Help..

cgaddis

New Member
I just purchased a 1994 Catalina Capri 14.2 in pretty good condition. Everything was going great until I decided to be a handy man and try to create a lid out of one of the bench seats. I cut off the top of the left side bench to create the lid and installed hinges and a latch. I also sealed off the edges of the cut out piece with vinyl door seal. I wanted to create a storage bay to hold fishing rods, a paddle and the battery box to my trolling motor. I'm starting to think that this project was a little more than I could handle and that I possibly weakened the integrity of the boat. So, has anybody every attempted this before? If so what did you do? And if not, what do you think my options are at this point?
 
The boat may be more likely to sink if water can enter the space between the cockpit and the hull through this lid when it capsizes. I doubt that vinyl door seal will be waterproof. You can try to find and install a commercially available waterproof hatch. Or you can seal the hole with a fiberglass patch.
 
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What did you do with either the styrofoam blocks or inflatable containers that were in there? It was my understanding that the flotation devices under the benchs are the only things keeping you from sinking in case of a catastrophic capsizing. Personally, I would have built something into the cuddy itself instead of cutting open the benches. There is no real point in trying to make it water proof since the earlier designs did not have a water tight cuddy hatch anyhow - and I would at least stuff as much styrofoam as you can back into the leftover space under the benches - or the cuddy.
 
What did you do with either the styrofoam blocks or inflatable containers that were in there? It was my understanding that the flotation devices under the benchs are the only things keeping you from sinking in case of a catastrophic capsizing. Personally, I would have built something into the cuddy itself instead of cutting open the benches. There is no real point in trying to make it water proof since the earlier designs did not have a water tight cuddy hatch anyhow - and I would at least stuff as much styrofoam as you can back into the leftover space under the benches - or the cuddy.

There were about 5 to 6 inflatable tanks in the area underneath the seat. I left them where they were. I'm going to take it into a body shop tomorrow to get an appraisal and see what it would cost to patch the seat back together or finish the storage space.
 
Personally, if you already cut it open and still have room to keep the floats in there, I would finish it out like you were going to. I seriously doubt that you have degraded any structural integrity. Just MHO...
 

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