South African "Catalina" 22

greg_m

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May 23, 2017
692
Catalina Jaguar 22 Simons Town
Of course I first had to set the boat up so that it was level along the waterline front to rear as well as from port to strbrd. I did this by first building a mock up of the trailer bunks supporting the hull. Copied plans from another thread on a similar topic. My trailer is not original to this boat and will need to be modified to suit.

The carpeting was "donated" by my wife... actually it was a late Sunday evening and shop is closed but I needed to pad the bunks with something. So while the wife was away visiting our daughter, I stole the passage runner out the house, cut two lengths off either side and replaced the modified runner back in the passage... They worked out to be just long enough for the bunks and have been secured in place with contact adhesive. That saying about "forgiveness or permission...";)

Once the bunks were done and the boat set up I could then use the water level gauge to work out the modifications that will be required and the depth to which the rear end of the cockpit sole needs to be lowered down to.
 

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greg_m

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May 23, 2017
692
Catalina Jaguar 22 Simons Town
Cockpit sole mod: So after doing all the checks... drinking a few "do I really wanna do this beers", I set to the task with my oscillating cutting tool. Really make a sharp cut, easy to use and best of all in the confined space... very low dust produced while cutting. As usual it is way quicker to cut away stuff than rebuild stuff!

And as luck would have it rain is now predicted!
 

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greg_m

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May 23, 2017
692
Catalina Jaguar 22 Simons Town
Cockpit sole mod: I cut away little by little measuring and checking until I was happy. The floor of the cockpit is now ever so slightly sloping aft. So water will drain out the stern rather than down through the bottom of the hull. An added bonus which did not cross my mind is the extra depth of the cockpit at the rear end will accommodate my long legs much more comfortably. Yes there is now much more compact storage space under the cockpit floor but the leg comfort to me outweighs the space loss. Here I have jammed a piece of lumber in the cut to force the floor to the desired position for measurements.

Now the rebuilding plan needs to take shape! Man I don't look forward to sanding the required areas for laying up new laminate inside the small spaces either side of the cockpit walls and transom areas!
 

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Slartibartfass

Capri 22 Mod
Dec 13, 2015
499
Catalina Capri 22 1139 Mamaroneck, NY
That looks pretty steep pitch. Really necessary? The boat will naturally be somewhat lower on the stern than on the bow, especially with an outboard attached.....?
 

greg_m

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May 23, 2017
692
Catalina Jaguar 22 Simons Town
That looks pretty steep pitch. Really necessary? The boat will naturally be somewhat lower on the stern than on the bow, especially with an outboard attached.....?
Its the "fisheye" wide angle that make it look so... the original is very pronounced slope forward. Boat is sitting on trailer a little bow up in the air and between the water level gauge poking through the drain hole port forward of the cockpit and the other end attached on the transom there is only 5cm difference over the whole length of the cockpit.
 

greg_m

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May 23, 2017
692
Catalina Jaguar 22 Simons Town
Fore hatch cover update: So it was raining yesterday and could not work on boat. So decided to work in garage on the fore hatch. The original hatch support member was breaking off the hatch so I decided to cut it off completely and try another plan. I had the left over piece of 6mm plywood from the cut out made when re-laminating the deck structure. This fitted the hatch perfectly. The black sharpie lines are the inner edge of the actual hatch hole.

I epoxy coated the hatch surface and the plywood before making a slurry of epoxy resin/silica filler/chopped fibers. Smoothed this all out and the clamped the whole lot together with supports to maintain the correct curve athwart ships! Sat watching the epoxy setting for a while then decided to go inside and get a beer and call it a night... it was around 12 degrees Celsius and epoxy takes forever at that low temp! ;):beer:
 

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Apr 11, 2017
571
Catalina C22 Solomon's Island, MD
"So after doing all the checks... drinking a few "do I really wanna do this beers", I set to the task..."

I thought I was the only one... of course, there is a need to get one's thoughts in order.
Looks good--
 
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greg_m

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May 23, 2017
692
Catalina Jaguar 22 Simons Town
"So after doing all the checks... drinking a few "do I really wanna do this beers", I set to the task..."

I thought I was the only one... of course, there is a need to get one's thoughts in order.
Looks good--
the beers did not work... depending on your POV ;)
 

greg_m

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May 23, 2017
692
Catalina Jaguar 22 Simons Town
congrats, but don't shoot for 20,000! we wanna see that boat in the water!
hey, no ways... CloudDiver is the record holder without intent of challenge from me... that is for sure! :dancing:
 

greg_m

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May 23, 2017
692
Catalina Jaguar 22 Simons Town
Cockpit mod update: I put my social and family life on hold this weekend to get the cockpit floor sealed up again because of the weather forecast and predicted rain.

So I finally tackled the dreaded grinding/sanding part of the job. What a hell of an itchy dust storm I produced. Ground all edges down to fiberglass, inside and out, around the cut that I made in the cockpit side walls. Out with my home made dust buster to clean up after. There was a staggering amount of dust inside and out from all the grinding. I simply threw away the clothes was wearing! Then it was a complete hose down to wash away dust as well.

The idea was to thin out and chamfer the edges where i will bond plywood onto to close the opening and build up a good laminate with a large contact surface area. Don't want the cockpit walls cracking at the joints and opening up at sea due to stress forces now do I...
 

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greg_m

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May 23, 2017
692
Catalina Jaguar 22 Simons Town
Cockpit floor mod: I purchased a large size triangle shape piece of wood to close up the gap between the transom inside wall and the cockpit side walls and floor. This will also provide the necessary support under the edge of the cockpit floor. The pieces of wood were duly sized, cut and shaped to fit, then epoxy glued into place.
 

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greg_m

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May 23, 2017
692
Catalina Jaguar 22 Simons Town
Cockpit mods update: I cut two wedge shaped lengths of waterproof marine ply large enough to allow for a decent bonding overlap to the cockpit sidewalls. I decided to go with epoxy based adhesive between the joining faces. Just feel more comfortable with epoxy over polyester. Mixed up a batch of epoxy/silica filler powder/6mm glass fibers. This makes for a very easy to handle paste with super strong properties.

Also had to make up all the clamping pieces to hold the wood pieces in place while the epoxy hardens. Was a bit tricky doing this being on my own but luckily I have long arms and a small boat!;)

Once the side walls were done I set about closing the gaps and filling in the fillets around the transom inner wall. Then it was time to make holes through the back of the boat... not something I was looking forward to!
 

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greg_m

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May 23, 2017
692
Catalina Jaguar 22 Simons Town
So now I'm looking for ideas. The holes through the transom for the cockpit drains: shape and size? At the moment I have just drilled a 22mm hole either side more or less in the middle of whatever opening finally "appears"...

So what would look good: round holes, square holes, triangle holes...
 
May 23, 2016
1,024
Catalina 22 #12502 BSC
do what Gene did...he'll chime in with a pic...best/cleanest I've seen...better than the brass tubes or Marelon fittings method IMO...
 

greg_m

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May 23, 2017
692
Catalina Jaguar 22 Simons Town
Greg, he's still asleep, only 0435 over here....
found it here in this thread, messy but best IMO, and you're used to messy!
https://forums.sailboatowners.com/index.php?threads/moeller-flanging-tool.182890/#post-1345569
Thanks, I spent many hours on watch in the engine rooms of cargo ships "retarding clocks" on our way to the eastern seaboard which made our watch period longer! Some work while others sleep;)... of course going home again was "advancing clocks" which made our watches shorter! It's always nicer to just go home!