1976 Catalina 22 Cleaning and Refurbishing to Sail

Jun 15, 2016
212
Catalina 22 Lake Thunderbird
Starting on the the new to me sailboat. Found it on Craig's List the PO had started on fixing it up to sail but lost interest. He posted the price and or a trade for a decent four wheeler. I happened to have a four wheeler I no longer wanted. So we got together and made an even trade. It was exciting for me. I've had a dream to spend a great deal of time in a sailboat over the next few years. But didn't think I was ever going to have the opportunity to do so. I'm pretty handy with tools. My dad taught me how to be an all around handyman. So this will put me to the test. I'll be posting several pics as I progress through getting her ready to sail. So here are some of the condition to start with.
 

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Likes: Lemon Drop
Oct 6, 2011
18
MacGregor 17.5 New Smyrna Beach
Didn't see a rudder/tiller, or any sails in your pics. Did you get any "extras" in the swap: anchor, chain, extra lines, bumper, etc??? Looks like a good project with lots of potential. Best of luck.
Curt
 
Oct 6, 2011
18
MacGregor 17.5 New Smyrna Beach
BTW - I believe that model sometimes comes with a slide-out galley (sink, burner, storage). Really kind of completes the setup inside and neatly tucks right back up under the rear "birth" area when not in use. These can be bought separately I believe? On the other hand, sometimes these slide-out units get offered out, as some owners find the space is better used otherwise. Just sayin...
 
May 13, 2016
110
Catalina 22 MK II 15377 Granbury Texas
Those are some "groovy" 70's style seat cushions...I actually like them.....
Maybe some Greg Brady beads for curtains?
Enjoy!
 
Jun 15, 2016
212
Catalina 22 Lake Thunderbird
Yes, it came with the mainsail and jib. Both are in good ready to use condition. The cushions are I believe the original cushions. Accept for a little wear they are in good condition as well. They definitely have that 70's look to them. All the rigging is there and appears to be in great shape. I'll probably get all new halyards and lanyards. It also has the sliding galley. But the range wasn't included. An anchor was included with a short chain. There isn't a forestay to hold it though. I know this will nickel and dime me but I have a budget for that. Hopefully I'll be able to stick to it. There is no motor as well. The nice thing about trading is the money I would have spent on the boat I can spend on these things like the motor, bilge pump, fire extinguisher, sealant, gps, compass, autopilot, basically everything else that is needed to make it ship shape. Haven't investigated whether the wing keel is in need of a rebuild or not. Since it's trailered I'm going to have to do some figuring to check it out. Thankfully there are plenty of resources here to save time and energy in determining how to proceed. My focus right now is to get it clean as possible. I'm not an organized person so I'm going to be doing a lot of reading here and elsewhere to learn from others experience. Here's some pics of things I've done so far.
 

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Nov 10, 2015
195
Hunter 336 Columbia, SC
Hi Daydreamer, she is a thing of beauty! I have a 1976 too, she is hull#5254. Mine is a racer with a barney post and an awesome little boat. Your pictures are great and I look forward to seeing your progress! Good luck with your find! Look at Clouddiver's restoration post, there's lots of good info there. He has done an amazing job with his boat.
 
Aug 27, 2015
23
Oday Mariner Cape Cod
Nice find and it cleaned up really well. Is there a rudder/tiller??? that can cost some $$$ if you have to get/make one.

The keel can be a lot of work. I re-finished the keel on my 1982 C22. It takes some time, but certainly can help the sailing characteristics, if the keel is currently in bad shape.
 
Jun 15, 2016
212
Catalina 22 Lake Thunderbird
Hi Daydreamer, she is a thing of beauty! I have a 1976 too, she is hull#5254. Mine is a racer with a barney post and an awesome little boat. Your pictures are great and I look forward to seeing your progress! Good luck with your find! Look at Clouddiver's restoration post, there's lots of good info there. He has done an amazing job with his boat.
Mine is #6616. I'm a bit of a newbie, have some experience sailing. I've read through Clouddiver's post and several others. Really enjoy reading the Stingy Sailor too. I was extremely excited to get the boat. Was wanting to just clean it up and get it out on the water. Then after reading Clouddiver's post, I'm probably going to end up with mission creep. Just one more thing. Actually, I want to get it out before the summer is up. After that we'll see. There are a few things I've got to get operational before I can do that. Thanks for your interest. I've wanted to do this for years and now I can. Hopefully I can be somewhat articulate as these other owners. I'm kinda organizationally impaired.
 
Jul 13, 2015
893
Catalina 22 #2552 2252 Kennewick, WA
I just had to ask-- how in the world did the cockpit get that near vertical water line stain on the transom? was that boat stored nose in the air for a winter? Crazy.... great looking boat.
 
Sep 8, 2014
2,551
Catalina 22 Swing Keel San Diego
Which post of mine did you read? I don't want to discourage you from getting some sailing in this summer... Fix what needs to be fixed for safety, the rest can wait until end of the season before you start any major overhauls.
 
Jun 15, 2016
212
Catalina 22 Lake Thunderbird
Nice find and it cleaned up really well. Is there a rudder/tiller??? that can cost some $$$ if you have to get/make one.

The keel can be a lot of work. I re-finished the keel on my 1982 C22. It takes some time, but certainly can help the sailing characteristics, if the keel is currently in bad shape.
The sailboat is complete few minor things missing. See my earlier post. Yes, the tiller is there in great shape. The only thing that wasn't included is a motor. There's a mooring cleat missing on the aft starboard side of the boat. As far as I can tell the rigging and mounting hardware are all solid good shape. After reading the posts about the wing keel on many of the restorations, that's probably something I'll have to address. Gotta take it out and test it to see. Hard to tell just resting on the trailer. Ah yes, the trailer kinda rough but solid. It handled well on the two hour drive home. Needs taillight kit and a winch. Plus some adjusting to the bunks. Otherwise in acceptable condition. Will do some refurbishing on it eventually once the boat is in a slip.
 
Jun 15, 2016
212
Catalina 22 Lake Thunderbird
Which post of mine did you read? I don't want to discourage you from getting some sailing in this summer... Fix what needs to be fixed for safety, the rest can wait until end of the season before you start any major overhauls.
That's the plan. I started reading your post on your '81 wing keel resto. I am somewhat OCD or OCD wantabe so I can get myself bogged down in the details. The work you've done on yours is truly amazing and really I want to do all those things to mine. I have plenty of time so that can sometimes work against me thinking well I can go ahead fix this item or that before I take it out. Then all of the sudden the season has past and I might as well tear that other item down. Understand? I'm going to attempt to avoid that though. Exercise some self discipline.
 
Jun 15, 2016
212
Catalina 22 Lake Thunderbird
I just had to ask-- how in the world did the cockpit get that near vertical water line stain on the transom? was that boat stored nose in the air for a winter? Crazy.... great looking boat.
Funny story there well sort of. The PO had purchased the boat over a year ago. He took it to his lake property and began working on the boat. Painted the hull below the water line. But never took it out on the lake. So for the next year it sat trailered in a woodland location near Lake Texhoma. Fortunately he had removed the cushions and sails from the boat and stored them in his cottage. He covered the boat with a tarp but it wasn't secured very well. Long story short the tarp came off sometime during the winter and with the wet weather the boat filled up with water. The debris from the trees surrounding the area clogged the cockpit drains. And the weight of all the water in the cockpit tilted the boat lifting the bow and the front of the trailer up in the air. When he went to check on the boat in the early spring he decided he had lost interest in sailing. The nice thing about this deal is that I was ready for just this kind of challenge, ready to get rid of my old atv and he was happy to be getting out and trade for one.
 
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Jun 15, 2016
212
Catalina 22 Lake Thunderbird
Those are some "groovy" 70's style seat cushions...I actually like them.....
Maybe some Greg Brady beads for curtains?
Enjoy!
Me too! They have a kind of Peter Max quality to them. They were a little musty but I removed the covers and washed them in the washing machine. They cleaned up nicely. Cha-ching! Sprayed the foam with some Odaban and no more musty smell.
 
Jun 15, 2016
212
Catalina 22 Lake Thunderbird
BTW - I believe that model sometimes comes with a slide-out galley (sink, burner, storage). Really kind of completes the setup inside and neatly tucks right back up under the rear "birth" area when not in use. These can be bought separately I believe? On the other hand, sometimes these slide-out units get offered out, as some owners find the space is better used otherwise. Just sayin...
Mine did include the sliding galley sink, water tank, and freezer. Didn't have the stove though I'll keep my eyes peeled. Maybe I'll snipe one on ebay.
 
Sep 8, 2014
2,551
Catalina 22 Swing Keel San Diego
That's the plan. I started reading your post on your '81 wing keel resto. I am somewhat OCD or OCD wantabe so I can get myself bogged down in the details. The work you've done on yours is truly amazing and really I want to do all those things to mine. I have plenty of time so that can sometimes work against me thinking well I can go ahead fix this item or that before I take it out. Then all of the sudden the season has past and I might as well tear that other item down. Understand? I'm going to attempt to avoid that though. Exercise some self discipline.
I think you'll learn so much from this forum that you'll end up with much less work than I had. Many of the jobs that I did are simple enough that it won't cause you to loose a season of sailing by having to keep the boat in dry dock all summer, lol.
- The bottom job - I don't think you'll have a blister problem, the boat has been out of the water enough that it most likely never formed osmotic blistering. All you really need is to sand off the old bottom paint, you don't need to sand off the gelcoat like I did, and then roll on a barrier coat like Interlux Interprotect 2000 or a similar epoxy paint. Then just new bottom paint of your choice. (BTW, it takes a full two gallons of Interprotect to get a good coating on the Hull/keel/and rudder all together... don't cheap out, a full thickness barrier coat protects your hull from osmosis!)
- The keel job - Many people will need to do this, but hopefully your keel is not as in bad of condition as mine was. The job can be pretty short, just one weekend, so long as the damage isn't too bad, you have a helper, and all the tools/equipment/supplies are at hand.
- Topside paint - I would recommend to any C22 owner NOT to paint. Seriously, you would be amazed at how easy it is to refurbish the old gelcoat to a like new shine. Chips, scrapes, and gouges are easily fixed with Spectrum Gel-Paste and its cheap/easy to work with.

Those are the BIG jobs... just about everything else I have done is hardware related or replacing old/worn out parts... Those things are afternoon/weekend projects that can be done on the trailer.
 
Jun 15, 2016
212
Catalina 22 Lake Thunderbird
Thanks Clouddiver, sound advice. I'm in the process of finishing the interior cleaning. Then I'll put it back together. I then plan to set up the rigging to check to make sure I have everything I need for sailing. I'll then fix the trailer. It needs tail lights, a winch, and a spare tire. In Oklahoma we don't register the trailer or need license plates. I have a winch but it is electric it's rated for 3000 lbs but will need a battery or cables run to the vehicle. May just get a manual crank. Then I love all the check lists in this forum and on Stingy's website. I'll run through those and make sure I have all the proper safety gear then off to the lake for a test sail. Oh yeah, the bottom was done last year and the PO never put it in the water. From what I can tell it looks good and won't need painting this season.
 
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