Need some help to get my 87 finished enough to get my mast up - All Hands On Deck!

[reefsider]

Hi, I Started this boat 6 or so years ago. Did a ton of work and had it in the water for 2 seasons after the bottom was done, while I did other work. the last 3 years the boat has been in storage. Outdoor in summer and indoor for the past 2 winters. When I did the work before I had a long thread on here showing what I had done. Its probably still in the archives if you are interested. I removed the keel and scraped the bottom to gel coat; that's when i found the crack from the keel cable letting go previously and not properly repaired. So that was fixed and it was all coated with interprotect 2000 and bronze anti-fouling.

Anyways I have a dock spot waiting but nowhere to put the mast. I am losing my storage in 2 weeks and would really like to get the mast and standing rigging set so i can raise the mast after launch. I have the tech manual on a cd but all my computers don't have a cd drive anymore so until i can find one or borrow one I don't have that valuable resource.

I have cut all new bulkheads and most other wood for the inside. I finally finished the recommended coats of epiphanes varnish alternative for teak. top coated with the Epiphanes high gloss UV resistant varnish.

I ordered these new style chainplates with the deck flange (capri22 1995+) Upper Shroud Chainplate C-22 '95->, Sport
As well as these tangs for adding turnbuckles later. Lower Shroud Reinforcement & Traveler Tang C-22 & C-25.

My first issue is that the boat has been sitting for a while and due to a car accident and Covid I never got a chance to mount everything to the deck. so what I couldn't mount, I covered the holes with either gorilla tape or T-rex tape. It seems to have kept the water out of most places but now the goo is there and I don't know how to deal with it. I was thinking goo-gone but that leaves a residue and soaks into the gel coat. Is there something better or do i just use goo-gone and clean it with acetone or rubbing alcohol after? What is the best sealant to use? 3m 4200?

Next I have concerns about the mast support and mast step. There seems to be some buckling under the mast support. I included a picture. Is this normal or a serious concern? I can get the mast support to move forward but it's difficult and I'm not sure I can get it all the way out. Is it supposed to be that hard to remove? does it come out going forward? There is a shoulder on the bottom that would make it difficult to go the other way.

Lastly (for now lol) its pretty clear there has been water leaking in the shroud supports. I ordered a new set of through deck fittings as they looked a bit pitted. The area doesn't seem to soft when I stand on it and poke at it a bit, is there a better way to check if it is sound? Picture included

Thank you all very much for any help, Advice and information.

 

[C_Level]

I have an older model C22 that is different than yours. My compression post is wood and mine also fit snug. Like yours mine was resting on the fiberglass in seating area. I used a jack with plywood under it to protect the floor and spread out the load. I used a 2 x 4 to go up to the cabin roof right next to the compression post and jacked it up enough to allow my post to come out and I had no issues in doing that. Once I had the post out I cut out a hole where the post once was to see what was going on under it. Right below my compression post was a wood support that the post was supposed to rest on that was imbedded into the fiberglass hull. My support was wet and rotted and there was a space between the top of that support and the fiberglass I cut out so it could have not been doing much as far as supporting the mast.
I was able to see the very upper part of that support by looking inside the storage space. I poked around it with an awl and realized how rotted it was. In my case I removed it and made a beefier one using white oak.
Maybe you just need to put a spacer between whatever supports your compression post. It does look as though there is a lack of support under your post based on picture. It appeared that there was a gap in mine as well but since mine was rotted I could not use a spacer. Not sure if this helps especially since you have a later model.
In regards to water penetration in deck, I would poke around your holes with awl to see if the wood is soft. If you are lucky you may just be able to drill out oversized holes and fill with epoxy. Then you can redrill your holes through the epoxy. I did that to all of mine even though I recored my deck. Didn't want water to be able to get into wood if it did make its way through and the epoxy helps to avoid smashing the core from over tightening.

 

[reefsider]

I have an older model C22 that is different than yours. My compression post is wood and mine also fit snug. Like yours mine was resting on the fiberglass in seating area. I used a jack with plywood under it to protect the floor and spread out the load. I used a 2 x 4 to go up to the cabin roof right next to the compression post and jacked it up enough to allow my post to come out and I had no issues in doing that. Once I had the post out I cut out a hole where the post once was to see what was going on under it. Right below my compression post was a wood support that the post was supposed to rest on that was imbedded into the fiberglass hull. My support was wet and rotted and there was a space between the top of that support and the fiberglass I cut out so it could have not been doing much as far as supporting the mast.
I was able to see the very upper part of that support by looking inside the storage space. I poked around it with an awl and realized how rotted it was. In my case I removed it and made a beefier one using white oak.
Maybe you just need to put a spacer between whatever supports your compression post. It does look as though there is a lack of support under your post based on picture. It appeared that there was a gap in mine as well but since mine was rotted I could not use a spacer. Not sure if this helps especially since you have a later model.
In regards to water penetration in deck, I would poke around your holes with awl to see if the wood is soft. If you are lucky you may just be able to drill out oversized holes and fill with epoxy. Then you can redrill your holes through the epoxy. I did that to all of mine even though I recored my deck. Didn't want water to be able to get into wood if it did make its way through and the epoxy helps to avoid smashing the core from over tightening.

Thank you for the information. I think the deck will be ok, it seems pretty solid when i poked around. Do you think drilling them out and epoxying in a bronze or copper sleeve would be a good idea? I've heard of that being done on little outboard boats to prevent the transom from rotting.

My biggest concern now is the mast support. It's not good news at all I don't think i have the tools, place or experience with fiberglass to take that on. There is no power where the boat is stored and I don't have the kind of cordless tools to do that job. If I did I don't think I could get it done in the time I have before launch. I'm going to try to find someone to do the work but I kind of doubt it will be affordable. I'm going to call catalina direct tomorrow as well and see if its a similar situation to what you have dealt with. I have a feeling it will be.

Well, I'll just keep pressing on for now. Not sure what I'll end up doing but I'll keep you posted if you'd like

 

[C_Level]

Thank you for the information. I think the deck will be ok, it seems pretty solid when i poked around. Do you think drilling them out and epoxying in a bronze or copper sleeve would be a good idea? I've heard of that being done on little outboard boats to prevent the transom from rotting.

My biggest concern now is the mast support. It's not good news at all I don't think i have the tools, place or experience with fiberglass to take that on. There is no power where the boat is stored and I don't have the kind of cordless tools to do that job. If I did I don't think I could get it done in the time I have before launch. I'm going to try to find someone to do the work but I kind of doubt it will be affordable. I'm going to call catalina direct tomorrow as well and see if its a similar situation to what you have dealt with. I have a feeling it will be.

Well, I'll just keep pressing on for now. Not sure what I'll end up doing but I'll keep you posted if you'd like

Not sure about the sleeve idea. If the wood is good around your penetrations all the better. I have been drilling holes twice the size of the fastener and coating hole with epoxy so that it can penetrate the wood then filling hole with thickened epoxy and letting it cure. Re-drill the holes to proper size then re-bed hardware.
I understand that issues with mast support are fairly common in these boats. Catalina Direct should be able to help as well as having someone with experience look at it. Good luck!

 

[reefsider]

Not sure about the sleeve idea. If the wood is good around your penetrations all the better. I have been drilling holes twice the size of the fastener and coating hole with epoxy so that it can penetrate the wood then filling hole with thickened epoxy and letting it cure. Re-drill the holes to proper size then re-bed hardware.
I understand that issues with mast support are fairly common in these boats. Catalina Direct should be able to help as well as having someone with experience look at it. Good luck!

Thank you for the advice, That does sound like a good idea. I'll drill them out until I get some clean wood... up to a point obviously. If i get close to 2x the diameter and the wood doesn't look good or feel sound I'll reassess the situation.

I will call catalina direct today and see what they say. I will also be contacting a couple people and seeing if they would be willing to help me do the job or take it on themselves.

Thanks again, I'll keep you posted on the progress.

 

[...3TacksontheWater]

Well, I'm sure not happy to read about your dilemma. FWIW, I have either read and/or viewed videos of folks who have replaced and/or shimmed their wooden (pre '86) compression posts. As C_Level writes, it might seem a daunting project but certainly doable. I have an '88 new design and am currently in the middle of "biting off more than I wanted to chew" replacing my mast step and installing a halyard plate. As part of my project prep, happened to take a picture underneath the main port settee of your shot "image5" picture facing the compression post. I don't know if there is a wood post encased in the fiberglass box but I cannot imagine that the load of the mast is being distributed through the galley as opposed to either the keel or hull. I hope this helps:

 

[...3TacksontheWater]

Well, I'm sure not happy to read about your dilemma. FWIW, I have either read and/or viewed videos of folks who have replaced and/or shimmed their wooden (pre '86) compression posts. As C_Level writes, it might seem a daunting project but certainly doable. I have an '88 new design and am currently in the middle of "biting off more than I wanted to chew" replacing my mast step and installing a halyard plate. As part of my project prep, I happened to take a picture underneath the main port settee under the sink. It's the back side of your shot "image5" picture facing the compression post. I'm going to need to replace my interior wiring for the mast and chances are good that you will need to do likewise if your wiring is run from the cabin top through the compression post and forward to the connector. Like I said, a bit more to chew than I was expecting. I don't know if there is a wood post encased in the fiberglass box that appears crushed in your picture but I cannot imagine that the load of the mast is being distributed through the galley as opposed to being led down to either the keel or hull structure. What you're seeing is the thru hull sink drain the white line is the VHF antenna, the thin black line should be the bow light and I haven't figured out what that other hose is. It will be time to stick more than just an iPhone down there. I hope this helps:

 

[reefsider]

Well, I'm sure not happy to read about your dilemma. FWIW, I have either read and/or viewed videos of folks who have replaced and/or shimmed their wooden (pre '86) compression posts. As C_Level writes, it might seem a daunting project but certainly doable. I have an '88 new design and am currently in the middle of "biting off more than I wanted to chew" replacing my mast step and installing a halyard plate. As part of my project prep, I happened to take a picture underneath the main port settee under the sink. It's the back side of your shot "image5" picture facing the compression post. I'm going to need to replace my interior wiring for the mast and chances are good that you will need to do likewise if your wiring is run from the cabin top through the compression post and forward to the connector. Like I said, a bit more to chew than I was expecting. I don't know if there is a wood post encased in the fiberglass box that appears crushed in your picture but I cannot imagine that the load of the mast is being distributed through the galley as opposed to being led down to either the keel or hull structure. What you're seeing is the thru hull sink drain the white line is the VHF antenna, the thin black line should be the bow light and I haven't figured out what that other hose is. It will be time to stick more than just an iPhone down there. I hope this helps:

Hi, that's odd, I have a 1987 and it doesn't look like that. here is a pic. Part of my problem is caused by having to cut off the lower section of the support when doing the repair on the keel pocket; Damaged when the keel lift cable let go on the previous owner or the owner before that.

anyways, here is a picture of what that area looks like on my boat. the sink drain is directly above the support for the keel pocket. TBH I'm a bit confused where that is on your boat lol. I don't see the support and it looks like the image is either mirrored or the post is on the other side lol.

 

[reefsider]

Well, I'm sure not happy to read about your dilemma. FWIW, I have either read and/or viewed videos of folks who have replaced and/or shimmed their wooden (pre '86) compression posts. As C_Level writes, it might seem a daunting project but certainly doable. I have an '88 new design and am currently in the middle of "biting off more than I wanted to chew" replacing my mast step and installing a halyard plate. As part of my project prep, I happened to take a picture underneath the main port settee under the sink. It's the back side of your shot "image5" picture facing the compression post. I'm going to need to replace my interior wiring for the mast and chances are good that you will need to do likewise if your wiring is run from the cabin top through the compression post and forward to the connector. Like I said, a bit more to chew than I was expecting. I don't know if there is a wood post encased in the fiberglass box that appears crushed in your picture but I cannot imagine that the load of the mast is being distributed through the galley as opposed to being led down to either the keel or hull structure. What you're seeing is the thru hull sink drain the white line is the VHF antenna, the thin black line should be the bow light and I haven't figured out what that other hose is. It will be time to stick more than just an iPhone down there. I hope this helps:

Here are some pics of under the floor

 

[...3TacksontheWater]

Hi, that's odd, I have a 1987 and it doesn't look like that. here is a pic. Part of my problem is caused by having to cut off the lower section of the support when doing the repair on the keel pocket; Damaged when the keel lift cable let go on the previous owner or the owner before that.

anyways, here is a picture of what that area looks like on my boat. the sink drain is directly above the support for the keel pocket. TBH I'm a bit confused where that is on your boat lol. I don't see the support and it looks like the image is either mirrored or the post is on the other side lol.View attachment 216622

reefsider:

The reason for the difference is that we each have a different variation of the same boat! Mine is a wing keel. Even though it's obvious in your pictures that you have a swing keel, when I saw the picture of your compression post resting of the forward part of your galley, my mind went blank and I pulled out that picture of the underside of my galley. It could be that the load of the mast is being transferred through the galley to the keel enclosure (pocket). I hope that someone who's got experience with a New Design swing keel compression post issue chimes in. Barring that, from your pictures, it looks like it's a doable repair once you remove the compression post and are able to better see what's going on.

George