AJ,


I am new here as well and just happen to have a place on Camano Island! We are out on Madrona Beach. I look forward to seeing your boat out here!