About the Boat

A friend of mine, Gunnar Lonson, wrote recently and suggested that I write some descriptive information about the boat. I guess I've taken for granted that everyone would have some familiarity with sailboats---Now that I think about it and have considered my distribution list, that assumption is probably incorrect.

"Assisted Living" is 2001 Catalina 36 MKII monohull sailboat. We purchased her right after my 60th birthday in 2007 when I realized the cause of my latest mid-life crisis. It had been almost 20 years since we had last owned a boat, a 34 foot O'Day sailboat named KRISCO (Kristin--Scott--get it?) When we got in to spending so much time in Colorado we kind of fell out of the sailing thing.

Asisted Living is a single masted sloop--It has a main sail and a head sail or jib. If we were going to do a lot of off shore sailing--blue water sailing where the weather would be too far out to be able to plan around we would carry a larger compliment of sails--including a "storm jib." As it is, we don't intend to be at sea any longer than a couple of days and this only on a couple of occasions. If the weather's bad we won't go--not being on a schedule will be very conducive to this kind of planning. Both the main sail and the jib are reducable in size to accomodate for wind changes. She sails very stabily with reduced head sail and reefed main.

She is approximately 37 1/2 feet long and about 34 feet at the water line. She is approximately 12 feet wide and draws only 4 1/2 feet of depth with a winged keel. One of the reasons we selected this boat is the unusually (for her size) large cockpit (the outside area in the back of the boat where the helm is). It has very large and comfortable seats and is actualy quite comfortable with as many as 6 people at one time. The helm, or steering station is located here. We have a very nice array of instrumentation right at the helm---navigation GPS chartplotter, radar, VHF radio, wind speed and direction, water depth, and boat speed. The chart plotter is quite a sophisticated instrument--it displays the boat in correlation with an electronic map of the sea, much like an automobile GPS system. But the plotter also shows the obstructions and hazards, and allows automatic steering to various points or over a course. You can set waypoints and the autohelm will take you there (as long as there is nothing in the path between you and the destination point--like a piece of dirt. It also displays the water depth around you, provides tide tables and other useful information as well as info about shoreside services--restaurants, marinas etc--come to think of it its exactly like an automobile GPS--just has more functions--and it all interrelates with the other instruments through an interconnection called "Seatalk".
The cockpit has storage underneath the seats and has a cover/awning called a "bimini". It also has a windshield, or "dodger" that is to protect from wind and water. All the working "ropes" or "lines" lead back to the cockpit so that most sail handling can be done from the protection and comfort of that area. There is an electric windlass for handling the anchors and I carry two large anchors of differrent types for different bottom conditions.
The cabin or salon (below) is really quite spacious and comfortable. It has seating for as many as 8 people or even more, a large dining table that folds up out of the way, a chart table and instrument or switch panel that has all the breakers that operate all the various electrical items--lights, pumps, fans, TV, instruments, exterior lights--running lights, anchor light, deck lights, etc. . There is a galley (kitchen) with double sink, 2 burner propane stove and nice sized oven, a microwave and refigerator with small freezer. Its what we call a "one butt" kitchen but it works. There is a full head, or bathroom, with sink, toilet and shower.
There are 2 sleeping cabins--one forward called the V berth and one aft the size of a king sized bed. Since we like to sleep in the V berth we use the aft stateroom for storage including the plastic bins that will hold all the stuff we're not using at the moment. Each stateroom has a small hanging locker and drawers--actually a surprising amount of storage. The boat has air conditioning and heat that runs off of either shore power or the Honda generators that I recently added and that we will use if we need air when "on the hook". We have approximately 80 gallons of fresh water--enough to last us around 4 to 5 days if used prudently--ie no long showers. There are many hatches and ports that open and provide excellent ventilation. The bimini has attached screens that completely enclose the cockpit to protect from skeeters and those noseeums that I'm sure we'll encounter in Florida. (We Texans rid ourselves of those nasty varmints along with other nasty varmints like those carpet baggers and democrats a long time ago). The boat really provides a very comfortable platform for seeing the world--or at least that limited part of it in our plans.
Under sail and in the right conditions the boat will cruise between 6 and 7 1/2 knots --Sailboats are not the fastest means of travel but provide a thrill nonetheless. In sailboats its the getting there as opposed to the being there that matters most. We have a 25 HP diesel engine that will push us along at around 6 1/2 knots at a fuel consumption rate of about 1/2 gallon per hour. With extra fuel cans I carry about 40 gallons of diesel, for 80 hours of cruising. At 6 knots (a knot is roughly 1.1 statute miles per hour) that covers about 500 miles--plenty to cover us for any long passage we have planned.
Soooo--that's our boat. We love her. If this post has bored you--blame Gunnar. If you've enjoyed it--thank me.
BTW---Gunnar and I go way back to when he was a clerk and I was a new associate attorney at my first law firm. He sailed with us on our early boats and in fact was one of the other 4 that were with us on our very first bare boat charter in the British Virgin Islands around 1980. He moved onward and upward to fame and fortune in Santa Barbara, Cal with his wife Carol-Anne but we've stayed in touch over the years---in fact did a bareboat charter in the Abacos a couple of years ago. Oh the stories we could tell!!!!!