You may wish to do a few things
While I am a strong beleiver in the axiom if it an't broke, then don't fix it, you may wish to examine and or replace a few items. First, you may have the very old style keel winch that has a small diameter axle around which the cable winds. The newer winch, which has been around for almost 25 years, has a larger diameter axle that is kinder to the cable. The old winch takes well over thirty turns to lower the keel, while the newer winch takes just about thirty turns to lower the keel. The keel winch cable probably reguires replacement as well. As this is not greatly expensive and readily available through Catalina Direct, I think it would be wise for you to go ahead and replace it regarless of how good you think it is. Thirty one years is a long time. Underneath the winch, there is a black tube through which the cable runs to the keel. Inside this tube, there is a small groved bronze (brass?) ball that turns on a stainless steel pin that is held in place on top of a metal tube. The purpose of this ball is to provide a smooth roatating guidence for the cable as it is wound up so the cable does not dig into the boat's fiberglass. This could prove to be a problem some day. However, examing this may cause more problems. As your boat is so old, you will have to destroy the old black tube to remove it from where it is attached to the boat. It is well stuck on by this time. And in that process, you will discover one of Catalina's notorious "volcanos". The metal tube that supports the bronze (brass?) ball stainless steel pin and to wich some of the black tube is attached is just fabricated in place with a pile of fiberglass surrounding it in a "volcano" fashion. These vocanos are notorious for falling apart when you start messing with stuff attached to them. While repair is relatively simple by just building the volcano up again, it can be difficult to get the tubes in these vocanos aligned properly as most of the original volcano must be cut back to make a good surface for the new fiberglass. When I replaced this ball on my C-22 #9911 after twnty years, I found the original ball was in good shape and did not require replacement. So, as you say you are not experincing any problems, I would not touch that part of your keel system. As far as the keel hangers go, the big issue is just how good the bronze pin is that holds up the keel, and whether there is elongation in the hole where the keel pin goes through. Technically, you really need to drop the keel to see just what this looks like. There are four bolts that hold the keel hanger in place. Dropping the keel means undoing these four bolts after sufficient work has been done to support that 550 pounds of iron. Doable, but something that requires some study and time. Nevertheless, if one of those four bolts brakes while you attempt to unscrew it, well, your life will not be the same. Repair is possible, but again, lots more time, tools, and money. I think your best bet may be to look at the videos that Catalina Direct offers. Also, I would get a copy of the Catalina 22 National Sailing Association's Technical Manual. This manual is on a CD disk and you will reqiuire Acrobat Reader to view it. Acrobat Reader is usually a free program easily downloaded from the web.
