1989 CATALINA 22 WING KEEL..........CjAndeai

Newly Installed Electrical Panels...Update

2010-01-08T10:40:00.000-08:00

I love having a few minutes to myself!......Two updates today!

In a previous post I showed the two electrical panels that I purchased. Now comes the time to unveil them to you as promised.

The two panels were purchased through Boater Bits in Canada via E-Bay. I've been very happy with Boater Bits and I would recommend them without hesitation. I'm a lot late with these updates, but being late gave me a chance to "test" everything over the summer. I'm happy to report that everything works well.

The reason for having two panels is simply two fold; it looks cool! Need 'em. No. Want 'em. Yes. And the other reason is that I wanted a duel battery check, and another 12 volt outlet, which the main panel offered. It bolted up in the same footprint as the original panel from Catalina, which was great. But it only has three switches, and I needed six. Thus the smaller panel, with three more switches. The large panel controls my cabin lights, running lights, and compass light. The three switches on the smaller panel control my anchor light, steaming light, and deck light. I rewired the mast to allow me to control each light separately, which I will update with a photo and info on my mast rewiring and my duel deck connectors as soon as the shrink wrap comes off this spring!

The location of the smaller panel was by choice, not that I had any room near the main panel, 'cause I didn't, I still would have chosen this spot regardless, just for the convenience and aesthetics of it's location. I cleaned up most of the old wiring by ripping it out and starting with all new wiring. I've added two terminal blocks, one on the back side of the main panel, and the other to the inside of the garbage can cubby, (backside of the port bulkhead) for the smaller panel. That really helped in clearing up the rat's nest of wiring. I still have a wee bit more wiring to replace such as the wire to the running lights and to the cabin lights, but hell, I love little projects!

I'll throw in a teaser photo of my duel battery switch, which I'll show, and talk, more of in a later post. 'till then, thanks for looking, Jay

New Bulkhead Replacement Update

2010-01-08T09:37:00.000-08:00

Ah, at last! The newly awaited photos of my brand new, home made, bulkheads are finely posted! This is a follow up of an earlier post. Enjoy, and thank you for looking, Jay. PS, I do have the old bulkheads that I can trace out and send to anyone that is in need of new ones and would like to make them yourself.

Mainsail Headboard Repair

2009-02-16T13:43:00.000-08:00

As usual, I'm ass backwards! The very top photo is of course the last photo sorry! Jay

At the end of sailing season '08, I flaked my mainsail, tucked in the sheets, and zippered the cover that would cocoon my boom and sail in my basement until the spring. Everything works out with reason. In early December, while hiding Christmas presents in my basement, I happened to notice that the headboard and upper part of the sail had dropped out from it's cocoon. As I unzipped the bag to tuck the sail back in, I took a good look at the headboard with my thoughts of maybe going to a aluminium headboard, when I noticed that I was missing a lot of little brass rivets that sandwich the sail in between the two pieces of the headboard to hold it together. Man I'm glad my sailing season was short last year, because if it were any longer, and being blind to the fact that these rivets were dropping out all over me as I sailed, I'm sure I would of have done some nasty things to my sail,....like rip the hell out of it. Fate.

Next was the dilemma of finding rivets. I checked the web, searched stores, and even called Ullman Sails, which their answer was to use stainless steel bolts. I didn't want regular rivets that leave a big wad of metal on the one side, 'cause that looks like hell, and I didn't want the rivets to catch on anything. So what I did find are these things called a binding post, or threaded post with screws. Perfect. Thin flat heads and a flat back. They are made out of aluminium, so please don't run out and replace your rivets yet! This is untested, and let me be the first to see if they work. I will let you know through out the '09 sailing season.

The first thing I did was to punch out the old rivets, except for two or three, which held everything in place. I then used a butane lighter to heat the tip of a 13/64" drill, so as I drilled it melted the plastic and sail material, just because! I then inserted the post and a #10 stainless steel washer into the hole. If the material allowed,( less layers of material), I placed another #10 washer on the top side. Next, I placed one drop of loc tite on the screw threads and screwed it tight. I repeated these steps until I was done.

I'm happy with the way it turned out, it looks good, and I'm hoping that it doesn't rain down on me in a hard blow! I promise to keep you posted. Thanks, Jay

Novus Lexan Scratch Removal

2009-02-03T13:06:00.000-08:00

In the summer of '08, during the annual Boy Scout trip to Scout Island, an island in the southern portion of the Great Sacandaga Lake, my forward hatch became home to some Scout butt. Not firmly planted butts, but butts of the "I can't sit still butts". Butts that adorned wet, gritty, sandy shorts sat upon my brand new, newly installed forward hatch window. My crystal clear Lexan now had a series of butt sliding scratches from top to bottom. Being the kind of guy that can take a lot, and don't get mad at to much, my heart just sank. Kids are kids, and "new" rules were made. "Nobody sits their ass on my window anymore"! OK, maybe I was mad a tad, but man, all of that work redoing my hatch! It was brand new!

Well it took some time to research a product that I could use to get rid of those nasty scratches, and I decided on a product line called Novus. It comes in individual bottles, or as kits. I bought the 8oz. kit, which included #3, course grit, #2 medium grit, #1 fine. After seeing some guy take some serious scratches out of a clear Lexan motorcycle wind shield on the web, I was convinced that this was the product for me. I just hoped that it would work on smoked lexan.

I ordered the kit from a company called Plastic-Craft Products .com, 744 West Nyack Road, West Nyack, NY 10994 Their phone number is 845-358-3010 The 8oz. kit was around $16.00. I ordered it online one day and it came the next, very fast indeed. To find the nearest distributor near you, call 1-800-548-6872, or check out http://www.novuspolish.com/

I laid down a nice soft cotton towel on the kitchen table and laid my piece of Lexan down on it. I first cleaned the Lexan with water only using a soft clean cotton rag, and dried it well. I then took another soft cotton rag and squeezed out a dab of #3 and started the "across the grain" movement on the worse scratches. I worked each dab of #3 at 90 degree angles to the scratches till it dried, and then wiped it clean with still another clean cotton rag and repeated the process again and again. I hate scratches in anything, so I worked using #3 for about three hours, (they were deep), until those deep scratches were completely out, as well as the other scratches that were embedded in the Lexan. I simply could not believe how well this product worked. I was happy and amazed. I then went to using #2, which removed the fine scratches left from #3. That went a lot quicker, and with each application, I could see the luster of my Lexan come back to life. I finished with #1 and the results were like new. I'm very happy now.

So with the '09 sailing season coming soon, I will sail again, proud, with a new sparkling forward hatch.

Jay

The Gudgeon Replacement; Can you say, @#&%

2008-07-08T14:00:00.000-07:00

"OK, easy enough", I thought, when I first started to think about replacing my old, bent, weak upper and lower gudgeon's on CjAndeai. Oh, how wrong I was in thinking a silly notion like that! It was,(for me), a royal pain in the ass. It was something that needed to be done, and like most of us out there, I tend to like to do things on my own. It's good for the soul,...but in this case, my soul almost left my body. I think that I came very close in popping a huge vein in my skull, during the time that this project went south. OH, I'm better now,...the redness has left my face, and I am body and soul once more, and, I almost can crack a smile, on what was, a miserable face.

I ordered the new, big and beefy set of Gudgeon's from Catalina Direct last year, after noticing that the original Gudgeons had bent up on me during the Sailing season. The new ones are a great deal better than the old ones, with much more support. I feel that this will be the last set that I will need to replace on CjAndeai. As Summer turned to Fall, and Fall into Winter, time ran out on me to do the replacement. I did however manage to attempt to remove the Gudgeon's from the boat during a nice day in the winter. Kinda like getting a head start on the up and coming Sailing season. That day I managed to break off all six bolts that hold the upper and lower Gudgeons. But Hay, they were off!

With the time just whipping past this season, I knew that I needed to do certain things to get my boat ready for launch, (which still hasn't happened). I played hooky from work, only for a few hours, one day, and set my sights on getting this project done. "Easy enough". I gathered up my drill, drill bits, pliers, chisel, hammer, new Gudgeons, 4200, sand paper, paper towels, latex gloves, razor blades, EZ outs, and a cold Mike's hard Lemonade. I was ready, let's do it!

I scraped off, and dug out, the 4200 sealant that I had placed in the holes after I broke the bolts off during the winter. I just didn't want any water getting in there. At that time, it dawned on me that the lower Gudgeon brass plates was exposed on the inside of my boat. Hell of a time to remember that! I just didn't think of that brass plate being exposed when I attempted to take them off. Sure enough, after crawling into and under the cockpit seats, there it was. A brass plate, drilled and tapped, with three 1/4" bolts, screwed into it, along with three lock nuts on the back side. That's why they broke off! Turning the bolts out from the front did nothing, due to the fact that the lock nuts held the bolt in place, thus snapping the bolts. So I removed the nuts, turned out the broken bolts, and removed the plate. I then re drilled, and re tapped the holes in the plate to except a 5/16" stainless steel hex head bolt. The hex head bolt idea came from Bayard Gross, a Chip Ford Listee. It makes so much sense to use something with meat on it, just in case, this needs to be done again. The new CD Gudgeon's will except the 5/!6" bolt easily. After drilling and tapping that plate, I drew a big smile on my face, and moved on to the upper Gudgeon.

There are many swear words, and some are brand new, I know, because I made some up! I think they all passed my lips after the first two minutes of attempting to remove the upper Gudgeon broken bolts. This was not fun, and my smile left my face. I tried to drill pilot holes into the bolts so I could use my EZ outs, but no matter what I did, I could not center the bit on the bolt. I tried slipping a steel tube over the bolts to use as a guide, it still didn't work. The plate moved easily, and it was a moving target. I heard that the brass plates were embedded into fiberglass. Not true on CjAndeai, and I would like to hear from others if this is the case on other similar year boats. After burning up my hooky hours from work on this stupid plan of mine to EZ out the bolts, I gave up the drilling and smacked the bolt/plate with a good blow from my hammer and chisel. There you @#^&*%. All that did was wedge it into the fiberglass. I then went to plan "B", hoping that this wasn't a bad plan. I went to my local West Marine and bought a 6" deck plate, screw in cap style. I then stopped at my local Home Depot, and bought a 4 1/2" hole saw, to cut a very clean hole in my transom. This is a scary thing to think about doing to the boat you love so much, kinda like a loved one going under the knife. Let's hope for a speedy recovery! It took about three days to grow the nads to do this, and then one day, I just did it, with no thought, or fear. I used the pilot bit on the hole saw only to get to the point where I could remove it, and use the hole saw alone, I just didn't want the long pilot bit to come out from the other side. I drilled about 3/8" into the cockpit side of the transom, and I could feel the fiberglass circle let loose. Sure enough, out popped a 4 1/2" fiberglass disk. The hole exposed a void in between the layers of the transom, but also it reveled a wood strip that was embedded into the fiberglass. It is 1/2" thick and must act as a horizontal support, or maybe it's there just to keep the brass plate from falling down into the void. The other interesting thing I found was that the bolts that were into the brass plate, also had lock nuts on them. Again, the very same reason that they broke off, just like the lower Gudgeon bolts. I proceeded to remove the plate, and the nuts, and the bolts. I then drilled and tapped the holes to except the 5/16" hex head bolts. I used 4200 on the deck plate and screwed it into the transom. I screwed in the cover, and it looked good. I used 5200 behind my Gudgeons,(I hope that this wasn't a mistake, but I have no plans on replacing these again), and bolted them down with the new hex head bolts.

Another project done! Thank God! Looking back, I wish that I wasn't feeling rushed when I started this job. Maybe I would of have thought about looking and feeling first. If you have a same vintage boat as mine, and you want to replace the Gudgeon's, see if you could slip a long open end 7/16" wrench into that void to get at the nuts. If you could get those off, the bolts should turn out easy, without that feared snapping sound! Good Luck! Jay

Garhauer Marine's EZ Glide System

2008-06-23T16:26:00.000-07:00

With a lot of talk about sail shape, and the ability to control it, led me to install the Garhauer Marine EZ Glide System on CjAndeai. Granted, these system's are found on large sailboats, but I was attracted to the fact that they would allow me to trim my headsail easily when sailing solo, or when sailing with inexperienced crew members. I could of have bought a "of the shelf" EZ Glide system from Garhauer, but the lead car blocks, I felt, were just to big for my little boat that I love. So I placed a call to Garhauer, and spoke with Mark, whom is a really nice fellow, and we talk about the EZ Glide system. After about an hour, Mark told me the he would be willing, and able to, make up a EZ Glide system consisting of a smaller lead car block, which would require some modifications to it's mounting on the car itself. Mark kept his word, and in about a week I received the special adjustable lead car system, dubbed the "Half Breed", by both by Mark and I. The workmanship is very, very good. And it's ability to move the lead car along the one inch track, works smooth, with, or, without tension on the headsail.

If you are considering a system such as this, consider Garhauer Marine, great products for a very reasonable price. Just ask for Mark, and say that you want a "Half Breed" EZ Glide system for a C22, like the one he made for Jay. I am super happy with the system, and with the ease of controlling the shape of my headsail. Jay

SPANKING NEW ELECTRICAL PANELS

2008-05-04T06:57:00.000-07:00

One of the first things that I wanted to change on CjAndeai when I first bought her, was the electrical panel. Oh, it works ok, but it's nineteen years old, and the the wiring behind it was pretty brittle, and it had one rocker switch that was re-glued by the PO that kinda stuck out from the face plate, and it always bugged me! Every time I flipped that switch, I made a mental note to change it, but never did.

Over the course of two years, I kept my eyes open for a panel that I would like, but not really sure of my future electrical needs were going to be, I just pushed it off, to go on to my other projects. Well this year I decided, as others have, to go with a two battery setup. I collected the duel battery switch first, then the wire, and then got serious about finding a panel. I knew that I wanted a voltmeter that would check the voltage of two batteries, and I also wanted another 12volt outlet. When your away from your boat, and you try to plan things out, many ideas come to you. You think that you have all the room in the world in these small boats, to put this here and that there, but you really don't have a lot of room to add a whole bunch of stuff, including electrical components. I was going to use a separate voltmeter here, a separate 12 volt outlet there, plus a new six gang fused panel. Then I went to my boat! OK,...I can't put that there, and I can't stick this thing here. So back to square one! I still wanted all of those electrical goodies onboard, and I looked a little harder, knowing now the actual space that I had to work with.

While looking over items on Ebay, I came across Boater Bits, out of Canada. They had the almost perfect panel for me, and, as it turned out it was the perfect panel. The panel from Boater Bits would fit the original area perfectly, but it had only three fused switches, they are lighted as well, and it also had a duel battery voltmeter, plus a 12 volt outlet. I scrolled further down their list of panels and found a three gang panel that complemented the bigger panel. That was perfect.

The larger panel will operate the cabin lights, running lights, and one more thing, once I remember what it is! The smaller panel is going to be mounted in the cabin as well, but midship. That panel will operate the anchor light, deck light, and the mast light. Once I get this project completed, I'll post photos, and of course, a little color commentary to go along with it. So, please check back from time to time to see how it turned out.

Jay

Brass Gudgeon Inserts

2008-05-03T17:39:00.000-07:00

After a discussion about the plastic inserts falling out from the gudgeon's when the rudder is removed, I started to think about how I could keep those darn things from falling out! Well, what I came up with, was the idea of using brass pex tail piece fittings inserted into the gudgeon's. They are for 3/4" pex tubing. The inside diameter is very, very, very, close to the diameter of the plastic inserts that are supplied in the gudgeon's, if ordered from CD, as well as the replacement inserts from CD. The outside of these pex fitting have little ribs on them that do need to be ground down with a dremel tool though in order to slip into the gudgeon's.

Once the fitting are ground down, and fitted into the gudgeon's, I used a swedging tool to flare the bottom of the fitting. This makes for a tight fit, and impossible for the fitting to fall out from the gudgeon's.

Besides looking very nice, the wide shoulder of the fitting allows the bracket, that is welded to the pintles, to ride over a larger area than the small shoulder of plastic inserts. The only problem that I've come across with these brass inserts is the fact that the shoulders of the fittings are also a tad higher than the plastic ones, and the hole that is on the shorter pintle, (used to pin the rudder to the gudgeon's, if you so desire), is only half exposed. To remedy this you could drill the longer pintle to except a pin, or use some sort of flat pin that would be able to be inserted into the the hole on the shorter pintle.

Jay

Tinker Toys

2007-11-27T02:25:00.000-08:00

I'm not cheap at all......I just love to think and tinker with things. When I first bought CjAndeai, I started to think about all of the things that I would like to do to her. "I'll buy this, and I'll change that." Well, a new boat is like your first girlfriend, you want to shower them with gift after gift, and that, can spiral out of control, fast. Are all of those gifts needed......for a girl friend ....No, for a boat....Yes! Over the years, I found that if you make gifts from your own hands, for that girlfriend of yours, that the gifts are much more appreciated, than the cheap, late night purchase at the ole local drug store. Well I feel the same when it comes to my boat. Sure, I've bought things for her, some needed, some not. But the true gifts, the ones that were made with my hands, that have my heart and soul in them, are the gifts, in my mind, most appreciated by my little, tubby love.
OK, I guess I might be to much of a Romantic for you sailors, so anyway,.....here's some crap that I have made for my boat!
The first few photos are of my Tiller Extension, made from a car wash extension pole. All I needed to do was to remove the pad that it came with. I threw a metal sleeve into where the bolt is, so not to have the movement of the extension wear down the plastic sleeve. I then drilled a hole into my Tiller to except the extension handle. It works really well for seven dollars!

The second series of photos are of my Mast-Up device. It's three pieces of perforated metal stock, one slides into the other, ect. Right now I use bolts and wing nuts, but that will be changed out this year, and I'll start using clevis pins. Each section is 36" long, and are 1 1/2", 1 1/4", and 1" square. The pintals were made from one part, of a two part, hinge for out door use. They use them on gates and metal fencing gates. They have long threads on them, so just cut them down to what you need. The top portion of my Mast-Up, is a plumber's saddle tee, it's PVC, and the size is a 3"x 2". These can be found at a good plumbing supply shop. I did have shim it out, where it is connected to the top post, so not to slide from side to side. This to works well. It's not as pretty as what CD sells,....but it's made with love!

The last few photos are of my Gin Pole. The pole is a light weight concrete float handle, that I found at a True Value Hardware store. It has a tapered end to except another handle extension, if your a mason working with concrete, but I'm not, so the one piece will do just fine in it's use as a Gin Pole. At the tapered end is where I placed two eye bolts, I cut the treated shaft of the eye bolts to about a 1/2" long. After drilling a hole straight down the top and bottom at the tapered end, I centered a connector coupling nut, which had to be ground down a bit on the sides, into the tapered end and screwed and tightened the two eye bolts. One eye bolt will be used to connect the Jib halyard, the other will hold a block, which will handle the line from the winch. The winch near the other end of the Gin Pole was bought at Harbor Freight Tools. It's advisable to get a winch the will lock in either direction. It helps if things, like shrouds get hung up, or tangled. With the winch locked, you can move around freely to undo problems like that, without the worry of dropping the mast. The winch is bolted to the pole twice, one bolt goes through the pole, and the other is a U-bolt around the pole. At the end of the pole is again a plumber's saddle tee. Same size, 3"x2" with a 2"x 1 1/2" bushing to except the pole with a tight fit. I used one bolt to go through the saddle tee/pole. I also padded the tee with a rubberized material, on the inside of the curved part, so not to have it slip when, in use, against the mast. I works OK, as long as you steady the mast with one hand. I will be building a slider support for the mast this winter, based on Ken Brown's design. This will prevent any side to side movement of the mast while raising, or lowering the mast. My gin pole is light, and easy to handle, and use. Strap on, strap off, it's that easy. The pole dimensions are; 72" long, and 1 3/4" in diameter. The bushing did have to be ground down a bit to except the pole. It wasn't to much work to make this Gin Pole, it's a slick piece of equipment. It makes raising, and lowering, my mast easy for me, with no "what if's". Jay

Thank you for looking, and please view my blog every now and then, and be sure to look through the monthly archives for more thoughts, and ideas. Jay

Please keep scrolling through the white stuff!

Much more past this nothingness, Jay

...Geez....it looked ok!

2007-10-30T13:03:00.000-07:00

The top two photos are of my completed bulkheads, and were added to this post on 2/16/09. I really need to learn the "computer" better, for these should of have gone on the bottom! Enjoy!

Even me, and my anal ways, never knew that I had a problem with my teak plywood bulkheads, until I was inspired by fellow sailor, Tom Gwilym, who has been busy working on his C22, and has been doing a great job on it as well. Tom had refinished some interior teak on his boat, and made it look pretty again. So off my lazy ass I got, and took EVERY piece of teak off that was inside my boat. Everything was fine until I got to the port bulkhead. "What the hell..", I said out loud, "this is a freakin teak sponge"! "Not good", I thought to myself, remembering the near de-masting on a C&C 24, that my wife were sailing on, with the possibility of buying, a few years back. It to had a rotted bulkhead, and under a heavy gust, it blew the chainplate out threw the deck. Not fun!

The next day, I found a half sheet of 1/2" teak plywood at the shop of Keith Deluke, whom is just a great guy, and the best boat repair wizard that I know of. We settled up, and I went home and cut out the new bulkheads. In the photos, the new bulkheads have Bush Oil on them, and are not fully complete as of yet. I will be sure to post photos of all my pretty teak, as soon as I can. Thank you Tom!

Jay

Mast Storage for the Winter

2007-10-30T12:08:00.000-07:00

Soon after my boat's haul out on labor Day this year, due to low water levels in the Great Sacandaga Lake,...(%&$#&%#,,A), I readied the mast for storage on my boat. I wrap all of the halyards , shrouds, and the furler with wide plastic wrap around the mast, and then duct tape the plastic wrap. The plastic wrap protects the mast and lines from all of that duct tape goo. The mast rests on a bumper at the bow pulpit, which works well enough for now. Someday I hope to have a nice fiberglass mast cradle from CD. The center of the mast is supported by a piece of 2"PVC pipe with a plumbers saddle tee mounted to it. This saddle tee cradles the mast nicely. I have drilled a hole near the bottom of the 2" pipe to except the mast bolt as well, which keeps the support in place. At the stern, I made another PVC pipe support for the mast. The base for this support is a PVC toilet flange that will except 3" PVC pipe. Near the top, I used a 3" to 2" PVC reducer, and a short piece of 2" PVC pipe, along with another saddle tee. Once the mast is tied down, it's very secure. This year I wrapped a line around the spreaders for more lateral support, and to keep the mast from rolling slightly from side to side while trailering. Over kill? No! Take care, Jay

2007-10-30T12:06:00.000-07:00

The Elusive Anchor Locker Drain Hose

2007-09-16T06:50:00.000-07:00

Looking for drain hose could drive you crazy. The one hose connection can be seen by taking off the forward lid that lies under the V-berth cushions. The other end of the hose, and it's connection, is pretty well concealed. If you remove the wood panel, you will see a sheet of fiberglass. In order to get to the connection you will need to cut a hole, or a chunk, of that fiberglass out. You can only go three and a half inches high from off the V-berth floor, any higher and you risk cutting into your anchor locker. I should of have used a 3" hole saw, not that I cut into the locker, but just to make look better. I believe that this setup is the same from '86 boats on, but take a good look first!

Jay

An All Out Outhaul

2007-08-24T13:23:00.000-07:00

The outhaul that I put together is a design from Louis Plaisance. I rigged it just a tad bit different though. I ran the one end of the outhaul line down along the starboard side of the boom, down the mast, and into a single block at the mast plate, and then into the cockpit, where it can be cleated off to the starboard side Spinlock rope clutch. The other end of the outhaul line runs along the port side of the boom and is cleated to a Sea-dog cleat, which is mounted midway on the boom. The double and triple blocks are Ronstan 30 series, my single block is a Garhauer. The line is 1/4". I have used both ends of the line at their cleating points, to adjust my outhaul, and it works very well for me. Jay

On track; Double-Ended Mainsheet

2007-08-15T13:17:00.000-07:00

I wanted the convenience of having the control of my mainsheet at both the forward, and at the aft end of the cockpit. So this is what I have done. I mounted a 1" track, 4' long, on the underside of the boom, with the forward end of the track just past the companion way threshold. On this track I mounted a 5" long blank car with a spring loaded stopper( from Garhauer Marine). On the car, I mounted a Harkin Pivoting exit block, by drilling three holes and bolting it to the track. I now have an adjustable double-ended mainsheet setup. I can control my mainsheet anywhere along that 4' track, as well as the mainsheets original position at the transom. The line runs from the pivoting exit block, down to the first single block(at the aft end of the boom), from their it runs down and around one sheave of the fiddle block, then back up to the second single block(on the aft end of the boom), over it goes, down to the fiddle block, and out through the cleat. To use it at either location, simply pull the line from one end or the other, until the stopper knot comes in contact with the cleat, either at the fiddle block or the pivoting exit block. It's that easy. Thomas Jay

C25 tiller for the C22 boat; It's Good!

2007-08-15T12:55:00.000-07:00

Hi Friends,

After getting my boat in the water for the first time after buying it, I knew that one item that I would replace right away, would be the tiller. For me the C22 tiller is painful to use. I feel the need to lean over the tiller way to much, due to it's low profile. If my arms were four inches longer, then maybe the C22 tiller would be comfortable to me...but I doubt it.

I replaced it with a C25 tiller, from Catalina Direct, (and also bought the big beefy tiller straps to go with it.) The tiller straps are a must! The feeling of the rudder is firm at the tiller, no slop, no play at the tiller anymore. The high profile C25 tiller places my hand, when holding the tiller, at a natural level from the elbow, and not from the shoulder like the C22 tiller. I have happy hands on the tiller now, with no fatigue.

Thanks, Thomas Jay

White Knuckle Bars (Grab Bars)

2007-08-04T20:50:00.000-07:00

At the risk of looking like the grab handles next to the old folks pot, I decided to add some to CjAndeai. I use them basically to hold coiled lines, and on occasion, my kids will grab them, as if they were holding the rope of a bucking bull. The one grab handle closest to the compass has absolutely no effect on the compass readings. For that area of the bulkhead, the 14" handles worked out nicely.

Thank you, Thomas Jay

Transducer Housing

2007-08-04T19:59:00.000-07:00

After last years attempt to plow through a pile of rocks, and only to cause a ding in the wing, I decided that maybe I should buy a depth finder. I bought a Norcross Hawkeye and mounted in on the port side bulkhead. I ran the twenty five foot cable from the display, to the transducer, under the floor and through the bilge area, to the starboard side, (just of the keels center), to the area just under the V-berth.

I tried the water in the baggie thing, that was a waste of time. I tried the toilet bowl wax ring thing as well....I tried it as a a wax ring, a ball of wax, and of course just as frigg'en mess of gooey wax. I tried setting the wax ring down in various locations as a wax ring, filled with water, then dropping the transducer in, nothing, just a mess. I hate wax rings. Four rolls of paper towels later,( but my hands did feel supple and smooth), I said to myself "if I were a transducer, where would I go?" Like if my hands were on the Ouija board, they moved to the current location of my transducer, and started to sand that very spot. After sanding down an area the was large enough for my transducer housing, I cleaned it with acetone, and marked around the housing. My housing for the transducer is a shower stall drain turned upside down. Once upside down, it will except a 2" piece of pvc pipe, which I use purely as a stack so no contents in the housing,(mineral oil), will spill out.

I cut a short piece of pvc pipe and glued it to the drain, I then laid a heavy bead of 3M's 4200 on the area that I marked out, and placed the drain into it. After a couple of days of drying, I poured in some mineral oil, and dropped the transducer into it. I then drilled a hole into the center of a 2" Furnco rubber cap and threaded the twenty five foot cable through it, pulling it until it was close to the transducer. I then placed the cap onto the 2"pvc and tightened down. It has not leaked out any mineral oil as of yet, which is a good thing. I have been getting very accurate readings in all weather conditions, and degrees of heeling, with the transducer in that location. I'm very happy with the Norcross Hawkeye depth finder, though this being my second. The first one was purchased from a guy on E-BAY, at a good price. I never asked about a warranty. Well as luck would have it, Norcross had some problems with the early Hawkeyes, and would replace the units, if they were bought from a reputable dealer. Mine was not. So I purchased a second one from a good dealer, and actually had gotten a better price than the first. The tech support was, and is, great at Norcross, and that's the reason why I stayed with the Hawkeye.

Take care, Thomas Jay

O' the rain, she'll be comming....

2007-08-02T19:39:00.000-07:00

Compass Change out

2007-08-01T02:36:00.000-07:00

With all of my upgrades, and improvements, this is one that was based on cosmetics alone. My old Ritchie compass worked fine, it just had some scratches on the face, and the card was faded a little. So off it came, to be replaced with a new Plastimo Contest 101.

I thought for sure that the mounting hole in the bulkhead, for the old Ritchie, would except the Contest 101, but no it did not. I had to cut a dip at the bottom of the hole for it to except the new compass. The hole would of have been cut larger, if I opted to use the retaining ring shipped with the Plastimo. It's one of those projects where I had parts left over! I know that it is mounted securely though, and level.

After mounting the new Plastimo, which has a duel read feature,which enables you to read it from within the cabin, I noticed that I could see the original mounting holes of the Ritchie around my nice, new,shinny compass. Well, I could not have that, so I went looking at one of my favorite plumbing shops, and I found a plastic ring that covers a housing for a washing machine hose hookup. I needed to carve a little on the bottom of the ring so that it would slip over the fancy shape of the Plastimo's bottom. It all worked out ok, and I do like my new compass. Thanks, Thomas Jay

All Lines Aft Project

2007-07-31T12:46:00.000-07:00

For the ease of singlehandling your boat, bringing all the lines aft to the cockpit is a very good thing to do. You kinda create your very own control center within the safety of your cockpit. I'm not totally done with mine yet, but I'm close. I still would like to add a Mainsail downhaul, and a Cunningham. Hopefully before the season comes to an end. So this is what I have done so far, please take a look.

On the port side, the Jib halyard is on the winch, the A-Spinnaker Halyard is on the outside.

On the starboard side, no photo, sorry, I have my MainSail Halyard, Single line Reefing, and one end of my double ended mainsail outhaul. That will be a separate post of it's own.

From the mast, (the Port and Starboard layout is the same), the lines run from Garhauer Marine blocks, (which are attached to a new Catalina Direct Mast Plate), then the lines run into Garhauer Marine's Quad Deck organizer's, then into Colligo Marine Line Guides, and then down to the Spinlock Rope Clutches. I also installed two Lewmar Winches, # 6's, on the cabin top. I have had no problems, with the teak handrails, or, the opening and closing of the pop-top, with any of the items that I've installed. Plenty of clearance for whats been done. Oh, and by the way, I use 3M's 4200 Marine Adhesive Sealant for everything that I do! OK....Maybe not everything.....Thank you, Thomas Jay

To make a Tillermatic aka (WormHole)

2007-07-31T02:30:00.000-07:00

OK, so you want to make your own Tillermatic!

The items that you need are as follows;

one LeBouton Drawstring stopper (Wal-Mart's fabric section) 25mm, they come in white or black. The tag has #Hook624 on it.

However many feet of 3/16" line (I used shock cord at first, but the rudder flopped to much). the line will go from one side of the transom (at an attachment point), to the forward tip of the tiller, then back to the other side of the transom, (to another point of attachmemt)

Tools needed;

7/16'' wood drill bit, 1/2'' wood drill bit, 1/4'' drill bit, drill, and some fine sand paper.

How to do it;

First thing to do, is to take a scrap piece of wood and drill two holes, one 7/16'', and one 1/2'', drill them at a depth of 11/16''. Place the stopper in each hole to see which hole is a better fit, remember that you will most likely varnish the holes to keep them weather tight, so a little looser is ok.

Once you determine the hole size, take your tiller and mark out the holes. My stopper is back about six inches from the forward tip of the Tiller, center the hole on top of the tiller, and use a punch to mark it. Drill the hole at a depth of 11/16''. Then turn the Tiller to it's side and mark the spot where you will drill the 1/4'' hole. This 1/4'' hole will be centered in the middle of the top hole that you just drilled. From the top edge of the Tiller, come down 7/16'' , centered with the top hole and mark it. This where you will drill a 1/4'' hole completely through your Tiller.

When I drilled my 1/4'' holes, I feathered back the side of the holes a bit. I then sanded the 1/4'' holes to make them really smooth.

Place the stopper into the top hole, line up the hole in the stopper to the 1/4'' holes on the side, push down on the top of the stopper, and feed the line through the 1/4'' hole and the stopper. It will be a tight fit, but that's good. Once the stopper top is released, it will hold the line pretty tight.

This Tiller stop has been working out very well for me this season. If you feel the need to be extra sure of it's holding power, you could slip extra stoppers on each side of the Tiller, and snug them close to the Tiller, but I found, so far, that I did not need to do that. Thanks, Thomas Jay

Tillermatic aka (WormHole)

2007-07-30T13:29:00.000-07:00

I like to tinker, so I tinkered with my tiller one day, and this is what I've come up with; Tiller Tom's Tillermatic aka (Worm Hole). It"s basically a tiller lock that won't tear your leg apart, or be in the way of handling your tiller. It's good looking, and it's very inexpensive to make, around $.69 cents (line not included). It's consists of a drawstring stopper, and the required length of 3/16" line.

The part that makes folks squeamish about doing this, is that you do have to drill in the top, and through the sides of your tiller (thus the name Worm Hole). I'm not the least bit concerned about the tiller handle breaking, seeing that I've been using it this season, and it been working fine, and that I've heard no cracking sounds. Plus, the holes are drilled far enough forward of where I normally place my hand, that it becomes a non-issue. How to make it will come in a future post. Thomas Jay

Welcome

2007-07-30T13:06:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Yes, thats me, Thomas Jay, and welcome to my blog. This a blog about my 1989 Catalina 22, CjAndeai. It's a Wing Keeled little gem thats such a pleasure to sail. On this blog you will see a lot of improvements that I've made to this boat, and I'm happy to share them with you. Please feel free to use any of these thoughts, and, or ideas, either as they are, or, for stepping stones for your own ideas and improvements. I'm glad to help, and have a good day of sailing soon! Thomas Jay