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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

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1979 Catalina 25 - Refit 2025

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T O P I C R E V I E W
Jerry Bennett	Posted - 03/08/2025 : 22:16:18 Hi everyone, I'm new around here and I am hoping to ingratiate myself with the harborers of esoteric sailboat lore and wisdom.. I'll do this by searching for the knowledge that I seek via a forum search first so as to not waste you all's valuable time. Only when the search fails will I ask for help. I may even be able to contribute some knowledge myself when it comes to metal fabrication, but I won't blow smoke if I don't have first-hand knowledge on a topic. In 1989 or so, I spent the better part of 2 weeks during spring break from GT on a brand spanking new Tayana 37 knocking around the Gulf departing from New Port Richey area. I grew up saltwater fishing off of Amelia Island, GA for King Mackerel and such, but I had never been on a sailboat... fell in love with it. I knew for certain right then and there that upon graduation, I would be getting an entry level job somewhere on the FL coast where I could live onboard a fixer-upper sailboat while working as a mechanical engineer. Didn't work out though lol... engineering jobs were scarce in the early 90's and I ended up in the Midwest and later Denver and have only just now returned home to somewhere close to the ocean and shortly I will be relocating to Brunswick, GA permanently. I am grateful to have found such a solid owners association. Jerry Bennett
25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First)
Stinkpotter	Posted - 06/14/2025 : 19:35:00 We can clearly see where you stopped on the topsides--you're obviously on your way to victory! Leon left you an incredibly solid foundation, and it looks like you've enhanced it. Good work!
OLarryR	Posted - 06/13/2025 : 21:02:50 Looks real good! Almost a shame to take it outside and be exposed to the weather elements.
Jerry Bennett	Posted - 06/13/2025 : 17:46:35 Progress update: Bottom paint complete and boat back down on the trailer... without any catastrophes thankfully :-) Now I'm moving on to buffing gelcoat the oxidation off of the topsides and deck.. then polish and wax. And then finally I step the mast, after fabricating the stiff leg, and then I try to figure out Leon's rigging.
Jerry Bennett	Posted - 05/07/2025 : 18:21:49 Thanks guys. Great idea on the modified table and the queen matress retrofit. @Steve - Leon faired the cast iron keel with fiberglass and attached anodes as well as the upgrade to the trunk to get a tighter fit. What he did is beautiful work... but the ablative paint and the barrier coat on the keel has sloughed off entirely leaving mostly raw fiberglass. Here's the thing though, Leon's fairing and glassing job left a very smooth surface.. too smooth I think. It looks to me like he didn't ever get a good bond between the new fiberglass and the barrier coat. I plan to rough the surface a bit and cross my fingers that the barrier coat will get a good bond. On the subject of blisters, there aren't any in the pictures... there are only the areas where I have chased them to bare fiberglass and good barrier coat and sanded them smooth... I guess maybe what I am calling blisters isn't the correct terminology.. what they are is bubbled up barrier coat, which when chased to good barrier coat typically increases the size of the defect by 2X.I don't think that I have gone too deep with the sandning, so I really think that a reapplication of barrier coat will bring it back flush... enough
islander	Posted - 05/07/2025 : 15:44:38 Like Bruce I also made a modified table that takes up less room. This is my version. I also have these nice folding tables that can be used anywhere inside or out.
Steve Milby	Posted - 05/07/2025 : 06:37:09 It's always hard to tell from photos, but I don't see anything that looks like blisters on the hull. Blisters look like blisters on the heel of your foot, i.e. a raised bump filled with water. What I see on the hull looks more like many layers of bottom paint that are so thick that it is chipped and peeling, creating deep pits. The remedy for that is to strip off all the old bottom paint. If there's a barrier coat under it, you can leave it if it's in good condition. If the boat has a cast iron keel, it's probably a different issue. Cast iron keels were fairly crude castings. The factory coated them with what appears to be coal tar epoxy to seal out moisture. Then the rough surface of the keel was smoothed with a fairing compound. Finally, they were painted with antifouling. But the factory didn't attach a galvanic sacrificial anode to the keel to protect it from corrosion. Water is one of the most invasive substances known. Given time, it can penetrate steel. It's also an electrolyte, and when it penetrates the coatings to the iron keel, it causes a chemical reaction that releases a gas. That gas lifts the fairing compound from the keel. The remedy is to remove all the loose fairing compound and replace it, and then to attach a sacrificial anode to the keel to prevent it from happening again.
Voyager	Posted - 05/07/2025 : 05:37:23 They look perfect! Nicely done. Along with the woodwork, it breathes new life into the cabin and makes the boat very welcoming. I too have a dinette style cabin that has some nice advantages. You have a long settee for lounging while your guests can grab a seat across the way. The table drops down to create a nice padded hangout for smaller kids / grandkids. Or you can add a bridge board across the aisle to place a Queen-size air mattress between the table and settee which is very comfortable for sleeping over. I made a modified table to take up less room at the dinette. Rather than coming all the way out from the port side, it�s only 1/2 as long as the original table, and I eased the outer corners to fit my more �portly� friends on the benches. I still kept the old table for when I want to set up the bed, but the smaller one works great for hanging out with friends and family.
Jerry Bennett	Posted - 05/06/2025 : 03:36:39 I finally figured out how to get my pictures upright... but now they look squished a bit. Anyway, here's the new cushions... I think it looks pretty nice, especially when paired up with Leon's woodwork refinish work.
Jerry Bennett	Posted - 05/03/2025 : 12:31:34 Thanks Larry, nice webpage by the way. Condition looks the same as what I have going on. I don't plan to fiberglass the repairs though. I was careful to not take too much meat while sanding, and I think that a judicious application of epoxy barrier coat will be a sufficient repair.. I hope. If not, I can sand it back off and glass the areas if necessary. Fortunately, it doesn't look like the blistering problem is very prevalent on her underbelly... and the starboard side only has maybe 25% as many blisters... but the keel is completely bare to the fiberglass.... and the glass is very smooth.. might have needed a rougher surface to bind too maybe.. I dunno
OLarryR	Posted - 05/02/2025 : 13:06:22 For info - Take a look at my website for the blister repairs performed some years ago. Areas were so bad with blisters on top of blisters that many areas had to be repaired with fiberglass cloth, resin, recontouring hull portions and then 7 coatings of interprotect followed by bottom painting.
Jerry Bennett	Posted - 05/02/2025 : 12:14:45 Thanks guys... I lost the keel photo trying to get it right side up on here... getting photos to post correctly is becoming annoying. But you are right, there isn't hardly any barrier coat on the keel... but I didn't sand it off, it was that way from Leon... for some reason when he faired the keel, the barrier coat didnt bond to the glass looks like. Here are pics of the port side barrier coat.. there was no bottom paint in many areas and a good number of those places have devel9oped blisters under the barrier coat... I was obliged to sand them out and so they can be repaired properly... its a lot but I think I'm doing it right.
Voyager	Posted - 04/26/2025 : 06:12:55 I again suggest a nice pull scraper instead of sanding. Red Devil Scraper
Steve Milby	Posted - 04/25/2025 : 15:56:35 I don't see any indication that it has any barrier coat on it. The white areas appear to be the original gel coat. Don't be aggressive in your sanding. You should avoid sanding away any of the gel coat. Catalinas built in 1989 and thereafter had factory applied barrier coat. If a pre-1989 boat has no significant blisters after 35+ years, it might not need a barrier coat.
Jerry Bennett	Posted - 04/25/2025 : 12:46:56 Last try for now... maybe ever lol
Jerry Bennett	Posted - 04/25/2025 : 12:36:23 Sigh... I never get stuff right the first time with code..
Jerry Bennett	Posted - 04/25/2025 : 12:05:51 [Img]https://jerrybennett.smugmug.com/1979-Catalina-25/i-GNCmhBV[img] Keel - before barrier coat repairs
Jerry Bennett	Posted - 04/24/2025 : 09:32:36 Thanks guys I�ll try to post some pics tonight� the problem is that I can�t access the members section to save the photos.. could post Instagram links I reckon
Voyager	Posted - 04/23/2025 : 12:14:56 Pix! That�s a dodgy situation. Here�s the drill. This forum can display a JPEG image that you store elsewhere on the �net. As long as you can publish a JPEG version somewhere and get the literal URL pathname of the image, you can use the code to display your picture. Resolution of the base photo is important. A 2000x1600 pixel image will turn out VERY LARGE here, so your text will resultingly be scaled down a lot (fine print). 640x480 or 720x480 produces good resolution for most folks� phones or tablets. Even 1280x1040 is good for images that require both size and details. Once you have your URL path name that ends in the image_name.jpg (whatever the image name happens to be), use the following expression. Also note that you must use "straight quotes", not �angled quotes� in your expression. [-img]https://www.catalina25s.org/userforum/myboatpix/bilge-water-photo.jpg[/-img] (I added the dashes to prevent the forum code from working. Remove it when you want to post your photo. I just made up the URL, it�s not related to any particular site, just an example.
Voyager	Posted - 04/23/2025 : 11:29:53 It seems like you�re sorting out the power and the cooking. Lead-Acid batteries have a situation that happens after awhile where you have to overcharge them to �equalize�. This removes some of the lead salts that cake on the plates over time. https://batteryuniversity.com/article/bu-404-what-is-equalizing-charge Check that out.
Jerry Bennett	Posted - 04/20/2025 : 11:01:49 Turns out the charging amps of the 9.9 Yamaha is only 7 amps or so.. not much, but waste not want not. I have a DC to DC charger to place between the battery combiner and lithium house battery back to protect the alternator.. I am upgrading the solar to 400 watts of flexible fiberglass pv sheets�. Which will be the primary power source for charging the house bank backed up by a lil Honda Genset. Need to get the pictures figured out.. I have a number of pics I want to upload. I�ve almost got the boat raised up off the trailer via Jack�s and stands. So next week is serious bottom sanding / barrier coat repairs / bottom ablative painting .. then I plan to paint the boot stripe and pin stripe after which I will attempt some gel coat repairs with the supposed color matched repair kit that I bought. Hopefully that will turn out well, and I will finish off with the buffing and waxing a gel gelcoat after some further cosmetic work, removing rust stains� she�s gonna be a looker� and thanks to Leon she�s solid as hell.
Jerry Bennett	Posted - 04/17/2025 : 14:30:02 Thank you sir. Truly I'm uncomfortable with the current set up.. I have discovered that I have a pressurized water leak somewhere draining into the bilge. As I can't lay eyes on the full length of the gas hose that Leon fished from the back of the stove to the starboard cockpit storage area. The water leak doesn't give me a lot of confidence, so I will probably try to remove the hose, or abandon in place more likely. I will look for a camp stove that will fit in the area under the cutting board. Unfortunately, I also have to replace the house battery bank... Leon has (2) 6v golfcart batteries in series to supposedly make a 12v 200ah bank... but all I get out of it is about 40 ah before the voltage drops so low as to be unusable. No idea why the performance is so poor... batteries look fine and test ok... I have a specific gravity tester coming but I think they are just degraded for some reason... Good news is that I picked up a Victron Dc to DC converter to place between the battery combiner and the (2) 12v 100ah Li batteries that I already have, so this should protect the alternator in the event of an overcharge shutdown from the BMS.... might even put in 3 batteries since I have them. Not sure what the charging amps are off the 10hp Yamaha OB, but I will be picking up a Honda generator anyway and Im going to upgrade the current solar to maybe 400W.
Voyager	Posted - 04/04/2025 : 15:42:30 A boat stove is an interesting question. Long time ago, the unpressurized alcohol stove like Origo was the standard for safety aboard the boat. These were also jokingly called �curtain burners�. Then, folks decided on propane stoves. They are built to be relatively safe, however, you can make them very unsafe. Putting a propane cylinder inside of an enclosed space like the bilge or fender locker (dumpster) is just asking for a disaster. The cockpit fuel locker on the C-25 does NOT lead into the bilge, so that�s a safe place for propane storage. If I used a propane stove, I�d attach a 1 lb canister to a camp stove, then disconnect it when I�m finished cooking. My preference is to use a butane stove up on the cockpit seats. I lay down a plywood board across the seats and cook outside. I also have a single burner �white gas� stove that I use to boil water for tea and make coffee. Good luck on your choice of cooking technology.
Voyager	Posted - 04/04/2025 : 15:26:24 If you�re considering sanding the bottom, it may be much less dusty and laborious if you use a pull scraper to remove the bottom paint. Unless it was an epoxy-based paint, standard ablative bottom paint doesn�t stick too firmly to the gelcoat. If you lay down a big tarp to catch the chunks, you can scrape it off in a few hours. Make absolutely certain that whatever method you use, protect yourself. Copper paint is quite toxic. Wear a proper respirator, long pants and shirtsleeves, cover your hair or scalp, wear gloves,etc or get a cloth hazmat suit. A sander can inadvertently dig down a lot deeper than the bottom paint, through your gelcoat. A pull scraper gives you a lot better control. Some people use a soda blaster or a sand blaster to remove bottom paint. This can be costly, but you don�t have to do anything but pay them for the work. Once you begin the barrier coat, be sure you follow the directions for time between coats and ambient temperatures, since you�ll need to apply several coats with a maximum number of hours of drying time between coats. There�s also an ideal ambient temperature to observe. Good luck with your project, it�s definitely worth it!
Jerry Bennett	Posted - 04/02/2025 : 17:00:02 Thanks guys. I Called a fiberglass shop locally and asked if they would match the gelcoat color for me. The lady told me to contact this outfit in Florida and to give them my hull number and that they could match the original color for me. I went ahead and bought a quart from these folks... hopefully after I buff the existing gelcoat, it will be a match.. reasoning is that even if it isn�t perfect is probably better than I could ever do But that project is next on the list. Currently, I�m sanding bottom paint, after which I�m going to repair the barrier coat where the UV got to it. I�m going to be using West systems epoxy with the barrier coat additive. Then two contrasting colors of ahlative bottom paint� Went with total boat underdog black (gallon) and dark green (quart). Also will be repainting the boot and pen stripe dark green. I�m still working out how to get the boat off the trailer high enough so that I can lower the keel as it needs barrier coat for most all of its surface. I have new stands, which weren�t cheap, but are high-quality.. more on that to follow. Thanks again for the help
Steve Milby	Posted - 03/31/2025 : 04:39:25 If you'll google "roll and tip awl grip" you'll find numerous articles and videos about it. Here are links to two good ones. The first is an article by Practical Sailor. https://www.practical-sailor.com/mailport-ps-advisor/tips-on-rolling-and-tipping-with-awlgrip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akJVgHJSZTk

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.