I have been cruising garage sales for decades.  Partly because I’m cheap and partly because at one time I was a dealer in antiques.  Naturally, as a nautical nut I kept a weather eye out for boating items either for my own use or to sell.  Most of the time this constituted small items, books or bits of equipment.  Entire boats were less common but it does happen.  This week Port Angeles, Washington’s Peninsula Daily news yard sale ads featured a Saturday morning sale which listed a sailboat.

I know from experience that “sailboat” at a yard sale can be anything from the sublime to the pile of rotting planks.  This one turned out to be very interesting and enticing.  The used boat market is full of money pits and project boats.  As it turned out, if your are inclined to take on a project that is not a major restoration and comes with all the parts needed, then this one’s for you.

I arrived at the typical suburban garage sale to find that the sale which wound it’s way up the curving driveway culminated in a boat sticking it’s nose out of one side of a two car garage.  It was Catalina 22 on a trailer with a tarp covering the exposed bow.  On closer inspection I found that the boats windows were removed and the area was taped off.  Apparently this was a work in progress.  The boat had the look of a crafty not in need of restoration so much as serious maintenance.  The bottom is waiting for fresh paint and the trailer could use a little of the same attention.

The owner came to talk when he noticed my level of interest.  Our conversation revealed that he purchased the Catalina locally for $4700 and sailed it for one summer.  That was in 2007 which is what the last registration sticker reads.  he put her in the garage to work at replacing the leaky windows.  This seems to be a common ailment of older fiberglass boats.  It’s a cheap upgrade and does wonders for peace of mind here in the rainier side of the Pacific Northwest.  One of the wheels is off the trailer because it needed repair. There is some varnishing and cleaning and all that sailor stuff we love to do.  Well life has a way of giving us too much to do and after a while that boat in the back yard or the one taking root in your garage, barn, carport or basement just needs to go.

Most of the time when you rescue one of these incomplete projects you inherit a lot of difficult supply problems.  Not in this case.  To begin with as you can see in the video this boat has still got everything in one place.  The spars are nicely supported in the garage rafters.  Sheets and halyards are neatly coiled and hung in plain sight.  This fellow was relatively well organized.  In the event that there are parts needing to be replaced you can find an amazing selection of parts at http://shop.catalinaowners.com/c22/.  There is also the Catalina 22 National Sailing Association.  You will not be alone if you buy a Catalina sailboat.

If I had the bucks I would be writing this story all about the great deal I snagged on a classic fiberglass sailboat.  However, as of this writing Fly Away is still for sale.  If you are interested the sellers number is 360-477-2401.  this is a drive it home and fix it up project well worth driving a good distance for.  This boat is liable to show up on Craig’s List some time soon so don’t drag your feet.

I will be reporting on good used sailboat deals in my little area of the world as I run across them.  My anchor will be stuck in the mud for a little while longer.  It would be please me to help a fellow sailor get back on the water so that they might begin to have their own seaward adventures.