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.
I haven't made one but I keep my eye out for someone selling a teak swim platform. My thought is that a swim platform can be trimmed to fit and would be cost effective over buying new teak and screws. Another way to go and fairly inexpensive is to use deck tiles. They too can be cut and trimmed and hold up against the weather.https://www.gardenwinds.com/deck-tiles-c-28_305.html
Scott-"IMPULSE"87'C25/SR/WK/Din.#5688 Sailing out of Glen Cove,L.I Sound
Dave Bristle Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired), Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge
has anyone every made a cockpit grate for the catalina 25, or know where one would look for plans, etc. ?
made one for a cheoy lee once.
i think either "The Finely Fitted Yacht: The Boat Improvement Manual, Volumes 1 and 2" or "from a bare hull" by Ferenc Máté had instructions. wooden boat mag had something in a back issue once.
It's your choice of course, but I wouldn't put a grate in the cockpit unless you need to do so to cover up a damaged cockpit floor. The people who I know who put one in took it out. It became an additional, needless maintenance item. Besides having to refinish them, they trap sand, dirt and food debris.
Steve Milby J/24 "Captiva Wind" previously C&C 35, Cal 25, C25 TR/FK, C22 Past Commodore
I appreciate all feedback. What I failed to mention, the reason for the cockpit grate is to prolong the dreaded job of replacing the core material in the cockpit floor. I have a good size ( 10" by 10") soft spot in the floor. Has anyone done the project?
I appreciate all feedback. What I failed to mention, the reason for the cockpit grate is to prolong the dreaded job of replacing the core material in the cockpit floor. I have a good size ( 10" by 10") soft spot in the floor. Has anyone done the project?
I haven't done it, but I have watched my friends do similar repairs. It isn't as difficult a job as it appears. If you spend your time and money making a grate, you'll still have a small but growing soft spot in the floor. If you spend that time and money, and a little more, repairing the small soft spot before it gets bigger, the problem will go away.
Basically, you make a shallow cut through the fiberglass floor, just deep enough to cut through the fiberglass skin. That exposes the plywood core. Remove all the rotten area, replace it with a new, man-made core material that will never rot, fill it with fiberglass resin, leaving enough space for about 2-3 layers of fiberglass cloth on top. Spread enough resin on the surface to tack down a layer of cloth, and then pour and brush resin over it, to saturate it. Do the same with the next layer of cloth. After that is all set up, then spread enough resin over the area to bring it up to the level of the original floor. Sand it smooth and then paint over the whole floor with Kiwi Grip non skid paint.
Steve Milby J/24 "Captiva Wind" previously C&C 35, Cal 25, C25 TR/FK, C22 Past Commodore
The key question is "Why the soft spot?" Leaky scuppers? I'd fix that first and then decide where to go from there. Some have repaired situations like this by drilling a matrix of holes through the top fiberglass and most of the way into the core in the area, giving the core some time to dry out (like a month), and then injecting penetrating epoxy into the holes repeatedly until it stops soaking in and mostly fills the holes. Finally, some gelcoat patch covers the holes. Replacing the core is better and a bigger job... It's a judgement call. But the epoxy ends up not just stiffening the rotted core, but forming a matrix of solid plugs that prevent compression.
Dave Bristle Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired), Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge
I've seen it done both ways, by replacing the core and by drilling a matrix of holes and filling them. Either way takes about the same amount of time to do it right, but replacing the core is far more likely to be a lasting repair.
Steve Milby J/24 "Captiva Wind" previously C&C 35, Cal 25, C25 TR/FK, C22 Past Commodore
I won't disagree with Steve... I'll just say the core replacements I've been aware of were done from below so the exterior fiberglass is left intact and, in this case, the glass above the quarter-berth would be replaced. I have to believe that's a considerably more involved project for an amateur.
Dave Bristle Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired), Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge
I won't disagree with Steve... I'll just say the core replacements I've been aware of were done from below so the exterior fiberglass is left intact and, in this case, the glass above the quarter-berth would be replaced. I have to believe that's a considerably more involved project for an amateur.
It's much more difficult and uncomfortable to do it that way. The reason why some people do it that way is to make the repairs less visible, but, IMO, there's no good reason to do it that way. If you sand the repairs smooth and repaint with Kiwi Grip, very few people will even notice the repair, except fellow C25 sailors, and they are more likely to admire your workmanship. IMO, a nicely done repair adds to the dignity of a boat. It says that you value the boat enough to preserve it.
Steve Milby J/24 "Captiva Wind" previously C&C 35, Cal 25, C25 TR/FK, C22 Past Commodore
This might be what Steve is talking about but what Don Casey suggested is to cut out the sole all along the edge (where the no skid ends) with a cutting wheel and pry up and remove the sole intact. Dig out the soft core and replace it, sand it flat then reinstall the original sole. Fill the groove with epoxy and gelcoat. Easy for me to say but that seemed to result in a good-looking repair. Is this even possible?!?!
That's one way that you can do it, if you want or need to replace a large area, but you have options. It's nice to restore the original factory non skid, but if you only have a small soft spot, you can repair just that spot and then refinish the whole floor smooth and paint it with Kiwi Grip, which provides a very nice non skid finish. It's your boat, and you can refinish it in any way that satisfies you. If you hired that work done, the skilled workman would not restore it to the original factory appearance, unless you paid him dearly to do so. He would repair it in a manner that would result in it being safe and sound and that would meet general standards for fit and finish.
Steve Milby J/24 "Captiva Wind" previously C&C 35, Cal 25, C25 TR/FK, C22 Past Commodore
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.