Hello all,
At the suggestion of other forum members, this is a thread that will document the projects I go through in the process of getting the 1987 Catalina 22 New style sailboat "Stormwatch", ready for use.
I should probably give you a bit of background so you can gauge my experience with sailing, DIY repairing, and why we bought a C22;
I have sailed since I was a child, and have regularly sailed dinghies and keelboats up to 44ft long. My wife learned to sail not long after we met.
While we have sailed for ages, we have never owned a keelboat.
We always chartered them, because it didn't make sense, in our opinion, to buy a boat, and pay for berthing, haul-out, maintenance, etc. when we'd only use it for 20 days out of 365.
The other problem is that unless you are retired, your sailing area is limited.
As they say, "nothing goes to windward like a 747", or even a road vehicle.
What we did own was a 16ft dinghy.
Our dinghy was a sailboat that you sit "on", not "in".
It required that we use wetsuits, or even drysuits, to stay warm. If we didn't, the sailing season was pretty short.
It's fun and exhilarating
That said, our biggest complaint with that specific boat was, that it didn't have enough room for two people to sail the boat, without getting in each others way, or even getting bruises.
We originally were looking at switching to a Hobie Cat, or a CL16. Both boats are fun to sail, and have plenty of room. In fact we thought about setting one up with a boom tent so we could camp on it. (when we weren't trying to get every tiny bit of speed out of it, and capsizing regularly as a result )
As we thought more about it, we decided that a truly trailerable keelboat would make a better choice. Unlike a larger keelboat, we could tow it to a bunch of different places, with the bonus of saving on marina fees. We could sleep on it. We could sail in the fall and spring. We could race it. We could have wine and cheese in the cockpit. 
After looking at a bunch of different AVAILABLE boats over the winter, we narrowed it down to the Oday and Catalina 22. While both have similar accommodations, and function, in the end we chose the Catalina 22 because:
-we felt that having a swing keel lower down in the water would be a better choice.
-the C22 has a huge fleet out there and that means info and parts availability
---------
So we bought "Stormwatch".. a 1987 "new style" swing keel Catalina 22.
Here's the thread where I choose Stormwatch, and the hassle of bringing her home:
forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?p=1211732
---------
Like almost any boat, Stormwatch was listed as being "ready to sail".
Also, like almost any boat, that was far from the truth.
I felt I didn't have enough experience to fully inspect a keelboat myself, and the boat was 1500 miles away. Therefore I had the boat surveyed by a professional marine surveyor before I purchased it.
The survey noted that some of the systems were unable to be tested.
The boat was on it's trailer with the mast down, which helped in some ways, but prevented lowering the keel. There wasn’t a battery on board, and the DC power hadn’t been used in the last 5 years of the previous owner’s daysailing. This meant that the surveyor was unable to determine all of the info I would have liked.
Here's a summary of the non-cosmetic faults listed in the survey:
———————————————————————————————————————————————
What do we have here ?:
Once I got the boat home, I took all of the gear out of the boat, and slowly went over the whole thing.
I pulled off panels, and dug into every little hidden spot. This way I could inspect the whole boat and also familiarize myself with all of it’s areas.
In the process, I determined what was required to fix the problems that were listed in the survey. In addition I also found a couple problems that weren’t listed.
———————————————————————————————————————————————
Stay tuned !
At the suggestion of other forum members, this is a thread that will document the projects I go through in the process of getting the 1987 Catalina 22 New style sailboat "Stormwatch", ready for use.
I should probably give you a bit of background so you can gauge my experience with sailing, DIY repairing, and why we bought a C22;
I have sailed since I was a child, and have regularly sailed dinghies and keelboats up to 44ft long. My wife learned to sail not long after we met.
While we have sailed for ages, we have never owned a keelboat.
We always chartered them, because it didn't make sense, in our opinion, to buy a boat, and pay for berthing, haul-out, maintenance, etc. when we'd only use it for 20 days out of 365.
The other problem is that unless you are retired, your sailing area is limited.
As they say, "nothing goes to windward like a 747", or even a road vehicle.
What we did own was a 16ft dinghy.
Our dinghy was a sailboat that you sit "on", not "in".
It required that we use wetsuits, or even drysuits, to stay warm. If we didn't, the sailing season was pretty short.
It's fun and exhilarating
That said, our biggest complaint with that specific boat was, that it didn't have enough room for two people to sail the boat, without getting in each others way, or even getting bruises.
We originally were looking at switching to a Hobie Cat, or a CL16. Both boats are fun to sail, and have plenty of room. In fact we thought about setting one up with a boom tent so we could camp on it. (when we weren't trying to get every tiny bit of speed out of it, and capsizing regularly as a result )
As we thought more about it, we decided that a truly trailerable keelboat would make a better choice. Unlike a larger keelboat, we could tow it to a bunch of different places, with the bonus of saving on marina fees. We could sleep on it. We could sail in the fall and spring. We could race it. We could have wine and cheese in the cockpit. 
After looking at a bunch of different AVAILABLE boats over the winter, we narrowed it down to the Oday and Catalina 22. While both have similar accommodations, and function, in the end we chose the Catalina 22 because:
-we felt that having a swing keel lower down in the water would be a better choice.
-the C22 has a huge fleet out there and that means info and parts availability
---------
So we bought "Stormwatch".. a 1987 "new style" swing keel Catalina 22.
Here's the thread where I choose Stormwatch, and the hassle of bringing her home:
forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?p=1211732
---------
Like almost any boat, Stormwatch was listed as being "ready to sail".
Also, like almost any boat, that was far from the truth.
I felt I didn't have enough experience to fully inspect a keelboat myself, and the boat was 1500 miles away. Therefore I had the boat surveyed by a professional marine surveyor before I purchased it.
The survey noted that some of the systems were unable to be tested.
The boat was on it's trailer with the mast down, which helped in some ways, but prevented lowering the keel. There wasn’t a battery on board, and the DC power hadn’t been used in the last 5 years of the previous owner’s daysailing. This meant that the surveyor was unable to determine all of the info I would have liked.
Here's a summary of the non-cosmetic faults listed in the survey:
- No brakes on trailer - Completed
- Rudder has 2ft crack in leading edge and partial delamination - Completed
- table leg detached from table - Completed (New Table Made)
- Teak hatchboards need cleaning and refinishing
- Port cockpit drain needs resealing
- Transducer not well sealed: recommend resealing.
- Slightly Elevated moisture readings around the skylight: recommend re-bedding skylight and stbd stanchions
- Mainsail: Appears original. Leech is worn with multiple tears. recommend replacement - Completed
- All Lights: not tested due to no batteries on board. - Completed
- Battery Selector switch: not equipped
- Wiring not well secured - Completed
- Bent port upper shroud swage fitting
- Anti-fouling in need of renewal: remove flaking paint, prep and repaint
- Winches: Service winches
- Freshwater tanks: replace clear plastic supply line - Completed
———————————————————————————————————————————————
What do we have here ?:
Once I got the boat home, I took all of the gear out of the boat, and slowly went over the whole thing.
I pulled off panels, and dug into every little hidden spot. This way I could inspect the whole boat and also familiarize myself with all of it’s areas.
In the process, I determined what was required to fix the problems that were listed in the survey. In addition I also found a couple problems that weren’t listed.
———————————————————————————————————————————————
Stay tuned !
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