Shaun Sanders
New Member
I bought a 2005 14.2 fixed keel for $250 from a private boat club on a private lake located in SoCal. It had been used as part of a rental fleet, and while it had plenty of dings in it, it seemed like a great deal. I had to modify a trailer I bought off craigslist: trailer and modification to accommodate the keel, approx. $800. So a good little boat for around $1000, although I've since spent another $1000 repairing and sorting things out, and I'll probably spent another $1000 on sails.
Still, a good boat, and I'm very happy.
First, I scrubbed off the heavy algae stains and calcium (appearing as a brown hull undercoat in the pic above) using diluted muriatic acid. Worked a charm.
Then, I was repairing blisters in the gel coat on the keel and noticed the keel had a crack running underneath its center, and when I ran a drill bit into the crack, something seemed really weird, so I had to carve out an inch-wide gap to see what was in there.
I found bullets! Yes, spent bullets.
It seems Catalina must have picked up their lead ballast (200 lbs of it) from a gun range. I lifted out about an inch worth of bullets, then fiber-glassed in some reinforcing, then gel-coated over. I was happy with the result.
I repaired other chips and gouges in the boat, then polished the whole thing with wet and dry 800, then waxed and buffed with a West Marine wax/cleaner combo liquid. I removed the stripe decal as it was messed up--that was a real pita.
--just been hosed down: I couldn't get the wax that shiny
The boat had some hinky running rigging, with the main sheet cleating by the center block up on the boom--a cheap way to equip the boat for rental, I guess. So I'm putting in the Barney post from Catalina direct, and I may also re-rig the main.
I like the idea of doing away with the rear rope traveler completely, and instead using a fiddle block and cam cleat on the barney, and a fiddle block on the boom, about half way along. I figure I might get more mechanical advantage this way (4 wraps of the sheet instead of 3), but I wonder how the sail will feel with the rear traveler gone. Plenty of other boats have no rear traveler, so I'm interested to know if there is a specific reason the 14.2 has one, other than it was designed as a family friendly, inexpensive day sailor. Having the fiddles in the middle of the boom should create bend in the boom, thus flattening the sail when hauled in close. Which I like the idea of for heavy weather sailing--say 20-25 knots, solo.
Has anyone done that modification?
Still, a good boat, and I'm very happy.
First, I scrubbed off the heavy algae stains and calcium (appearing as a brown hull undercoat in the pic above) using diluted muriatic acid. Worked a charm.
Then, I was repairing blisters in the gel coat on the keel and noticed the keel had a crack running underneath its center, and when I ran a drill bit into the crack, something seemed really weird, so I had to carve out an inch-wide gap to see what was in there.
I found bullets! Yes, spent bullets.
It seems Catalina must have picked up their lead ballast (200 lbs of it) from a gun range. I lifted out about an inch worth of bullets, then fiber-glassed in some reinforcing, then gel-coated over. I was happy with the result.
I repaired other chips and gouges in the boat, then polished the whole thing with wet and dry 800, then waxed and buffed with a West Marine wax/cleaner combo liquid. I removed the stripe decal as it was messed up--that was a real pita.
--just been hosed down: I couldn't get the wax that shiny
The boat had some hinky running rigging, with the main sheet cleating by the center block up on the boom--a cheap way to equip the boat for rental, I guess. So I'm putting in the Barney post from Catalina direct, and I may also re-rig the main.
I like the idea of doing away with the rear rope traveler completely, and instead using a fiddle block and cam cleat on the barney, and a fiddle block on the boom, about half way along. I figure I might get more mechanical advantage this way (4 wraps of the sheet instead of 3), but I wonder how the sail will feel with the rear traveler gone. Plenty of other boats have no rear traveler, so I'm interested to know if there is a specific reason the 14.2 has one, other than it was designed as a family friendly, inexpensive day sailor. Having the fiddles in the middle of the boom should create bend in the boom, thus flattening the sail when hauled in close. Which I like the idea of for heavy weather sailing--say 20-25 knots, solo.
Has anyone done that modification?
