Bike/boat builder. Musician. Business student. Veggie wildman. Not necessarily in that order...

I'm rebuilding a Catalina c-22 to make it an off shore, live aboard cruiser. I've done a lot of structural modifications to the original hull and rigging design. It's been said that a 22 can't be an off shore cruiser because it is too small to store bulky emergency gear like a proper life boat, survival suits, etc, and because of the hull length, it can only go so fast under sail. That may be true, but I'll find a way, and I'm on a sailboat. I'm not in a hurry. I can always fire up the Evinrude 15.

The pix were uploaded in the order that I did each job, so the newest pix are at the front. The first set taken (by Dee N.) of the keel install are at the end of the last page.

I'll list details as I go, but in a nutshell; I found a used Catalina 22 on line. The nice gentleman was asking $2500, but I explained that he would probably never see anything close to that because the boat had an obviously totaled keel, serious mast and rigging damage from what appeared to be a trailering accident, a seriously smashed bow, and numerous signs of previous mishandling. I explained that, in my opinion, until/unless it gets some major work done to it, it was a parts boat on a $500 trailer. He called me back a couple weeks later to accept my $500 offer, and I've been restoring it ever since.

This boat is an investment. Since I have the tools and where-with-all, I should do OK if/when I sell it (for a larger one?). Motorcycles are similar. Here in Florida, a good bike mechanic should be able to find a basket case bike for a couple hundred dollars, throw a couple hundred more at it, ride it for at least a couple years/few thousand miles, and sell it for twice what they have in it. That's always been my model with bikes, so I'm trying it with my first sailboat.

More details to come...

Am planning to sail my boat from Florida to Labrador sometime around 2013-2014 via ICW, Atlantic, and Long Island sound. Anyone planning a similar excursion, hit me up.