I just bought a 1992 14.2 and am currently in the process of preparing for fun times sailing it on Charlotte Harbor (Punta Gorda FL). I'm really glad to see a forum such as this exists for discussions pertaining to this particular boat! I've printed C14 handbook available on this forum and am reading the whole thing in the interest of getting off to the right start. Any advice anyone may have in addition to content of this guide they consider as noteworthy for safe fun successful C14 operation would be greatly appreciated
I just found your posts and replies. I have a new Catalina Expo 14.2 (same as a Capri hull). I will be spending a month in Punta Gorda in Feb. 2013 and I'm interested in your experiences sailing there for more than a year. I'll be launch from Ponce De Leon park. Looking at charts, the harbor looks fairly shallow. I've already had the joy of getting my mast stuck in the muck on a shallow lake in Wisconsin. What is the bottom of the harbor like? The mast on the Expo is carbon fiber and floats by itself so I'm not sure how I managed to get the boat over far enough to get the mast stuck, but I did so I'm concerned about the same thing happening in Charlotte Harbor. The Expo has a single sail and furls around the mast. Many of the suggestions about flotation simply do not work because of the solid mast and no real masthead to attach anything. I will be practicing capsizing and recovery when I get there, but any tips you have as a local sailor would be helpful.