The venerable Catalina 22, designed by Frank Butler at Catalina Yachts, is the most commercially successful sailboat of all time and is one of the 5 inaugural members of the American Sailboat Hall of Fame. The Catalina 22 MarkII was introduced in 1995 as a major redesign of the Catalina 22, the defacto standard of the mid-size trailer sailor class manufactured by Catalina Yachts since 1969. Built thru 2010, the MkII design makes for a larger, more comfortable cockpit and cabin which also features a lifting pop-top and sliding companionway hatch. Eight inches added to the beam takes it to 8'4" just 2" below the maximum legal limit for towing, and with the one man mast raising system and swing or wing keel configuration, this makes it the quintessential trailerable cruising sailboat.

During our first couple summers, we sailed Fernridge Lake in Oregon, the Columbia River out of Portland, OR, and one of our favorite spots, Lake Coeur d'Alene in Idaho, pictured at the right. When not in use we have always kept her stored under cover and out of the elements. During the winter of 2012, we towed her down to our second home in Central Texas and enjoyed many days of sailing on beautiful Canyon Lake, a great sailing lake. In the spring and summer 2012 we set out in our first generation Windseeker motorhome with our two sailing westies, Gracie and Corey, and traveled to the beautiful Fern Ridge Reservoir in Oregon, Lake Coeur d'Alene in Idaho, Lake Okanagan in B.C., and Flathead Lake in Montana.

After spending some 6 months sailing lakes around the Pacific Northwest in 2012-13, we decided to take it to a new level in 2014 and acquired a magnificent new Windseeker Motorhome. Traveling in the new Windseeker, a splendid Tiffin Allegro Bus 43QRP pictured at the right with Mt Shasta as a backdrop. We traveled around the USA in the Windseeker, towing the boat behind the coach or behind our behind our Chevy Suburban SUV which travels with us. Our three year sail plan spanned the west coast and up into Idaho and Montana in 2013 and 2014, cross country to Florida and up the east coast as far as Canada and back to Florida in 2015 & 2016, and up through the midwest as far as St Louis and back down to the west coast in 2017.

The Anne Marie came with a long list of options. Those options include a Wing Keel, CDI Roller Furling 150% Genoa Jib, RayMarine ST-60 Tridata Speed/Depth Gauge, Stainless Steel Lifelines, Lewmar self tailing chrome Winches, Yamaha T8DPLH 8 HP high thrust 4-stroke outboard motor (pictured at right) with electric start and power tilt, a galvanized Trail-Rite trailer and a lot more. On the options page, we have included some additional photos showing some of these options that our boat came equipped with. With all these options, we priced the boat new from Catalina Yachts, but just by luck, we found a great deal on Craigslist for on a Catalina MkII that was almost brand new.

After some consideration, and a blowout on my single axle trailer, I opted to purchase a new tandem axle Trail-Rite trailer right from Trail-Rite in Santa Ana, California to replace the single axle trailer it came with. Then I sold the single axle trailer on Craigslist. For long distance hauling, there is no substitute for a tandem axle trailer. One major issue with the boat for us was the stern mounted main sheet traveler. Just one rigorous sailing session with that and I decided that had to go. So I relocated the traveler to just in front of the companionway entry, a significant improvement. Another important tweak was tuning the shrouds. This is a tricky procedure, best accomplished with a Loos Gauge. I have carefully documented the process of Loos Gauge use here.

Another major tweak to the Anne Marie was the addition of a Garmin GPSMAP 740s chartplotter and depthfinder to the cockpit bulkhead, replacing the more basic RayMarine ST-60 Depth Gauge. The Garmin GPSMAP 740 is a wonderful instrument, and is simply indispensable when sailing unfamiliar waters. The 7 inch screen provides a clear, scalable realtime readout of the depth and the charts show you what lies ahead. It also provides a constant readout on speed and distance traveled. Other custom touches added include stainless steel grab rails along the companionway hatch, custom padded lifeline covers the length of the cockpit, and a new redesigned HDPE rudder from Catalina Direct... this amazing upgrade is like adding power steering to the boat.

The cabin of the Catalina 22 MkII is comfortable and spacious while still leaving a generous 6' 6" long cockpit area with lots of storage aft underneath the benches. With the extra wide 8' 4" beam of the Catalina 22 MkII, the area below decks is roomy enough for a full v-berth area forward along with a porta potty, as well as a central cabin area with dual facing convertible settees, small dining table and a slideout galley with cookstove and sink. Add full floor carpeting, cushions, privacy curtains, and padded overhead, and it makes a fairly sumptous interior for a 22' boat. Mouseover the photo at the right for an enlarged photo of the cabin or click here for a dual photo.

The Catalina 22 enjoys the longest production run of any modern sailboat, now in its 44th year! Click on the image at the right to see the color brochure from Catalina Yachts for the Catalina 22 MkII. The brochure contains multiple pages of information and background on the beautiful Catalina 22 MkII including full specs, options list and diagrams. You can read more about the long history of the wildly popular Catalina 22 in this 61 page brochure in PDF format, the "40 Year History of the Builder, the Class and the People who Love this Boat" prepared by Rich Fox of the Catalina 22 National Sailing Association. Here's a nice indepth review of the venerable Catalina 22 which features, among other things, a photo of our very own C-22 in tow behind a former motorhome of ours a few years ago.

My wife and I are both avid sailors. As a windsurfer for 25 years and a sailor for most of my life, I have long held the sentiment that the wind is the "breath of God", and for me, there is no more spiritually satisfying place to be than at one with the wind. In support of this, it is well documented that the ancient languages, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, all used the same word for wind, for breath, and for soul. My wife shares this sentiment and as we begin what is sure to be a lifelong love affair with this fine vessel, we find it an exceptionally fitting choice to cruise the open waters as we tow it behind our Motor Coach around this great country in our golden years.

At the right is our first photo of the Anne Marie under sail... her maiden voyage on the Columbia River out of Richland, Washington on Feb 17, 2010, the day we picked up our new girl. Ain't she a purty thing! It was a gorgeous late winter day with a light breeze, perfect for testing out the new boat. It was only the second time the sails were ever hoisted on this boat! That's me at the tiller, of course, waving to the photographer on shore. Click to see an enlarged photo. We've logged more than two thousand blissful sailing miles since that day. Here's a nice action video of regatta sailing in Texas at Canyon Lake near San Antonio, where we still own property. In 2017 we kept the boat in a slip at Steamboat Landing Marina in Vancouver, WA where we now live. In the summer of 2019, we put Anne Marie in beautiful Fern Ridge Reservoir in Oregon, and we liked it so well, we're back here in 2020.

At the right is a photo of the Anne Marie under sail on beautiful Lake Simcoe in Ontario, Canada during the spectacular summer of 2016, one of the best summers of our lives. Gorgeous Lake Simcoe is located just a couple hours north of Toronto. We sailed out of Cook's Bay on the southern end... that is the iconic watchtower on Snake Island in the background. This same year we sailed from the southern to the northern ends of the U.S. east coast from winter sailing on Lake Monroe, Florida to summer on the St Lawrence Seaway in the Thousand Islands region of upstate New York, and Lake Huron's magnificent Georgian Bay in Canada. Sailing bliss! It doesn't get much better than this! But all good things must come to an end, and in late fall of 2016 we headed back to the west coast.

In 2019 we began a new phase of our RV and sailing lifestyle. We spend the summer in Eugene, Oregon At Fern Ridge Lake. We have a slip at Richardson Marina and sail beautiful Fern Ridge Lake all summer. And just 2.5 hours from home, Fern Ridge is hard to beat. At the right is a photo of the Anne Marie parked beside our new 2018 Vanleigh Vilano 375FL 5th Wheel at the only RV Park in Eugene, Oregon... Fern Ridge Shores RV Resort. See the large format Vanleigh Vilano photo gallery. The plan is to spend most of the sailing season - late spring to early fall - at the lake living in our new Vilano and still be able to make occasional trips home to Vancouver. The rest of the year, we enjoy traveling in our beautiful Thor Miramar motorhome. So please... stay tuned!