Backstay Eyebolt Repair

Well, it's been said that owning a boat is process of constant maintenance, and Ellipsis certainly demonstrates that fact. Following our successful stem fitting repair and wonderful sail on the South Puget Sound, Liz and I discovered that the backstay eyebolt/chainplate had pulled up from the deck about 1/8". Clearly, this must be fixed! This post establishes what the problem is and what we have to work with. In a later post, I will chronicle how we repair it.






This is the eyebolt/chainplate as we found it, pulling up out of the transom.


Note the cracks in the surface of the decking.


The eyebolt was easily unscrewed by putting a nail through the hole for extra torque. Upon removal, I noted some damage to the threads (visible in this photo) and I measured it. It is a 1/2" bolt. Older Catalina 22's had 3/8" bolts, but ours either had this one stock, or it was upgraded by a previous owner.

The hole in the transom does not go all the way through to the open space below. Thus, the eyebolt was not secured with a washer and nut.


In this closeup view, you can see that there are metal threads embedded in the transom. I've read that C22's often have a bronze bar along the top of the transom, but this metal appears more silvery or steel colored to my untrained eye. Not easily seen in this photo is a much thinner layer of threaded yellow (bronze?) colored metal above the steel threads. Could someone have glassed or epoxied in a nut below the bronze bar? The area is not accessible from below decks, so I cannot inspect from below. Even so, the hole doesn't go all the way through, so I doubt I'd see anything useful in any case.

Liz and I are considering our options for this repair, and I will post our solution when we decide what to do.

Mast Raising System

One new innovation we used on our first sail of the Puget Sound was a nifty mast raising system. It really made launching a lot easier, so I thought I'd share a photo essay of how we built it.

The system is an A-frame type, based on instructions we found in the Catalina 22 Technical manual (the one distributed by the Cat 22 National Association). Many thanks to Dick King for his detailed instructions!


Here is a photo of the finished assembly, leaning against the boat.





The frame is made out of 3/4" steel electrical conduit, each piece about 80 inches long. The ends of each piece were hammered flat, with the opposite end of each one flattened at 90 degrees to the other end.



Holes for 5/16" bolts and clevis pins were drilled into each end, and the sharp edges rounded and smoothed.



Two short pieces were fashioned into adapters that could fit over the forward lower shroud chainplate eyebolts. The picture below shows how it all fits together.



We quickly discovered that these short pieces could not be hammered flat (and besides, hammering conduit flat takes a mighty effort). So, we picked up a massive workbench vise at Lowes (on sale for half price!--$35) and used it to flatten the adapter pieces. Simplicity itself!



Because the goal was to use the trailer winch to hoist the mast, we improvised a bow "roller" using a couple of "bar brackets" from the hardware store. These are the things you use to bar a gate with a 2x4.




Here is the assembled bow "roller". We added a piece of conduit so the trailer winch strap could slide freely.



The bow "roller," attached to the stem fitting.

I'll post more pictures later, but for an idea of how it all works, get a copy of the Technical Manual and read Dick King's article, entitled "Mast Raising." Thanks again, Dick! This rig worked like a charm.

First Sail on Puget Sound

The stem fitting repair seems to be successful!

We put into the water at Boston Harbor near Olympia, and proceeded to Hope Island, where we anchored for about 90 minutes, and then returned. Total time was around 8 hours, including some rather calm conditions in the early afternoon. Later, though, the wind really kicked up and we sailed home with about 15 knots. Excellent!


At anchor off the northwestern shore of Hope Island.


Spectacular view of Mt. Rainier.


John relaxes with a Bitburger while Liz takes the helm.

Catalina 22 Stem Fitting Repair

Liz and I purchased the stem fitting reinforcement kit from Catalina Direct for about $50, and proceeded to reinforce the damaged deck where the stem fitting had pulled up about 1/8" after our last sail. See pictures for the full story of the process. If you click on a picture, you will get a much higher resolution image for your perusal....


This is the original condition of stem fitting seen from below decks, in the bow of the boat. As you can see, the bolts come through the fiberglass deck, just after the deck plywood stops. I don't know who thought this was a good idea! There isn't even a backing plate to spread the load across the decking!!!


The same area, above decks, with the stem fitting removed. Note the cracks around the forward two mounting holes. This is where the decking started to pull up. You can see residue from the silicon that was under the stem fitting originally. Our plan was to reglass the deck from below, fill the holes with West System marine epoxy, then reglass from above, and redrill the holes. Thanks to Chip Ford for suggestions for reinforcing the deck.


Here is the view from below, after two sheets of new fiberglass were laid and the holes filled with epoxy. You can see some small drips of epoxy, where it was pushed through some of the fiberglass cloth. We let the fiberglass cure before putting in the epoxy, and let the epoxy cure before glassing above decks.


Topsides, after glassing over the expoxy-filled holes.


The same view, after we drilled the new holes through the epoxy and fiberglass. You can see the stem fitting plate in the background.


This is the bow area below decks, ready for the stem fitting reinforcement kit to be installed. The nuts and washers have been removed from the bow eye bolts below. I examined the bow eye block and bolts and determined they were in good condition and didn't need to be replaced. Also, we cut a backing plate for the stem fitting out of 3/4" marine grade plywood, drilled it to match the holes through the deck, and varnished it. The backing plate is visible in the final photo below.


The stem fitting reattached to the deck. We used 4200 marine caulk to fill in beneath the fitting, and used the same caulk on the wooden backing plate below decks, and to re-mount the bow eye and its metal plate on the bow.


A view of the bow eye from outside, after it has been reset and re-caulked.


The final installation of the stem reinforcement kit, with extra backing plate, as seen from below deck. We sure feel a lot more peace of mind, knowing that this extra reinforcement is in place!

Outfitting for 2009 Season in Olympia, WA

Ellipsis has just moved from Tucson, AZ to Olympia, WA. Wow. It's a big difference in climate.

But the difference works in our Catalina 22's favor, for sure, since we now actually have a place to sail in our comparative back yard: the south Puget Sound. Naturally, this requires some maintenance, repair, and preparation.

Our first major repair is to the stem fitting. This is the metal plate that bolts through the deck at the bow, and holds the jib stay in place. This repair has become necessary because Catalina 22's of our year and older have a design flaw, and we have taken concrete steps to address this flaw.

This blog will document our repair and maintenance of Ellipsis (and our subsequent fun), in the hopes that it will be useful to other Cat 22 owners out there, and in the hopes that we can get feedback from those who either know better, think they know better, wish they knew better, and anyone else who wishes to join in the dialogue on how to best keep these solid, reliable boats where they should be: on the water.

John Baldridge
Skipper
Ellipsis
Catalina 22 (1982)