18 April 2011 | Alexandria, VA
11 May 2010
31 July 2009
26 April 2009
24 January 2009 | Cadle Creek
27 December 2008 | Chesapeake Bay
09 November 2008
13 October 2008
30 September 2008
13 July 2008 | Warehouse Creek
30 May 2008 | St. Mary's River
26 May 2008 | Rhode River & Chesapeake Bay
24 May 2008 | Chesapeake Bay
04 May 2008 | Chesapeake Bay
29 April 2008

On the hard, major project time.

03 June 2007
Well, I planned to go work on my boat some more but it is forecasted to rain all day today. I'll post some updates of projects I've been working on for the past several weeks but just haven't had a chance to post.

I installed my mast gates back in early April. These will make reefing the main sail easier. I don't have a picture of them installed, but this is what they look like. I had to grind the ends of each one to fit my sail slug opening on the mast.
P1000901

I needed to come up with a new method to secure my battery under the dinette seat. The original piece of wood was simply glued to the hull bottom, but water often accumulated in that part of the bilge and the wood was completely rotted. I chipped out all the old wood and epoxy and then used a power sander to smooth it out as much as possible. Dave and I were trying to think of some good ideas. Dave thought about simply bolting two eyelets through each side of the compartment walls that the hold down strap could be pulled through. It sounded good, simple, and inexpensive. Dave had some spare teak outlet covers for a decorative reinforcement on the outside and on the inside he made some PVC blocks with rounded edges to prevent cracking the fiberglass. We put it together and it should hold the battery well. Here is the finished product:
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I originally wired the new bow light to the factory wiring in the anchor locker which I noticed was quite corroded. It did not light the bulb at all. Dave helped me trouble shoot the problem and it turned out the resistance in the stock wiring was too high because of the corrosion. Dave helped me fish the bow light wire from the bow to the circuit panel in the cockpit locker. It is now all connected and the light turns on! Now I will just need to rewire my mast, install new lights, and then all my navigation lights will be ready.

I added a 12 volt accessory outlet and battery meter on the galley bulkhead next to the circuit panel.
P1010120
Now I can get a quick look at the status of my batteries and easily plug in my GPS or other 12 volt accessory.

I started my new job in early May, so I was finally able to get to work on my much needed projects that needed to be done out of the water. I had my C-25 hauled out, power washed, and blocked as soon as possible. Here are some pictures of her hauled out, the first time I've seen the bottom in person:
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The past several weekends I have been getting quite a bit done. I was able to pump out the holding tank through the tank top opening before haul out and that went just fine. Once hauled out I pulled all the old plumbing out. When removing the hose off the seacock for the over board discharge, the valve popped right off the thru-hull fitting! I am so lucky that last year when I attempted to close the jammed gate valve that it did not come off then while in the water. I removed all the old hoses and now will just need to seal off the thru-hull since I have no need for it.
P1000952
I have a 1-1/2" bronze cap on order that I will use to cap it off. I have started connecting up new hoses and will have to buy a new deck pump out fitting because of the original hose was larger than my new 1-1/2" hoses.

Here is the keel, normally it is resting on the ground but I raised it to see how it fits in the trunk and how much wobble there was.
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The keel pin castings:
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The old keel hose:
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The old keel cable ball which took 2 hours to remove:
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Here is the rusty old winch. It worked fine, but spread rusty dust every time it was used and also just having a brand new one will be reassuring.
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This is the swedge fitting where the keel cable connect to the keel eyebolt. You can see some splitting and corrosion. I'll be glad to have a brand new one on!
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Last weekend Dave helped me change the oils in my outboard and replace the water pump impellor. If you read my posts from last summer, you may recall my posts about my outboard over heating and my trouble shooting. I found all those small chunks of rubber clogging the cooling ports which looked like impellor parts. Well, when we removed the lower unit and opened the water pump, we found the impellor to be in great shape. Our only guess is the previous owner replaced it but was not able to remove all the chunks of a broken impellor which then accumulated in the engine block. We still replaced the impellor and gaskets and I'll keep the previous as a spare.

Yesterday I lowered my keel to replace the pivot hardware. A couple weekends ago Dave and I built the frame with 2x4s to support the keel from tipping over. I first used a car jack along with four pieces of 12" long 3/8" threaded stock to help guide the castings down. The threaded stock idea didn't work because the bronze castings were catching on the threads and not letting the keel lower. I removed the threaded stock and simply lowered it very slowly with the jack. It worked very smoothly.
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With the pin removed, you can see what was causing the play in the pin. I believe the previous owner must have had the pin hole bored out and had this bushing put in, but the hole was too large and the bushing was too small for the hole and a little larger than the pin.
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Here is the pin and one casting:
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This is the hole before I bored it out with my new 1-1/4" drill bit:
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This is after spending only 5-10 minutes boring out the hole:
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I bored out the hole to install a bushing to take up the extra space. I thought this was going to be a huge project. The good news for me was that the hole barely needed to be bored out. I'm guessing maybe it was 1-1/8" and I had to remove about 1/16" of metal. It was quick and easy. I used a �" chuck hand drill and some thread cutting oil and drilled it out by hand. From what I read on the C-25 National forum, one person mentioned drilling by hand and it took an hour or two to complete. Others used drill presses that could be mounted onto the keel with a brace made. Those were some big projects and I'm fortunate mine was so simple. The bad news I found out that the Catalina factory accidentally sent me the incorrect bushing. It is the correct diameter, but only 1-1/2" long when my keel thickness is 2-3/4". So, I need to call them up to have the correct one sent out as soon as possible.

My next step will be to make my castings the correct size. After test fitting them yesterday it looks like around 1/16" will need to be removed from each one to fit. I will take some exact dimensions before I begin. Once they are sized and I receive the bushing I will simply raise the keel back up and bolt it in place! I am making progress in my projects!
Comments
Vessel Name: Sapphire Breeze
Vessel Make/Model: 1982 Catalina 25 SK/SR
Hailing Port: Mayo, MD
Crew: Justin
Extra: This site is all about my experiences with my first boat; from restoring it, to my sailing adventures. I enjoy hearing from my readers, so feel free to send me an email. I'm also interested in meeting new people in the area, especially people in my age range since I hardly know any that sail.

Who: Justin
Port: Mayo, MD