I recently bought a 1990s Catalina 22 that had been sitting in someone's yard for five years. It was very dirty when I got it, but it is still in good condition. The previous owner stored it correctly, so the rigging is in okay condition and the sails are usable. The only thing I am concerned about is these stress cracks around the keel winch bolts. What should I do? Should I just sail, or do I need to fix it? If I do need to fix it, how can I do it cheaply? I don't have much money to spend on this boat, and all I really want to do right now is get it sailing. Here is a picture of it for reference.
Catalina 22 keel winch bolt stress crack
- Thread starter oskar67
- Start date
It doesn't look serious yet. I'd work on determining just how wet the wood core really is, and have a long term plan to deal with it eventually, if need be. It's not an expensive fix, but it's a messy one.
For now, I'd go sailing immediately! Enjoy those six weeks of sunshine!
If you find enough rot underneath to warrant doing something eventually, at least it's an easy area to access. I epoxied in a G10 plate to distribute the load and added a couple more bolts (and then never thought about it again). A picture or two down near the bottom of this post.