Buying Advice

Boulder Sailer

New Member
I am a newbie to sailing. I have never owned a sailboat. I took sailing lessons 20 years ago and I have sailed a sunfish a few times a summer for the past few summers. I have been looking for a sailboat to sail at Grand Lake in the mountains of Colorado. I saw a 1992 Capri 14.2 Mod 2 listed on Craigs List, started reading this forum and I think it might be a good fit for me.

I called the owner and drove by and looked at the boat. The owner was not there. It is parked outside. The mast, boom, sails, and rudder were at her house and I have not seen them. The boat's hull appeared to be in very good condition to my untrained eye. Small surface scratches, no gouges or scrapes. No obvious repair work. All the cleats appeared to work. There were small hairline cracks where the seat mold bends up. 3 to 5 on each side perhaps 2 to 4 feet long. I pushed down on the seats, they had a slight give but the cracks did not change or widen. The webbing on the bottom of the boat was faded from sun exposure and appeared to have torn cloth attached to it. I did not understand what it was. The center board looked good from the small amount of it I could see.
All and all I thought the boat looked pretty good. The trailer was in good shape, very little rust ( we are in Colorado ) with one flat tire and no spare.

So here are my questions:

1) Should I be concerned about the cracks in the seats. I read the FAQ and saw that they are common, but I can't tell how much is too much.
2) What is the best way to evaluate the sails? What should I look for?
3) Do I need to look at the bearing on the trailer? How do you do this?
4) What is a fair price? The NADA lists the average retail as 1750. The owner is asking 2250 and has mentioned the price is negotiable. The prices I have seen on the internet are all over the place and there are no other Capri 14.2 for sale in the area.

Any comments or advice arewelcome for this Newbie.
 
I am a newbie to sailing. I have never owned a sailboat. I took sailing lessons 20 years ago and I have sailed a sunfish a few times a summer for the past few summers. I have been looking for a sailboat to sail at Grand Lake in the mountains of Colorado. I saw a 1992 Capri 14.2 Mod 2 listed on Craigs List, started reading this forum and I think it might be a good fit for me.

I called the owner and drove by and looked at the boat. The owner was not there. It is parked outside. The mast, boom, sails, and rudder were at her house and I have not seen them. The boat's hull appeared to be in very good condition to my untrained eye. Small surface scratches, no gouges or scrapes. No obvious repair work. All the cleats appeared to work. There were small hairline cracks where the seat mold bends up. 3 to 5 on each side perhaps 2 to 4 feet long. I pushed down on the seats, they had a slight give but the cracks did not change or widen. The webbing on the bottom of the boat was faded from sun exposure and appeared to have torn cloth attached to it. I did not understand what it was. The center board looked good from the small amount of it I could see.
All and all I thought the boat looked pretty good. The trailer was in good shape, very little rust ( we are in Colorado ) with one flat tire and no spare.

So here are my questions:

1) Should I be concerned about the cracks in the seats. I read the FAQ and saw that they are common, but I can't tell how much is too much.
2) What is the best way to evaluate the sails? What should I look for?
3) Do I need to look at the bearing on the trailer? How do you do this?
4) What is a fair price? The NADA lists the average retail as 1750. The owner is asking 2250 and has mentioned the price is negotiable. The prices I have seen on the internet are all over the place and there are no other Capri 14.2 for sale in the area.;

Any comments or advice arewelcome for this Newbie.
O.K., Lets see; The gelcoat cracks are common on almost all Capries and not a problem. You. should plan on getting two new tires for peace of mind, and save the old tires for spares. Unless you have pulled hubs before, let a mechanic do the job for you. Also add bearing buddies to the hubs for better protection. The webbing in the bottom are hiking straps to hook your feet under when leaning out. A boat left outside should be covered with a tarp or something to keep it from fading etc. You should try to get the seller to rig the boat for you in the yard and take pictures. You will be able to check all parts to detect anything missing or damaged. The sails should not be dirty or stained up. The battens and batten pockets are the first place to look. Check the bolt ropes and grommets in the ends of the sails. The jib sheets, main sheets should not be fuzzy or coming apart. If you can, try to get the boat in the water to sail it to check for water leaking into the hull. The drain plug in the rear drains the hull. This is the only BIG problem found on these boats. As for price, my take on Craigs list is sell below the true market value. Sailing Texas has lots of listings, both past and current. Price can be determined by extras like boat cover,paddles,xtra sails,trolling motor,lots of things. Even sailing lessons would be beautiful. Sounds like he wants to haggle over the price, so have fun with him. Remember, there are always boats listed on this site. Charley
 
O.K., Lets see; The gelcoat cracks are common on almost all Capries and not a problem. You. should plan on getting two new tires for peace of mind, and save the old tires for spares. Unless you have pulled hubs before, let a mechanic do the job for you. Also add bearing buddies to the hubs for better protection. The webbing in the bottom are hiking straps to hook your feet under when leaning out. A boat left outside should be covered with a tarp or something to keep it from fading etc. You should try to get the seller to rig the boat for you in the yard and take pictures. You will be able to check all parts to detect anything missing or damaged. The sails should not be dirty or stained up. The battens and batten pockets are the first place to look. Check the bolt ropes and grommets in the ends of the sails. The jib sheets, main sheets should not be fuzzy or coming apart. If you can, try to get the boat in the water to sail it to check for water leaking into the hull. The drain plug in the rear drains the hull. This is the only BIG problem found on these boats. As for price, my take on Craigs list is sell below the true market value. Sailing Texas has lots of listings, both past and current. Price can be determined by extras like boat cover,paddles,xtra sails,trolling motor,lots of things. Even sailing lessons would be beautiful. Sounds like he wants to haggle over the price, so have fun with him. Remember, there are always boats listed on this site. Charley
Thank you for the advice. The owners are going to rig up the boat for me this Friday so that I can see everything together.
 
O.K., Lets see; The gelcoat cracks are common on almost all Capries and not a problem. You. should plan on getting two new tires for peace of mind, and save the old tires for spares. Unless you have pulled hubs before, let a mechanic do the job for you. Also add bearing buddies to the hubs for better protection. The webbing in the bottom are hiking straps to hook your feet under when leaning out. A boat left outside should be covered with a tarp or something to keep it from fading etc. You should try to get the seller to rig the boat for you in the yard and take pictures. You will be able to check all parts to detect anything missing or damaged. The sails should not be dirty or stained up. The battens and batten pockets are the first place to look. Check the bolt ropes and grommets in the ends of the sails. The jib sheets, main sheets should not be fuzzy or coming apart. If you can, try to get the boat in the water to sail it to check for water leaking into the hull. The drain plug in the rear drains the hull. This is the only BIG problem found on these boats. As for price, my take on Craigs list is sell below the true market value. Sailing Texas has lots of listings, both past and current. Price can be determined by extras like boat cover,paddles,xtra sails,trolling motor,lots of things. Even sailing lessons would be beautiful. Sounds like he wants to haggle over the price, so have fun with him. Remember, there are always boats listed on this site. Charley

I took another look at the boat, this time with the owner. The owner clearly did not know much about the boat. He has owned it for three years and I got the impression that he sailed it two or three times max. When he tried to rig the boat, he was referring to a manual. So it was not possible to know if it was set up right, probably not. When I pointed out that the manual seemed to show a boom vang, he found it in a bag and said he never used it.

The main stay (?) and halyards looked good. The mast was straight as was the boom. The sails looked to be in great shape. They were crinkely but no tears, all stitching intact, the material looked like new to my eyes. The jib was furling. The center board and tiller looked good. not possible for me to know if all the lines were there, but I think they are old enough and weathered enough to be replaced. He has not done anything to the boat as far as I can tell. The whisker was missing. The trailer needs bearings and tires and I have talked to my local trailer shop and got an estimate.

I don't think this boat has been sailed much. I also don't have anyone who knows sailboats to look it over with me. I'd be afraid to go out on the water with the owner. To me the boat looks good and it seems like a great first sailboat. Am I crazy to make an offer?
 
I took another look at the boat, this time with the owner. The owner clearly did not know much about the boat. He has owned it for three years and I got the impression that he sailed it two or three times max. When he tried to rig the boat, he was referring to a manual. So it was not possible to know if it was set up right, probably not. When I pointed out that the manual seemed to show a boom vang, he found it in a bag and said he never used it.

The main stay (?) and halyards looked good. The mast was straight as was the boom. The sails looked to be in great shape. They were crinkely but no tears, all stitching intact, the material looked like new to my eyes. The jib was furling. The center board and tiller looked good. not possible for me to know if all the lines were there, but I think they are old enough and weathered enough to be replaced. He has not done anything to the boat as far as I can tell. The whisker was missing. The trailer needs bearings and tires and I have talked to my local trailer shop and got an estimate.

I don't think this boat has been sailed much. I also don't have anyone who knows sailboats to look it over with me. I'd be afraid to go out on the water with the owner. To me the boat looks good and it seems like a great first sailboat. Am I crazy to make an offer?
Sounds pretty good to me, especially the sails. As for the lines- we call them sheets, you can easily replace them from Cat Direct or Catalina parts. They are not critical on a boat this size. There are the jib sheets, main sheet, jib and main sail halyards, boom vang, main sail outhaul,main sail downhaul, and traveler line that the main sheet tackle slides back and forth. My boat had no boom vang, ever. I installed the mounts for the vang and made up a new vang from components. The centreboard has one or two lines to raise or lower the board. You should install a topping lift to hold the boom up when the main sail is down. Either adjustable or fixed, doesnt matter really. A bow line to tie the boat up to a dock. Also, the winch line should be unrolled and checked for bad spots. If the tiller is in good shape i think you have a pretty good chance of getting your moneys worth. Check all paperwork on boat and trailer before your offer and feel free to e-mail me direct with all the questions you can think of. Charley
 
i just picked up a 73' omega 14, in pretty good shape for $800 bucks, and its treating me pretty well so far, been out in it a few times now and loving it. I sailed FJ's in college but never single handed before and the omega is set up pretty well for it(first voyage was single hand and once things were all in order it went smoothly). the boat came with two sets of sails, trailer with bearing buddies, and sheets in pretty good shape. it has a fair number of cracks in the gel-coat but still structurally sound, it did need a new centerboard gasket which I custom made out of shower liner bought at home depot for 5$ instead of the $40 kit available online through Catalina direct. All I did was use a square to cut straight lines and over lapped the layers, glued and used the old strips(each side had a front and back with different hole alignment, which was kind of annoying because I didnt know which way to put them back on so i had to trial and error till they lined up.) The tiller was in pretty bad shape but after about 5 hours of sanding/stain/refinish it looks pretty great again. so im in my first boat about $900 including all supplies used and gas to go pick it up(plus like 20 hours of work so far, but its a labor of love).
 
i just picked up a 73' omega 14, in pretty good shape for $800 bucks, and its treating me pretty well so far, been out in it a few times now and loving it. I sailed FJ's in college but never single handed before and the omega is set up pretty well for it(first voyage was single hand and once things were all in order it went smoothly). the boat came with two sets of sails, trailer with bearing buddies, and sheets in pretty good shape. it has a fair number of cracks in the gel-coat but still structurally sound, it did need a new centerboard gasket which I custom made out of shower liner bought at home depot for 5$ instead of the $40 kit available online through Catalina direct. All I did was use a square to cut straight lines and over lapped the layers, glued and used the old strips(each side had a front and back with different hole alignment, which was kind of annoying because I didnt know which way to put them back on so i had to trial and error till they lined up.) The tiller was in pretty bad shape but after about 5 hours of sanding/stain/refinish it looks pretty great again. so im in my first boat about $900 including all supplies used and gas to go pick it up(plus like 20 hours of work so far, but its a labor of love).
THIS is the kind of report i like to hear. To single hand is great, but requires a few more things to really make it easy. A topping lift to hold the boom up while your sails are down really is great and looks more professional. A tiller tender to hold your tiller while raising, lowering sails etc. A small piece of line to help pull your jib down and hold it down. 1/4 in is all you need. When you really feel comfortable, try a few roll tacks for fun. Very impressive when seen from the dock. The rudder and centreboard on my boat had to be re-finished also. I faired the shape good and used thw coats of epoxy with a third on the edges. Looks good and will last a long time. Also, i started my gelcoat repairs this week . I used my Dremel tool with a small round head to open the cracks yp to accept the gelcoat better. None of the cracks were deeper than the colored gelcoat. I will try to finish next weekend if my tinting paste comes in. Will report in detail, if all goas well. Have fun with your new boat. Charley
 
Sounds pretty good to me, especially the sails. As for the lines- we call them sheets, you can easily replace them from Cat Direct or Catalina parts. They are not critical on a boat this size. There are the jib sheets, main sheet, jib and main sail halyards, boom vang, main sail outhaul,main sail downhaul, and traveler line that the main sheet tackle slides back and forth. My boat had no boom vang, ever. I installed the mounts for the vang and made up a new vang from components. The centreboard has one or two lines to raise or lower the board. You should install a topping lift to hold the boom up when the main sail is down. Either adjustable or fixed, doesnt matter really. A bow line to tie the boat up to a dock. Also, the winch line should be unrolled and checked for bad spots. If the tiller is in good shape i think you have a pretty good chance of getting your moneys worth. Check all paperwork on boat and trailer before your offer and feel free to e-mail me direct with all the questions you can think of. Charley
Hey Charlie,
I could not see how to email you directly. Thank you for all your advice. I appreciate the vocab lesson. I bought the Capri 14.2 here in Boulder CO. I drove it to our local trailer shop to have the bearings serviced, bearing buddies, new tires and a spare mount. Then I'll be bringing it up into the mountains to Grand Lake where we have a cabin.

I have several questions regarding the boat. I like the idea of a topping lift. How long of a line do I need? How do you attach it to the boom?

It is not clear to me how you lower the center board. I won't be able to test this out while it is on the trailer, so the first time will be in the water. There is a bungy and small caliber line attached to it.

There is a bungy across the bottom at the cuddy, do you have any idea what it might be for?

I read that some people attach lines and a rope ladder to assisted with up righting the boat,when capsizing, have you done this?

I also read that some folks fill, the top of the mast with spray foam to aid in flotation and reduce the chance of turtling if capsized.

Hopefully I'll have it in the water this weekend.

Thanks again for all your advice.

Cheers,
Ted
 
Hey Charlie,
I could not see how to email you directly. Thank you for all your advice. I appreciate the vocab lesson. I bought the Capri 14.2 here in Boulder CO. I drove it to our local trailer shop to have the bearings serviced, bearing buddies, new tires and a spare mount. Then I'll be bringing it up into the mountains to Grand Lake where we have a cabin.

I have several questions regarding the boat. I like the idea of a topping lift. How long of a line do I need? How do you attach it to the boom?

It is not clear to me how you lower the center board. I won't be able to test this out while it is on the trailer, so the first time will be in the water. There is a bungy and small caliber line attached to it.

There is a bungy across the bottom at the cuddy, do you have any idea what it might be for?

I read that some people attach lines and a rope ladder to assisted with up righting the boat,when capsizing, have you done this?

I also read that some folks fill, the top of the mast with spray foam to aid in flotation and reduce the chance of turtling if capsized.

Hopefully I'll have it in the water this weekend.

Thanks again for all your advice.

Cheers,
Ted
Hey Ted, congrats on your "new" boat. I bet you aren't sleeping much just now with all the excitement. And, it will only get more so. O.K., the topping lift can be 1/4" line attached to the top left or right side of your mast with a strap and two screws. Or, better yet attach a small block to the strap and run it down to a strap on the same side at the end of the boom. I installed a small brass clip from Home Depot to the end of my line. once sails are raised, i move the clip down to the mainsheet block where i installed a ring and clip it there for more slack, yet it will still prevent dropping completely to the floor. I have a small horn cleat mounted halfway between the boom and the halyard cleat. I have a loup in the line and keep it connected there. This line can also be used like this to raise a flag or pennant, like a club flag. As for the lines used for help righting and climbing back in, my boat has (3) lines. Just aft of ths jib track i have a stainless loup screwed down with screws fore and aft. There is a 6 foot piece of line 5/16" with a small loup tied to one end so that a large loup can be tied, or simply thrown over to pull up on. The third piece is tied through the hle in the hiking strap mount on the stern. This hole is for the bungy chord used to hold the centreboard down. This is on the omega. A small loup is tied in it just right to give you a leg up. I have also tied loups in the bow line on other boats i have had. This will give you some options, and of course a ladder is probably in my future. There are numerous posts about sealing the ends of the mast on the 14.2 boats. I have read several and all say to use as much spray foam as possible to be kept below the top pulley openings. Please read about the baby bob floats from Hoby. Building confidence is very important when trying to master these boats and you can get answers to most questions from reading the handbook from this site. I am not familier with the board rigging on the 14.2 with the lines and shock cords. Try to force it to work for you until you can get it sorted out. Dont want to miss ANY sailing time. I can be E-mailed at [email protected] Let us hear how it goes, and good luck. Charley
 
You'll find the centerboard may stick a little, but it's obvious how it pivots down, so what you think is improbably accurate. When up, the aft end of the board in the cockpit goes down into the water which pivots the forward end (with the ring) toward the Barney post. That ring is used to connect a bungee, the other end of which is meant to connect to a ring on the transom (same as Charley explains for the Omega). I no longer have the factory bungee and I find it's easier to loop the bungee through the Barney post and back onto itself. That way, both bungee connections are in one location, and nearer to where I likely will be positioned when under sail. The lines that connect the forward part of the centerboard through the fairleads under the cuddy and back toward the cockpit are pretty useless. On my boat, if the board is all the way down, those lines don't give me enough purchase to raise the board, and the block and lines can tangle easily or jam if they are in the way when the board is raised. So keep them clear. Docked, I like those lines because I repurpose the bungee to run from one of them under the cuddy, up and around the mast, and down to the other side. This helps secure my homemade (ghetto plywood) cuddy door. I can board her w/o a ladder after capsize and have never turtled. I bought a cheap rope ladder with plastic steps which has j hooks to hang over the transom for others to use when we break for a swim. When capsized, My cuddy is well up out of the water, but I Imagine if I left her on her side too long and the sails filled with water, it's possible, especially if the wind were pushing the bottom of the boat. But I've always righted her within probably 60 seconds or less and most of my lake is <20' deep anyhow so I'm not very worried. Practice a few times in shallow water if you can. The main culprit for capsize is a too long main sheet that can get tangled or caught somewhere. So keep track of that too. But most of all enjoy.
 
You'll find the centerboard may stick a little, but it's obvious how it pivots down, so what you think is improbably accurate. When up, the aft end of the board in the cockpit goes down into the water which pivots the forward end (with the ring) toward the Barney post. That ring is used to connect a bungee, the other end of which is meant to connect to a ring on the transom (same as Charley explains for the Omega). I no longer have the factory bungee and I find it's easier to loop the bungee through the Barney post and back onto itself. That way, both bungee connections are in one location, and nearer to where I likely will be positioned when under sail. The lines that connect the forward part of the centerboard through the fairleads under the cuddy and back toward the cockpit are pretty useless. On my boat, if the board is all the way down, those lines don't give me enough purchase to raise the board, and the block and lines can tangle easily or jam if they are in the way when the board is raised. So keep them clear. Docked, I like those lines because I repurpose the bungee to run from one of them under the cuddy, up and around the mast, and down to the other side. This helps secure my homemade (ghetto plywood) cuddy door. I can board her w/o a ladder after capsize and have never turtled. I bought a cheap rope ladder with plastic steps which has j hooks to hang over the transom for others to use when we break for a swim. When capsized, My cuddy is well up out of the water, but I Imagine if I left her on her side too long and the sails filled with water, it's possible, especially if the wind were pushing the bottom of the boat. But I've always righted her within probably 60 seconds or less and most of my lake is <20' deep anyhow so I'm not very worried. Practice a few times in shallow water if you can. The main culprit for capsize is a too long main sheet that can get tangled or caught somewhere. So keep track of that too. But most of all enjoy.

Thanks for all the advice. The boat will be up in the mountains of Colorado near Grand Lake this weekend. Time to put all this advice to good use and put the boat in the water. I'll let you know how it goes.
 
It is not clear to me how you lower the center board. I won't be able to test this out while it is on the trailer, so the first time will be in the water. There is a bungy and small caliber line attached to it.

There is a bungy across the bottom at the cuddy, do you have any idea what it might be for?

I read that some people attach lines and a rope ladder to assisted with up righting the boat,when capsizing, have you done this?

I'll attach a centerboard lift assembly diagram that Catalina somehow leaves out of the handbook.

I made a ladder of rope and three 12" PVC rungs -- it attaches with a brass snap shackle to the centerboard's bungee eyebolt at the transom. It really works! (don't ask).
CenterboardLiftingAssbly1.jpg
 
i just picked up a 73' omega 14, in pretty good shape for $800 bucks, and its treating me pretty well so far, been out in it a few times now and loving it. I sailed FJ's in college but never single handed before and the omega is set up pretty well for it(first voyage was single hand and once things were all in order it went smoothly). the boat came with two sets of sails, trailer with bearing buddies, and sheets in pretty good shape. it has a fair number of cracks in the gel-coat but still structurally sound, it did need a new centerboard gasket which I custom made out of shower liner bought at home depot for 5$ instead of the $40 kit available online through Catalina direct. All I did was use a square to cut straight lines and over lapped the layers, glued and used the old strips(each side had a front and back with different hole alignment, which was kind of annoying because I didnt know which way to put them back on so i had to trial and error till they lined up.) The tiller was in pretty bad shape but after about 5 hours of sanding/stain/refinish it looks pretty great again. so im in my first boat about $900 including all supplies used and gas to go pick it up(plus like 20 hours of work so far, but its a labor of love).
Hello,

I am also in Colorado and also own an Omega 14 (1981) ... let me know if you have any specific questions about it.
Ken
 

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