South African "Catalina" 22

greg_m

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May 23, 2017
692
Catalina Jaguar 22 Simons Town
These next few photos show the completed fiberglass laminating job which I left to cure for some time. It never fully cures at the surface because it is laminating resin which make it a bugger to sand down. Clogs the sandpaper paper very rapidly. At this stage the side decks and fore deck areas are laminated and sanded down to knock down the high spots. I have carried the glass cloth laminate down onto the coach roof lining to tie that in as well as the hull/deck joint along the sides.

Still need to finish up around the hatch frame.

Edited: 05 Oct 2017, added video link.

 

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greg_m

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May 23, 2017
692
Catalina Jaguar 22 Simons Town
I decided to carry the fiberglass CSM cloth from the deck down into the actual hatch frame. My thinking being to introduce a kind of a "box section" surrounding the wood around the hatch frame, stiffening up the structure substantially! Had to add some peanut butter mix as a fillet to eliminate the sharp corner around the wooden planks. This worked out quite well and I ended up with a fairly nice over all shape to the structure... well to my eyes anyway!
 

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greg_m

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May 23, 2017
692
Catalina Jaguar 22 Simons Town
Finally... after some more sanding down the high spots, cleaning all surfaces and actually making up my mind what to do I went out and purchased some "flowcoat" from our local suppliers. Gelcoat apparently does not fully cure unless specially treated as it is supposed to be used in a mould.

I was told that Flowcoat is actually Gelcoat with wax mixed in. These waxes rise to the surface after laying it down and help to fully cure the resin. It is a polyester resin and I went for white. The original gelcoat seems to be a very pale yellow/creme colour. PO had the boat spray painted whit white inside. Really rubbish paint application job was done as the original gelcoat was simply sprayed onto and not sanded down prior to spray painting.

Unfortunately the application time is very limited so during photos are not existing! Before and after...

Essentially I mixed up a batch, dumped it on the surcae and spread it around with a foam roller as quickly and evenly as possible. The roller worked great and left a very nice texture on the surface similar to original. So I am happy with results. I put on two layers only as the stuff is quite thick. Flowcoat completed on 31 August 2017.

After this job my wife became ill and the boat stood like this for about 3 weeks. Next step is to tackle the coach roof from inside where the various wood parts are mounted. 80% done...80% still to go! It has been a year now since first bringing the boat into my yard...
 

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greg_m

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May 23, 2017
692
Catalina Jaguar 22 Simons Town
Thanks guys, helps me to keep motivated. Learning a lot about this boat from all the posts even before I have sailed it!
:plus:
 
May 23, 2016
1,024
Catalina 22 #12502 BSC
related to your coaming question...no time like the present! Also, if your Jag has no well vented, sealed off fuel compartment in the aft laz, now's the time to address that shortfall (as Catalina did in newer models)...with your talents should be an eze fix!
 
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greg_m

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May 23, 2017
692
Catalina Jaguar 22 Simons Town
related to your coaming question...no time like the present! Also, if your Jag has no well vented, sealed off fuel compartment in the aft laz, now's the time to address that shortfall (as Catalina did in newer models)...with your talents should be an eze fix!
Can anyone with above mentioned newer design post some pictures of the "sealed" fuel tank compartment?
 

greg_m

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May 23, 2017
692
Catalina Jaguar 22 Simons Town
So, in the mean time I have been busy on the coach roof. I noticed that although feels quite solid it did make that small crackling noise that figerglass laminate makes when it is bent out of shape to due a load applied to the surface. I am in no mood to remove the lining and redo the core. So I made some Youtube research and found guys repairing their decks by drilling small holes and injecting "penetrating" resin!

I decided to investigate the areas where the wood parts are attached from the outside. The PO had the boat resprayed by an auto repair shop... and the repair shop decided to replace the wood parts using what can only be described as long galvanised dry wall screws. These had rusted and in places were easier to break out of the deck rather than try unscrew them!

After removing the hand rails and sliding rails I used a hole saw to make holes of about 48mm diameter on the inside of the coach roof cutting away the lining and down into the laminate but not going through the outer deck. Then I used a smaller hole saw minus the center bit as a rotating chisel to clean out the holes. As per previous findings with the deck the actual fibreglass layup is in great condition but the ply wood is ruined from crap maintenance and water ingress!

Something that slightly irritates me is that during construction it looks like the outer deck was laid up in a mould and then the plywood laminate was bonded down onto that. Then the separate inner lining was fitted but it clearly was not a good fit based on the gaps you can see and the hollow spaces found inside. need to buy more PU expanding foam to inject into the voids!
 

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JRT

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Feb 14, 2017
2,037
Catalina 310 211 Lake Guntersville, AL
Great thread and amazing work and documentation. I assumed that the inner liner on these 70s boats is not structural and just cosmetic based on how they were built.
 
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greg_m

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May 23, 2017
692
Catalina Jaguar 22 Simons Town
Great thread and amazing work and documentation. I assumed that the inner liner on these 70s boats is not structural and just cosmetic based on how they were built.
You may be right on the cosmetic side of things. Never really thought like that myself.
 
May 23, 2016
1,024
Catalina 22 #12502 BSC
Can anyone with above mentioned newer design post some pictures of the "sealed" fuel tank compartment?
Greg, I don't have a pic, nor have I seen a newer model fuel compartment (only heard of it), but from what I gather it is similar to the battery compartment stbd, but on port side...there's a pic of the battery compartment in Gene's boat in LR's thread below, pretty sealed off fwd at least...so I imagine the concept is similar, just isolate it totally fwd and inboard, I'd glass it in, and ventilate properly from the coaming....you certainly have the knack!!!....see post #179...

https://forums.sailboatowners.com/i...e-stormwatch-purchase-and-refit.171757/page-9
 
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greg_m

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May 23, 2017
692
Catalina Jaguar 22 Simons Town
I decided to inspect the mast support area. Using an oscillating tool and a fine tooth blade it was easy to make a neat cut out. I love that tool!

Again I was amazed at the huge unfilled/unsupported gap between the outer deck and the inner lining in the forward area of the coach roof. Followed the same procedure to clean away the old plywood and fiberglass mash the builder used to glue the two pieces together.

Still need to buy more expanding PU foam to fill in the gap!
 

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Sep 30, 2013
3,538
1988 Catalina 22 North Florida
Can anyone with above mentioned newer design post some pictures of the "sealed" fuel tank compartment?
Just a quick snapshot, let me know if you want more detail. It's totally different from the battery locker on the other side:

 
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greg_m

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May 23, 2017
692
Catalina Jaguar 22 Simons Town
Just thought I would share some scenic photos. Yesterday Durban was blown away by gale force winds and flooding rain... very unusual weather for Durban. The marina, Point Yacht Club was quite badly torn up! A colleague of mine sent me a photo with the comment... "My boat is in there somewhere!". Usually the marina is made up of four rows of jetties, A, B, C, D. Clearly this is not the case anymore...

My other colleague was spending the day driving tugboats around Cape Town harbour yesterday while I was in the office. He decided to brag by showing me how lovely the weather was in Cape Town... from the bridge of the tug!
 

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greg_m

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May 23, 2017
692
Catalina Jaguar 22 Simons Town
Besides lurking around on this forum I have been busy with some small odd jobs on the boat. Originally when I re-cored the deck I noted a rather big gap between the deck and the inner lining around the sides of the coach roof. At that time I injected expanding PU foan down into the cavity which seemed to make the whole structure more rigid.

When Inspecting the mast step area where the mast support post meets the inside of the cabin lining in the coach roof I noted that from the change in level forward there was the same unsupported cavity and a lot of flex in the lining as I clambered over it during working inside the boat. Remember its still upside down. I made two small inspection holes with a hole saw to see how far this cavity goes. Full width and all the way up to the deck level.

So I decided to fill this cavity as well. I pushed the foam application tube up into the void as far as it would go and then just injected till the foam started to ooze out of the holes I had mage. I did this into the two holes either side of the mast step as well as through the mast step hole as well. I had already epoxy glued down the new 18mm thick waterproof plywood insert so had to squeeze the applicator tube into the gaps!

I injected the foam yesterday evening, 12/Oct/2017 and this morning the foam has expanded even more and set quiet stiff. Not fully cured yet but it has made the surface a whole lot more rigid. This will have to do for now as into the future I'm not sure about deck fittings or internal lights. Cross those bridges when I get there!
 

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greg_m

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May 23, 2017
692
Catalina Jaguar 22 Simons Town
My intention is to fix the new plastic windows using rubber mouldings. The grooves in the mouldings are 6mm wide. The grooves need to be well filled or water will just simply leak through the gap. Currently the openings for the windows are not having sufficient wall thickness and are a little uneven along there length. Some places being thicker than others. So my thinking is to laminate inserts on a flat board, cut to size and then epoxy bond them in place around the inside wall of the opening. That way I will have a perfectly smooth surface inside and out as well as close as I can get the correct wall thickness.

So far laminated and cut to size. This weekend will be the bonding in place job... rain weather permitting. Last photo's show the "window rims" pegged in place for eye-balling shape and fit. The rubber mouldings I have chosen have 6mm grooves both sides. There is also a special insert that fits into the "third groove" that spreads out the mould and squeezes the rubber tightly against the window "glass" and the coach roof "frame".
 

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