New Owner says hello ... am I doing this right???

E

Esmi2

Member
I am the brand new and proud owner of a 2006 Cape Cruiser 23.

As a rank amateur, I question whether I am doing this right, as shown in the photo below. Apparently, first you buy a boat; then you put the boat on a trailer; then you put the trailer on a ferry over water. Somehow, I thought boating was going to be funner than this! :D

Kidding aside, I am glad to be here, and I wouldn't have made it to C-Dory(ish) ownership without this site coaching. Can't wait to splash my boat! But first another day or so of highway time to get it home!

I've been looking for my "just right" boat for several years, and then this one came up on the C-Brats site and the stars aligned for a purchase.

Both known former owners were C-Brats, and I believe this craft has spent most of its time in the San Juan Islands. It's new duty will be on a trailer in my yard in San Luis Obispo, CA, and western rivers and lakes as we get going. More details to come.

jPykTvMc

https://ibb.co/jPykTvMc
 
Did you have to rub it in that you are from SLO, CA? Gosh.....What a beautiful area. Congrats on the new boat.
Our family will float ours for the first time soon, so I know the feeling.
Congrats to Clay as well.
 
Congratulations on the "new" boat. The photos show it is excellent condition. The ferry is "OK"....unless you have to back it all of the way off...as I had to do, towing behind a 35' motor home....

You have some pretty neat (and rough at times) water there. I always have loved Montana De Oro State Park as a place to visit & hike, as well as Moro Bay, and San Luis harbors.

The Moro Bay yacht club members are some of the nicest folks I have ever met. I had spent the night beating around Point Conception in 50 knots of breeze and 10 foot seas, in our Cal 46 and was talking on a ham radio network about it the next morning. When I arrived in Morro Bay, I was circling around looking for an unoccupied mooring, I heard a lot of yelling from the Yacht Club. I feared they were telling me I could not use one of the moorings. Just the opposite, they had moved one of the members boat from the dock for us, and saved some hamburgers for us. One of the Yacht Club members had monitored my ham radio conversation!
 
Yup! That's how we did it to. Picked it up in Seattle, it had been kept in Alaska, but shipped to Seattle on a barge to be sold, then we drove it to the Peace Arch boarder crossing and hopped on the ferry to Victoria BC. Haven't been on a ferry with it since but passed ferry's about 1000 times on the water since.

Congrats on the new to you 23!
 
Thank you for the welcomes.

I finally took the opportunity today to launch "Scoot" from the boat launch in Morro Bay. I am happy to report that the exercise went off without any unanticipated learning experiences. (I had an experienced friend walk me through it).

We did not make it out of the harbor today, but had a ball touring for a couple hours and playing with the boat's systems. There's a lot to learn!

I have rented a slip for the short term, and it sure is convenient to drive the boat up and park it, rather than having to go get the truck and haul the boat out and take it home.

This boating thing is shaping up to be pretty FUN!

http://www.c-brats.com/modules.php?...ame=gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php
 
Just curious as to what bottom paint you are using, now that the boat is in a slip? It certainly is more convenient. Just don't do a George C Scott, exit from the Morro Bay entrance!

m.v._mojo_morro_bay_1978.jpg
 
thataway":3pm9oo7j said:
Just curious as to what bottom paint you are using, now that the boat is in a slip? It certainly is more convenient. Just don't do a George C Scott, exit from the Morro Bay entrance!
Click to expand...

Aaaaah, yes. As my mentor says, "the most dangerous thing on a boat is a schedule." The important Mr. Scott had somewhere he needed to be (apparently) and let his schedule lead him into this.

The harbor mouth was, ah, not quite this wild yesterday. But I didn't go outside anyway, being a newbie and all.

To your question, the bottom paint is "whatever the previous owner put on the boat." I don't anticipate keeping it in the water too terribly long -- just long enough to practice, practice, practice, and then I'll move it back to its trailer and haul it to interesting freshwater places.
 
Salmon Fisher":3l6d2m83 said:
Well, I guess George had a schedule to follow!

Do you know the details Bob?
Click to expand...

This iconic photo is emblazoned on my mind whenever I go thru a bar or pass. The boat is the 84' motor vessel Mojo, under charter to George C Scott. The date was January 28, 1978. There was an off shore winter storm. He "had to get to "Pebble Beach" to play in the "Bing Cosby open Golf Tournament." The harbor master, harbor patrol and Coast Guard had all contacted the skipper of Mojo, but Scott "ordered" the boat be taken out the inlet. The harbor patrolman had told a photographer friend where to position to get what he thought were going to be some tragic photos.

Mojo made it through the breaker but was damaged. The Coast Guard motor life boat made it throught the wave and took Mojo under tow to Port San Luis (just South of Morro Bay) for repairs, and the vessel returned to S. Calif. under it own power. Pilot. house windows were broken out. There were several minor injuries of the crew and guests. It could have turned out far worse. The wave was 22' high. I would guess it was on an ebb tide due to the steepness of the wave face.

I always contact coast guard or harbor master before attempting a bar which is unknown to me. Once the C G was wrong, and I took about a 10 foot wave over the bow. Fortunately I had rebuilt the Cal 46 for just that situation, and the pilot house windows had been replaced by Lexan. No damage, but I noted that the bar closed flag was run up, and the CG announced the bar was closed right after my incident.l...
 
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