Chrysler Sailors Forum

Greetings!

Just a quick intro from a hopeful sailor who is considering a Chrysler 22.

I've never owned a boat before and other than commandeering my father's little aluminum run about as a far younger person, my boating experience is limited at best. That said, I've wanted to learn to sail all of my life and I'm at that point where it's now or never.

Anyway, I just wanted to check in. I'll be pouring over the forum and look forward to participating.

Regards,
Bill

Welcome Aboard Shipmate, good to hear from you!

A new sailor, we never get those around here unless you count me in and 80% of everyone else on the forum who were all new once upon a time. Yea the other 20% were born Sailors and yes they are really that good.

My Chrysler C-22 is my first real boat too. I did take lessons before I bought my boat. Now I loved my lessons and those teachers put me on the right track but my real class started with the purchase of my new (30 year old) Chrysler.

Ask lots of questions. I have found that the question I was afraid to ask these folks was the most important ones I should have asked right up front. Seems like the more I think my question wont matter to anyone but me, well, those tend to be the big issues everyone wants to talk about. The cool part is they ALWAYS come up with an excellent answer that saves me time, money, safer, and simpler than I started with.

So in answer to your question, yea I know you did not ask one yet, but I'm answering anyway.

Question 1: Yes, you should buy a Chrysler C-22.
Question 2: Yes, you should take a sailing lesson or maybe a few. (The guy I bought my C-22 from never had a lesson till after he sold me the C-22. And he misses his sailboat, a lot!)
Question 3: Yes get the trailer for the boat too if at all possible. You may not want the trailer now but you will, oh yes you will.

Thanks
Alan

Bill glad to have you along I'm sure you'll feel welcomed here... believe it or not I'm sure there are a lot of members on this forum that find themselves in the same boat as yourself. A little older and looking for a chance to make one of their dreams come true, I speak from experience. Being older... but perhaps not wiserI jumped in at the deep end of the pool by buying a C26 that needed a lot more than just a little TLC. Looking back I regret it in part, but then if I had not I would not have learned half of what I know today. When it comes to good old boats... tomorrow is indeed another day. Again welcome.

Terrence
Wilmington N.C.
Chrysler 26' 1980
Pandora (for now)

Jump on in - nobody ever comes to this hobby having already sailed a boat, everybody starts out at zero experience..

Alanhod wrote:Welcome Aboard Shipmate, good to hear from you!

My Chrysler C-22 is my first real boat too. I did take lessons before I bought my boat. Now I loved my lessons and those teachers put me on the right track but my real class started with the purchase of my new (30 year old) Chrysler. <snip>

Ask lots of questions. I have found that the question I was afraid to ask So in answer to your question, yea I know you did not ask one yet, but I'm answering anyway.

Question 1: Yes, you should buy a Chrysler C-22.
Question 2: Yes, you should take a sailing lesson or maybe a few. (The guy I bought my C-22 from never had a lesson till after he sold me the C-22. And he misses his sailboat, a lot!)
Question 3: Yes get the trailer for the boat too if at all possible. You may not want the trailer now but you will, oh yes you will.
Alan

Thanks, Alan! I am scheduled to complete the ASA 101 course over the weekend of May28/29, so I hope that this will get me moving in the right direction. I'm relatively fearless (hell, I practically lived on the back of an old Triumph motorcycle for many years of my life!), so there's a part of me that just keeps saying, buy the boat, jump in, hold on and see what happens. But because I have a wife and two kids who will accompany my folly, I thought it was pretty important to get some training.

Thanks for the response - Bill

hp18carr wrote:<snip> Being older... but perhaps not wiserI jumped in at the deep end of the pool by buying a C26 that needed a lot more than just a little TLC. Looking back I regret it in part, but then if I had not I would not have learned half of what I know today. When it comes to good old boats... tomorrow is indeed another day. Again welcome.

Thanks for your welcome! So you've piqued my curiosity. What do you regret and why do you regret it only in part? Thx again - Bill

EmergencyExit wrote:Jump on in - nobody ever comes to this hobby having already sailed a boat, everybody starts out at zero experience..

Thanks EmergencyExit! Once I figure out what the questions are, I'll be posting...

livinginthepast wrote: I'm relatively fearless (hell, I practically lived on the back of an old Triumph motorcycle for many years of my life!),

You have to have been fearless just to own and keep a Triumph running in my day, lol..

(said the one time owner of a 72 Fiat 850 Spider convertible, a 72 Renault Alliance convertible, and a 76 MGB convertible)

Welcome aboard Bill!

Glad to have you here!
Feel free to ask and post questions and pictures!
There is a lot of info and experience on the forum!

Poke around and look for the faults and benifits of a Chrysler! I think you'll be pleasantly surprised! I see you are in Covington Wa! You are in great hands! Alan is in Lynwwod, Greg in Eastern Wa, Billy in Spokane!

It was my pleasure chatting with you last night! Check my signature. There are two links of interest, The keel pin repair will be of interest to you and also the stepping the mast section. Both are of "Lady Jo", my C22 named for my mom. ( Notice we've cleaned and painted her since the mast step pictures! LOL! )

If you get a wild hair and need to go sailing I have an offer outstanding to all Chrysler Forum Members. Destiny is at the Port of Everett and I bet we could get Alan to go for a sail too! We'd take you for a ride!

Scott

Buying a boat needing more work than at first (being new) I realized is regretful. This translates into many projects... much time and money. In the end however I'll have a 26' sailboat that will most likely out last me and even with the extra cost come in way below something new of similar size. Learning to work with new materials and thinking outside of the box at times helps keep the old gray matter working and the new skills learned also help in other projects around the house. Don't get me wrong... owning a sailboat is not all work and no play... I just haven't gotten to the play part yet.

Terrence
Wilmington N.C.
Chrysler 26' 1980
Pandora (for now)

From one Bill to another...welcome. I also had the dream and finally took the "plunge"...took the sailing class...bought a 16 foot Newport, fixed her up and sailed her.
Discovered I needed something a bit bigger...Chrysler 22. All of this starting at age 60...62 now and looking forward to splashing my 22 next summer.

Bought my boat with trailer for $2000...figured it would take another $5000 to get her ship shape. A large part of that cost was a new motor...I wanted the reliability of new when going out on Lake Michigan.

So by all means go for it...old age creeps up fast and those old bones don't work as nicely as they used to.

Welcome Bill...

69Shark wrote:Welcome aboard Bill!

I see you are in Covington Wa! You are in great hands! Alan is in Lynnwwod, Greg in Eastern Wa, Billy in Spokane!

If you get a wild hair and need to go sailing I have an offer outstanding to all Chrysler Forum Members. Destiny is at the Port of Everett and I bet we could get Alan to go for a sail too! We'd take you for a ride!

Scott

I did not even notice the Covington WA. location, that is OUTSTANDING! Another Chrysler owner (Soon to be Chrysler owner) is in the neighborhood.

And yes you are welcome to sail with me any day on my Chrysler C-22 as is the same for all Chrysler forum members from all over not just the ones who live close by. And as for sailing with you Captain Scott, any day is a good day sailing with you Sir and I will make any trip I can on any of your boats, even your dingy.

The Chrysler Pacific Fleet has grown by 1 more. We could now have an eve bigger sailing event this summer. That makes a 20% increase in local folks. This would be possibly 5 Chryslers plying the waters of Puget Sound at this Summers Rally.

Lets see there would be...
Billy and Pam from Eastern WA. C-22 (Now I know Billy said he could not bring his boat but they can ride with any of us.)
New Bill from Western WA. C-22
Greg from Eastern WA. C-26
Captain Scott from Western WA. C-22 and another C-22
and Me, Alan from Western WA. C-22

Okay Billy and Pam from Eastern WA. you said you may have a Wedding this summer here on the West Side of the state. I'm still waiting on the date so we can officially set the date for the Pacific Fleet rally.

Thanks
Alan

Welcome aboard Bill and as Alan lead to is always ask questions and no matter how trivial or silly you may think they are they will spark conversation and if you ask questions you cannot ask a stupid question as that is the one not asked.

Welcome Bill!

As a new Chrysler owner since last October, I can tell you this boat is an awesome boat for someone who has never sailed, as well as an awesome boat for those of us have owned more boats than they can remember.

With some boats if you make a mistake while sailing, you can do some serious damage to the boat. The C-22 seems to be bullet-proof and sails like a dream. While most boats of a similar size are in the slip because the winds are too strong, I've been out with the big boys. I could go on and on, but suffice to say, buy a Chrysler and you'll love the choice you've made.

Welcome aboard Bill! I too was new to sailing and boats in general until fall of 2009 when I bought a long time dream, my first sailboat - a 1980 Chrysler C-22. It was in definite need of TLC and minor repairs after sitting in a field for 7 years but I was up for the task as I felt it would be a great way to get to know the ins and outs of sailboats. All of that winter I poured over sailing books and a "learning to sail" DVD and come spring of 2010 I took my first sailing lessons. By July of 2010 I had (or at least believed I had) the C-22 seaworthy and got it out on the water. Yes, it did float, and yes I was out pretty much every weekend for the rest of the season after that sailing it! It was quite enjoyable and I'm looking forward to much of the same this year. This spring I've again been hard at work doing fixups and cosmetic things on the boat (new cushions, new topside paint, installed a stereo, more...I'll post pics soon).

My original goal was to get into sailing at low cost and I did achieve that but I had to do a lot of work myself. Usually these older boats need work so I would suggest that you honestly ask yourself if you are willing to put in the time and elbow grease to do that. Of course, when you really like your sailboat as much as many of the people on this forum do, it really can't be considered work that much And you'll get as much help you can imagine from the great folks here.

Best regards

Bryan

EmergencyExit wrote: You have to have been fearless just to own and keep a Triumph running in my day, lol..

(said the one time owner of a 72 Fiat 850 Spider convertible, a 72 Renault Alliance convertible, and a 76 MGB convertible)

I had a TR6C for years. Aha - I see you own an MGB! I have a '60 Frogeye Sprite.

69Shark wrote:Welcome aboard Bill!
<snip>
It was my pleasure chatting with you last night! Check my signature. There are two links of interest, The keel pin repair will be of interest to you and also the stepping the mast section. Both are of "Lady Jo", my C22 named for my mom. ( Notice we've cleaned and painted her since the mast step pictures! LOL! )

If you get a wild hair and need to go sailing I have an offer outstanding to all Chrysler Forum Members. Destiny is at the Port of Everett and I bet we could get Alan to go for a sail too! We'd take you for a ride!

Scott

Great talking to you as well. That offer is very tempting. Beware - I may take you up on it!!!

I did, in fact, poke around a little and found a treasure trove of pics of Lady Jo. Beautiful work on the keep pin. Watch out, with work like that, you may be summed to do hip replacement surgery at some point. Nicely done. Is that new welding on the the rudder? (I've just discovered the joys of welding, so I take a particular interest in observing shiny welds when I see them!)

Regards,
Bill

hp18carr wrote:Buying a boat needing more work than at first (being new) I realized is regretful.

Aha - I know this story. This is the same regret that I've felt with almost every old car I've ever purchased!

astrorad wrote: Discovered I needed something a bit bigger...Chrysler 22. All of this starting at age 60...62 now and looking forward to splashing my 22 next summer.

Hey Bill - thanks for the response. So with two years in, do you feel like the learning curve is pretty steep? Or has sailing come easier than expected? I have no way to judge, having never handled any boat beyond the little outboard driven aluminum boat I mentioned before (and a couple rentals we took the kids out on the Sound in to do some crabbing/bottom fishing).

bryan wrote:<snip>My original goal was to get into sailing at low cost and I did achieve that but I had to do a lot of work myself. Usually these older boats need work so I would suggest that you honestly ask yourself if you are willing to put in the time and elbow grease to do that. Of course, when you really like your sailboat as much as many of the people on this forum do, it really can't be considered work that much And you'll get as much help you can imagine from the great folks here.

Hi Bryan - looking fwd to the pics of your boat. Well, there's plenty of food for thought here. Given your experience, what would you say was the most challenging part of your project thus far? Any surprises?

livinginthepast wrote: Is that new welding on the the rudder? (I've just discovered the joys of welding, so I take a particular interest in observing shiny welds when I see them!)

Regards,
Bill

The rudder cheeks were replaced by the previous owner I believe with stainless. I have pictures of the work however I did not do it so I know little about it other than it is very solid and I am happy with the work!

I would expect you and invite you to take me up on an offer to sail on Destiny!!

Better get on the calendar though! LOL! We just spent tonight at the Everett Civic Center! Our schedule is quite busy these days! our daughter is keeping us hopping in her Senior Year! Seriously though, we could grab a subs and Alan and hit the water one evening after work!

I could use two bodies aboard. You know, it is a lot of effort on my part watching you guys do all the work!

Scott

hey bill,
I also just got into this whole sailing deal. I got a 75 C22 October of last year for 500 dollars. I have invested about 2500 into it and I am about done. Just need cushions. I have never sailed before this boat just like alot of everyone else around these parts but I was able to pick up sailing on the c22 without lessons and found it to be rather easy and quite enjoyable. I have been sailing now since March and Memorial day weekend is going to be my first real trip on the boat, I'm going up the Saint Johns river(about 50 miles) to enjoy a nice four day weekend cruising. Its nice to see soo many people interested in these boats and the fact there are soo many that are in good enough shape to sail still.

doomednomad wrote:hey bill,
I also just got into this whole sailing deal. I got a 75 C22 October of last year for 500 dollars. I have invested about 2500 into it and I am about done. Just need cushions. I have never sailed before this boat just like alot of everyone else around these parts...<snip>.

Hi Daniel - I'm glad to hear you found the boat easy to learn on. I've talked to a lot of people about a lot of boats over the past few weeks, and at this point, the Chrysler is certainly feeling like the right way to go. I like that there is so much enthusiasm for them, I like the basic consensus is that they are stout enough for even a ham-handed rank amateur like me to handle, and the aesthetically speaking, it just a nice looking little boat.

I clicked the link to see the pics of your boat. Looks like a pretty decent deal for the $500. But what is stuck on the bow of the boat? It looks like modeling clay! She looks great all painted in red and white. You mention in one of the captions that there were a few leaks. Where was it leaking from?

Hey Bill(Covington)...I haven't sailed my Chrysler yet. I have only sailed the Newport 16 the year before 3 times. Gotta long way to go when it comes to 1st hand experience.

I keep reading and watching Youtube vids...repetition helps it all sink in.
Gonna try and apply the things I book learn when I finally splash.

I do know one thing for sure...those three times out sure caused my face muscles to get sore from smilin'.

Hey Bill,

Welcome. I am a novice sailor, although a veteran boater. I have had the 22 for about a year and it truly is a great boat to learn on. I don't know why Chrysler, or the later owners, couldn't keep this line in production. But, at least the used ones are available.

If you get a decent price on the boat, you would be mistaken not to get it. It is a bulletproof performer, fun to sail, and not too hard to work on. Not to mention all the great information available on this site.

Good luck with your choice.

Regards, Jeff

Bill, to answer your question about what was the most challenging, so far that would have to be the glue I removed from the interior. That old glue held up some covering cloth all around the top sides of the boat. Check my photos to see what I mean. The cloth was really in bad shape when I got the boat so I removed it and found that hard glue behind it. Tried Goo Gone and some other commercial products but nothing helped. Per some advice from this forum I tried some 3M glue remover (that's not exactly the name but check an older thread of mine if your interested) and that did the trick. It was a lot of scrubbing though...probably a total of 3 or 4 hours worth. Looks great now though

As far as surprises, there were none really, but there certainly could have been. I'm no boat surveyor and I bought my boat without knowing if it would even float. That was a big risk but I got a good enough deal on it that I was willing to risk it. You can imagine how happy I was when I first splashed it though an no geysers appeared...man that was a good day!

The only surprise I might have is the soaked foam under the setee. My boat lists slightly to starboard and water logged foam is most likely the culprit. A few of us C-22 owners on this forum are dealing with this recently. The list isn't that bad though so I might hold off on that until the off season to fix it.

I hope this helps.

Regards

Bryan