Back in the fall, temptation got the best of me.  Up the road from my house was this sweet little catboat for sale.  Those who know me well, know that I have a catboat fetish... I just love the lines and the tradition of catboating in New England.  This one was 15 feet with a black hull and white topsides... very striking to my eye.  Even more tempting was that we could afford her.  The only downside was that she was fiberglass.  This was a tough pill to swallow for one who has a affection for wooden boats.  Regardless, "BLISS" still has strong traditional looks and people often mistake her for wood.  Anyway... we bought her knowing that we would need to put a little time and money into her before she was ready to sail.

"BLISS" is Squadron Yachts Minuteman Hull #79 built in 1982.  She was designed by John Fox with a LOL of 15' and breadth of 6'6", which makes her feel bigger than she actually is.  She has a small cuddy cabin for storage, a 10' self-bailing cockpit, and carries of 145 sq ft of sail.

Not known for my patience, soon after purchasing "BLISS", I purchased a small kicker for her and took her out a couple of times under auxiliary power.  I've never been a huge fan of outboards and, now that I have one, I am even less of a fan.  These first outings under power were a learning experience.  The biggest being that you have to have the throttle cranked up when restarting the motor.  Nelson figured this out within minutes of us being sucked out the entrance to the North River, and into the open ocean. 

Before winter, I built a frame in my garage that would allow me to lift the hull off of it's trailer, so I could check the centerboard.  The good news is that the frame worked.  The bad news is that, at no time over the winter did I work on the boat.  Well, at least she had a comfortable home during the cold season.  It wasn't until spring that I finally got the centerboard out.  There was no question that it needed to be replaced.  It was a plate of rusted swiss cheese.  Luckily, I was able to find ST Precision Steel in Hanson who could cut me a new stainless board (not cheap, but I shouldn't have to replace it any time soon).  While waiting for the board, I also replaced everything on the trailer except the actual frame (leaf springs, wheels, hubs, etc), and bought new blocks and line to replace all the old stuff.  ST Precision did a great job with the CB.  Now the only problem was how to attach it to the CB uphaul cable.  It literally took 2 weeks for me to figure out a method that was strong enough, yet would fit in the centerboard slot that was a fraction of an inch wider than the centerboard. 

The Saturday after the centerboard was in and all the blocks and line replaced, I was able to convince Nelson to be my guinea pig a second time, for a shakedown cruise in Hingham Bay.  I have to admit that I was a bit anxious about this initial cruise: 1) I had never sailed a catboat, and 2) I was questioning whether I was rigging everything correctly.  It was comforting to have another set of hands along, if needed. 

It turns out, that these extra hands were needed before we even got in the water.  We decided to rig "BLISS" in the parking lot, which turned out to be a smart move.  After we got the mast stepped (no easy task), I realized that we had run the uphaul lines through the sheet blocks.  I was dreading having to take down and restep the mast when Nelson offered to shimmy up the 30' "stick" to rerun the lines.  There's no way I would have been able to get my 240lb frame up that mast, but being significantly smaller framed, he did it with ease, not once but twice (yep, we goofed twice).

Thankfully, this was the only significant issue we had.  We had "BLISS" off the trailer and in the water without a hitch.  The wind was light out of the Northeast and we had to switch between sail and outboard to get out from the lee of the small islands in the harbor.  Once out where the wind was less obstructed, we enjoyed a nice reach over to and around Bumpkin Island.  I was extremely happy how well the high aspect ratio gaffed peak of "BLISS" allows her to point into the wind (contrary to what I've heard about catboats).  After rounding Bumpkin, we headed over through the mooring field of the Hingham Yacht Club and back to the launch.

We definitely had some moments where the wind drove us along at a nice pace, and it would have been nice to experience this the entire time, instead of having to switch to outboard occasionally.  However, it was better for a shakedown cruise than a 10mph breeze.  It was a relaxing and satisfying sail.  We discovered some tweaks we need to make, and now I feel a lot more confident in my boat and my ability to sail her.

I owed Nelson... big time!!!!  So, took him to lunch a Stars.