Worth the effort?

[Paul Heil]

Recently picked up mid 70's retract. keel boat(catalina 22) for a feww hundred $$$. She floats and has all sails in good shape, 2 anchors, pfd's,cushions etc. The bad news, no keel, some blistering of the bottom, some rigging needed to be replaced, biggest concern is what appears to be sawdust piles on the sink/galley area. It is obviously from some type of worms or ants or termites. They must have beem eating plywood out of the pop-top(I think there is plywood in there?). I'm not looking to do more than some occassional day-sailing or overnighters with my small family. Will probably be moving up to a little bigger boat next year. I'm aware of the cost of a new keel but what about the insect issue? I didn't spend enough to justify surveys and all that. Please help with any info. you can. Thanks

 

[Les Murray]

Probably not worth it.

With all the things you have to do, it is probably not worth it. You figure a 20 - 24 foot sailboat of that vintage is probably worth around $3k - $5k in good condition, you would probably spend that getting a new keel and fixing the blisters. Up here in New England you can get a nice late 70s O'Day 22 or Hunter 20 for about that price.My suggestion would be to donate the boat you have to charity and find one that needs just a little work (interior or rigging stuff). Unless you really want to spend the next 6 months working on that little boat. You might end up with it looking real nice, but you would never get the money out of it that you will invest.Good luck and fair winds,Les Murrays/v Ceilidh'86 C-36 #560

 

[Bob Camarena]

Part it Out?

You might want to put a for sale ad on this site for parts (also the C-22 national assoc. website). There might be enough people looking for replacement parts to make it worthwhile. I would think that someone looking for a mast and boom, someone else for a couple of winches, etc. could easily return your investment plus some.