Commissioning tasks and ongoing improvements of a 83 Cat 22 from trailer to saltwatercamper

[Jacktar]

I was impressed with the Stormwatch saga recently posted. I did the same sort of thing in this post which I keep running so you can go back to day one regarding things I did on a 83 old style to bring it up to speed. Old designs do have some odd quirks not seen in new designs and later versions. Enjoy, will update as needed with new projects.

 

[Jacktar]

A pix of progress on 3 mile bridge in Pensacola while out on my 74th birthday sail.

 

[kappykaplan]

A pix of progress on 3 mile bridge in Pensacola while out on my 74th birthday sail.

Happy Birthday!!!

 

[Will Gilmore]

The perfect BD gift.

-Will

 

[Jacktar]

Oh yeah nothing like a good sail with the wind in whats left of your hair!

 

[Jacktar]

Of course wearing yachting had alleviates the wind in the hair thing.

 

[Jacktar]

oops atuofill got me again yachting hat please

 

[Jacktar]

BTW my other birthday gift was ordering a ruddercraft rudder in May, still waiting on delivery, originally predicted as 12 week wait, no so much, lots of promises but no rudder yet.

 

[Grotto]

BTW my other birthday gift was ordering a ruddercraft rudder in May, still waiting on delivery, originally predicted as 12 week wait, no so much, lots of promises but no rudder yet.

I had the exact same experience but I did finally get my rudder

 

[Jacktar]

Hope springs eternal.

 

[Jacktar]

Success! Found the box with new rudder on porch (usual fedex/ups thing drop and run no notice) on October 8. Got back from out of town trip and installed the new one on Oct 15, it was all assembled by factory except for tiller hardware to rudder post part. Easy peasy to install, more work to take old one off and transfer davis tiller tamer to new one. Pix below of new in place and bonus of being able to lift the tiller and stow upright which old system did not allow.

 

[Grotto]

Just wait till you sail with it!

 

[Jacktar]

Still waiting to try out new rudder for real, but today wind chill is 22 with gusting 20 knots wind from the great white north so will have to wait for rudder trial a little longer, could be worse up north waiting for spring and snow thaw ha ah.

 

[Jacktar]

So finally got out on Jan 2nd, light winds and maybe chance of fog. Soooo about 1 hour in the fog rolled in whilst in the middle of pensacola bay, unable to see more than couple of hundred feet and blowing horn when i heard motor boats roaring thru the pea soup. Decided to head home under sail , nav lites on and using my hand held GPS. Since i am posting it worked! Pix for proof below. BTW new ruddercraft rudder works like a charm.

 

[Jacktar]

Update on our 3 mile bridge replacement. Both north and south spans complete, Will post some pic of completed spans on next sail.

 

[Jacktar]

BTW I have kept the same thread going since 2016 to show all the things done to upgrade or repair old design Cat 22 circa 1983, instead of separate posts for each new idea. My spin off of cheap fixes for Cat 22 just has one shot pix or two of simple fixes. If you browse this thread you will find some in depth posts of steps with pix of major things like mast work, electrical upgrades, etc. If you find one you would like more info on I usually have extra pix and infor step by step like in the cabin cushion recover jobs etc. Just post your question and I put up more info and pix. Happy maintenance and more importantly more sailing and cruising. Pix is what I bought on a trailer years ago.

 

[Jacktar]

N Gulf Coast Cat 22 cruise , flotilla moored out at Ft. Macree lagoon less boats that earlier years but still cruising!

 

[Jacktar]

Time to jump in and check the bottom, last done in May last year, just slime and few oysters on swing keel. Over 5 years with Trinidad SR. Use hookah rig with standard tank.

 

[Jacktar]

Update. Bottom had light coating of slime on hull areas which I brushed off. Some small barnacles in port quarter where most cat 22 "squat" in the rear and let boot stipe get wet a lot. Solution is to use anti-fouling for boot stripe on next bottom job. Keel had about 10-15 % areas with large flat oysters attached (nicely faired at edges to reduce drag haha.) Popped them off with putty knife. Keel hinge areas and cable attachment pin all pretty much clean, small amount of growth because metal with anti-fouling at those spots not effective over time. So probably dodged a bottom job again. Going on 8 years with Trinidad SR on bottom and in slip in brackish water bayou year around. Also no wobble in keel side to side.

 

[Jacktar]

Well looks like it now into hurricane season.,got to watch carefully in gulf of mexico for our area, by time they generate a "cone" we already get feeder bands here. Not much warning and any storm in gulf usually ends up being bigger than the gulf. Here we go again.