Just a small Catalina 22 sailboat
Ha! I guessed that from seeing the transom and traveler in your photo. Must be about the same vintage I had a few years ago. I never should have sold that boat. It was one of my favorites. Low maintenance, trailerability, single hander. And perfect for your area of the coast.
perfect for day sailing and soaking up the rays
Good weekender too.
When I sold mine, I bought a Watkins 23'. Has a swing keel that swings into a stub keel. So not much draft and no centerboard trunk in the cabin. It looked good on paper and I like the boat. But it wasn't long before I realized selling the Catalina was a mistake. So I shopped 'till I dropped and couldn't find one as equipped and priced like the one I'd sold. So I bought an Oday Mariner. Floates in water about up to my knees lol! And has a small cabin but enough for an overnighter. So now I have two sailboats and seldom seem to have time to sail either one. Hopefully that'll change soon. I'm workin' on it.
My Catalina 22s have Wing keels. Only 2.5 ft draft.
I'm guessing you must be a big fan of 22's as well as wing keels since you own two :-) Is that so you don't have to drag one back and forth from the northeast to FL? That would be plenty good enough reason if you ask me. But I have more questions. I've owned/sailed numerous fixed keels but not one with wings. I've considered one though and I probably will again at some point. Do you find they point as well as a straight keel? My other concern (but I have no clue) is what about the wings hanging up on things like seaweed, crab traps, anchor lines, etc like that? Any worse or about the same as a no-wing fixed keel? I can't think of any other possible cons to them. And otherwise looks like a great idea to me. The shallow draft of a swing keel and ballast of a fixed keel. That's pretty spiffy.
Slightly less pointing ability compared to fin or swing but where I sail in FL , 30 inch draft is a must.
Big plus I can put the bow on the beach which you cant with a fin. Of the 15,000 C22s made, less than 5 % are wings.
For racing swing keel are fastest.
For just cruising around and sunbathing,, like right now, they are great
Slightly less pointing ability compared to fin or swing but where I sail in FL , 30 inch draft is a must.
Big plus I can put the bow on the beach which you cant with a fin. Of the 15,000 C22s made, less than 5 % are wings.
For racing swing keel are fastest.
For just cruising around and sunbathing,, like right now, they are great
I could nose my swing keel up to most beaches but I didn't do it often. The keel just hangs underneath by one little pivot pin that can be seriously damaged if the boat comes down on it due to an unanticipated wake or a wave. That's one reason I was attracted to my Watkins 23. The swing keel (actually a center board) is well protected up inside the stub keel in case of a pounding grounding. Granted, I ran my C22 aground plenty but only when I was sailing with the keel half way down. The boat would come to a screeching halt but didn't hurt anything half way down with room to swing. So then I could crank it up a little off the bottom and either sail on across the bar or turn around and go back. Came in really handy for not getting stuck.
I would have thought Catalina would have sold a lot more wing keels than they did.