Restoration of 1981 C-22 swing keel #10580

[CloudDiver]

I wouldn't say that it turns out like Bright Sides... The pictures won't pick up the imperfections but it still looks %1000 better. Plus, the surface it is going on is by no means as smooth as the hull was. Bilge Kote is an enamel, where Bright Sides is a Lineal Polyurethane. To be honest, having painted much of my bilge areas with Bilge Kote, I would venture to say that you would get the same results using standard Rustoleum gloss white enamel. The paints smell the same, look the same, almost flow the same... I will venture to say that the Interlux product probably has slightly thicker viscosity and some self leveling ingredients. The price of a gallon of Bilge Kote is not much more expensive than buying 4 quarts of Rustoleum enamel at a big box store. I'm pretty happy with it and I think I'll stick with it. Most of my Bilge areas are painted and I also painted the most of the wood covers that are under the cushions. I've lost a lot to evaporation and skins forming in the can, its been a hot summer. I have a quart left of the original gallon and we'll see how far I get, I may need to buy one more quart.

A note on the paint in the bilges of 80's vintage C-22's.... I have not idea what type or brand of paint that the factory used, but I noticed that it cleans up very well with acetone. I put it in a squeeze type squirt bottle and douse the area and wipe down with a rag. It gets the surface really clean and softens up the paint, perfect for prepping without having to sand! Also, if you don't want to over-coat with new paint it will harden up again so acetone works really well to just clean up the existing paint, just be careful of the fumes in tight spaces!

Everybody knows San Diego doesn't have winters! I always assumed Winter was a state of mind...sort of a Winter of Preparation.

I'm impressed with the look of Bilge Coat. It looks pretty similar to Brightsides in the pictures. Also, it will be so easy to wipe clean and suppress mold growth.

 

[Leeward Rail]

BTW, in case anyone had to look twice... I finally changed the thread name, dropping the 'Winter' as the first word. When I started this back in October 2014 I was sure I'd be done by June 2015 at the latest. Here we are a year later and I'm still plugging away, LOL! I'm sure anyone looking at fixing up a C22 could learn a lot from this thread, but at the same time it also a pretty good WARNING!

Warning about what ?
How much work an old boat can be or how much work if you are OCD ?

Seriously though, I've wondered about the bilge area.
Are you painting the bilge because of gelcoat cracks ?
Personally, I could care less what it looks like. It's a bilge after all. On the other hand I've been wondering about something I could use to minimize mildew. Anti-mildew fouling for the bilge if you will.
EDIT: I have used a product called "Concrobium Mold Control" for cottage renovations. They use it in large areas in building applications with a fogger unit.
To quote another website:

This product contains sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), sodium carbonate (washing soda) and trisodium phosphate (TSP). It’s a transparent, odorless, non-sticky liquid that kills mold and mold spores as it dries. It also offers some residual mold control.

I have no idea how I'd get in most of the bilge areas to apply anything.
I have been musing about mixing up a solution like TSP+Bleach, pouring a bunch into the bilge, and then driving around a while so it splashes all over the inaccessible areas. Suck it out with a wet vac afterwards.

Good clamp idea. On my new style the bracket welds were broken but I was able to simply use stainless screws and re-attach them after I cleaned up the old weld. When they come loose, I may have use the same clamps as you did.

 

[CloudDiver]

I'm painting the bilges because I'm OCD, LOL! I guess the real answer is because I'm doing a major Resto then I should leave no stone un-turned... Since I'm already in there I might as well paint them out. In my bilges there is no gel-coat, its just some kind of paint so no worries about cracks. It was all just super grimy, but as I mentioned above I was pretty amazed at how well it cleaned up with just acetone.

For the mold I used a Bleach based Mold and Mildew Spray made by ZEP from Home Depot. It was strong stuff, I had to stay out of the boat as much as possible because my eyes would burn! You could use a Garden Sprayer with a wand, just dump one bottle in and cut it with hot water. That wand will reach all those crazy places, but I really like the idea of driving it around for a good sloshing effect!

Warning about what ?
How much work an old boat can be or how much work if you are OCD ?

Seriously though, I've wondered about the bilge area.
Are you painting the bilge because of gelcoat cracks ?
Personally, I could care less what it looks like. It's a bilge after all. On the other hand I've been wondering about something I could use to minimize mildew. Anti-mildew fouling for the bilge if you will.
EDIT: I have used a product called "Concrobium Mold Control" for cottage renovations. They use it in large areas in building applications with a fogger unit.
To quote another website:


I have no idea how I'd get in most of the bilge areas to apply anything.
I have been musing about mixing up a solution like TSP+Bleach, pouring a bunch into the bilge, and then driving around a while so it splashes all over the inaccessible areas. Suck it out with a wet vac afterwards.

Good clamp idea. On my new style the bracket welds were broken but I was able to simply use stainless screws and re-attach them after I cleaned up the old weld. When they come loose, I may have use the same clamps as you did.

 

[Leeward Rail]

Since I'm already in there I might as well paint them out

I can fully relate, Luke.

I have a truck I've been restoring for ages, between other projects.
It started as a simple "swap the drivetrain" into a non rusty chassis... then as I did each thing I thought "Well... as long as i'm in there" and "I should redo this thing since it looks like crap now that the other thing is redone".
Suffice to say, eventually I was stripping and repainting the frame, installing all new fuel/brake lines, rebuilding wiring harnesses, installing new carpet, souping up the motor, beefing up the trans and transfer case, etc etc etc etc.
"Scope Creep" at it's worst.
I've put way more money and work into that truck, than is economically rational. I'm ok with that in this case, but I'm worried about ever getting enough to cover replacement if anything should happen to it.
Nevermind all the work I put in.

After reading stiggy's thread over the last few days, about his boat sinking, it had me thinking about how I'd feel if our C22 sank. At this point I've put way more money into it than it's surveyor appraised value. Let's hope I never have to find out if I'll be covered.

That time your boat ended up rolling across the street, had me hoping your boat was insured with someone who would at least accept all the receipts you have.

 

[allen-deckard]

"After reading stiggy's thread over the last few days, about his boat sinking, it had me thinking about how I'd feel if our C22 sank. At this point I've put way more money into it than it's surveyor appraised value. Let's hope I never have to find out if I'll be covered."
When did I miss this? link to thread. I read nearly every post anyone puts up incase I have any knowledge that I can help (or confuse them with hehe) but how did I completely miss this?

 

[Gene Neill]

"After reading stiggy's thread over the last few days, about his boat sinking, it had me thinking about how I'd feel if our C22 sank. At this point I've put way more money into it than it's surveyor appraised value. Let's hope I never have to find out if I'll be covered."
When did I miss this? link to thread. I read nearly every post anyone puts up incase I have any knowledge that I can help (or confuse them with hehe) but how did I completely miss this?

http://forums.sailboatowners.com/index.php?threads/my-boat-sank-today.175075/

 

[allen-deckard]

ok that explains how I missed it. I don't read any of the forums besides the 22.

Thought I was loosing my mind.

 

[Leeward Rail]

if you don't read the other forums how are you supposed to get tempted to get a bigger boat ?
As for losing your mind, heck, just buying a sailboat implies some mental instability.
I see these forums as a form of AA for boats.

 

[Ellwebs]

I too only look at the Cat 22 forum.

 

[CloudDiver]

Painted out another bilge/locker... This one is under the port seat where the keel lockdown bolt is. I remembered to take before and after pics for this one;

 

[CloudDiver]

I also finally got around to the window openings. You might recall (and there was a separate thread on this) I filled the gap between the outer cabin and inner liner with plywood strips and epoxy, stiffens everything up nice. I finished out the shape and used a little filler where needed. I double checked the fit of the windows and then brushed on a coating of G-Flex epoxy to any edges of exposed plywood. When that was all set I did the final sanding and then taped off the inside and painted everything with two coats of primer, brushed on pretty thick. I made sure I coated the inside edges as well and they will also get Gloss White Brightsides when I paint the cabin. I want to be sure if there is ever a window leak that no water could get into the plywood or between the fiberglass.
The Prime Kote primer for bright sides is awesome, when you can't afford to be super neat with primer you can just brush it on thick and then it sands out very nice with 220 and then 320. The first sanding will expose any nicks or other junk that needs filling before the Brightsides. I like this pic, makes me feel like I am finally getting somewhere!

 

[Leeward Rail]

What's fitting for, in the port seat photo ?

 

[CloudDiver]

What's fitting for, in the port seat photo ?

That's the thru-hull for the old analog wheel knot meter. Now I am really wishing I had removed that and filled the hole, its pretty big. I have 2 plugs for it that came with boat, double O rings and a stainless pin that secures it.

 

[CloudDiver]

Anybody wanna guess what THIS is for?

 

[$tingy Sailor]

Does it have anything to do with black acrylic?

 

[CloudDiver]

Bingo! Yes, upon further reflection (and making the rough pattern) I've figured that I can get all four windows from a 48 x 48 inch sheet or smoked acrylic from my local plastics supplier. 1/8" is $70 and 3/16" is $105 per 48 x 48 sheet, so I have to decide on thickness.
If I can get a drawing done on a computer I'll have it printed full size at Kinko's and just put on the sheet's paper layer with 3M spray adhesive. I still need to install the fence on my bandsaw but I can also set up cuts with my circular saw, clean up the rounded edges on the stationary sander. I need to find a friend who has a table router to do the bull-noses around the edges or buy one cheap off CL.
I figure the re-seal kit from CD is $80 plus shipping so I'd be spending the same money even if I go with the thicker material. In the rough template pictured I went with 1 & 1/8" overlap around the openings, so I need to figure what is best... I had considered as little as 1 inch or as much as 1.25". I've been reading several posts across the forums about doing these windows and with the correct adhesive (DOW product) which allows for 700% elongation and flex I will put them on without screws or through bolts. Everyone says the screws or through bolts will cause cracks and leaks when the acrylic expands and contracts.

Anyway, I figure this will go really with the modernized look I've got going with the stainless compression post and the new hand-rails. I'm also excited to not have fudge around with cleaning off all the old butyl tape from the old windows, plus paying extra to get them tinted. I might sell the window set to recover some costs, i might hang on to the 'just in case'.

Does it have anything to do with black acrylic?

 

[$tingy Sailor]

Thing's gonna look like the BatBoat when you're done.

 

[Phil Herring]

Anybody wanna guess what THIS is for?

A 4-pack of rudders!

 

[CaptDon01]

The original C-22 framed windows are tempered automotive glass. Years ago I just had a automotive window tinting shop apply the black film on my cabin windows.

 

[Leeward Rail]

Wouldn't polycarbonate or original glass be better than plain acrylic/plexiglass ?