Salty Dawg Miracle Hull Restoration - Free Sailboat Catalina 22 

Haha growing pains! It took some getting used to, but I'm finally remembering

Thank you! I very much encourage you to! I'm having the time of my life

Thanks!

Isn't it though! Growing pains. I had to learn the hard way.

@@petesfleet640 🙏❤💪

Thank you!

Thank you! I was amazed

You bet, bud! I hope to inspire others to sail!

Thank you!

Thanks Jim! You're getting a shoutout in an upcoming video, when I do my spreader bar brackets!

using a ball or crinkled up sheet of aluminum foil will get you similar results(with mild elbow grease) on steel or most any other metal stronger/harder than steel. removes rust from chrome too. learned from the sixtyfiveford channel years ago.

@@petesfleet640 sweet maybe compare it against using some standard aluminum foil. I figure the diamond magic is better by ease of use on shaped parts. more content is always better. well mostly. give me at least one more vid and i'll sub and watch this series.

@@bored0987 that's an idea! Sometimes simple works well. I'll give it a shot and see how it comes out!

It really is magic. I wish I could find that video again!

@@petesfleet640 You may want to wipe the SS rigging with phosphoric acid. ** Use with caution, wearing good rubber or nytril gloves and long sleeves. It does disolve any microscopic rust spots. Rinse throughly then a coat of top grade paste car wax. Years of rust free riggings !

@@marcryvon this is great advice and sounds like it comes from experience! I'll have to give that a shot

Thank you! My motto for the boat is going to be "The cheapest I can, while staying safe!"

Thanks bud! Hope to sail with you soon!

This is even more effective on the deck, which should have the worst oxidation

That's a very good idea. If I find myself doing this twice, I'll certainly do that

Thanks! I have many projects going where I know metal wool will be very useful. I was told, however, that I should aim to use brass wool instead of steel wool, because the steel powder will fall to the deck, and create rust spots where they land!

@@petesfleet640 Yes! Brass is the way to go. Good thinking.

Thank you! Much more to come!

Thank you!

Thank you! She's prettier every day

Of course! Apparently speed (friction) is the big secret.

One of my upcoming projects, certainly!

From the advice I'm getting, I'm sure that'll be my approach if I ever attempt this again

Thanks!

This is so exciting to hear!!!!!

Yeah I'm fine with that! Now if only I knew how to make that happen

Growing pains! I'm much better about that these days!

Thank you!

A great idea for the next time I tackle a project like this, but to be honest I can't imagine the results coming out better!

@@petesfleet640 You'd be surprised ! Whet sanding may be tedious but very effective on faded, chalky paint. You still have the bottom and top to do. Try it ! Been there, done it on my 2 old sailboats and older cars. Save time and effort. 👍

Great idea! Thank you

Not sure that’s a good idea ! Depression may set in if we focus on how much we spend on boat stuff !

@toomenetoys, that's a fair point, but one of my points of doing all is this is to prove that with some hard work, ingenuity, and help from the community, that I can sail for less than the cost of a used boat

@@petesfleet640 we all know how much we pay to play ! It will be interesting to see how budget friendly bringing this old dog back to life is . Rewarding project regardless.

Sorry should have spelled Dawg properly!

That's a very fair point.... but fairly cheap is different to different people. I don't have 3-4 grand to throw down on one of these, but I do have a few hundred bucks and loads of time.

As I'm sure you've noticed, it's coming along faster than the videos! I'm working hard to get some more content up asap!

Exactely what I was going to say. Starting with some agressive grit then progressingvely finer. Then buffing with that product. No other way around.

@@marcryvon totally correct..as a proffesional polisher.. i would, with that boat.. start with 1000 then use a 2000 over the top.. then finish using the rubbing compound.. much faster and better finish.. but i personally lernt to sail on a catolina 22... lovely little boat :-)

I did have input from a few professional shops about how to go about this before I started, and they led me to the method I used. But I'm seeing a lot of people suggesting I had wet sanded first. I'm very pleased with the results, but next time I'm going to give that a shot!!!

Thank you for that! Getting the decals replaced would be $240, so for now I'm keeping the original ones. They're in much better shape than I originally thought

To be honest.... I hadn't thought of that! But I love how they came out after buffing. And at $80 a pop for new ones, I love the old cracked ones very much

Good job .. keep the videos coming!!

I'll have to put the boat on stands to remove it, as well as paint the bottom. So I'll likely do both of those things at once. The cable mechanism is in surprisingly good shape, but I'll touch on that more in an upcoming video.

Thanks!

Both great ideas. If I end up restoring a boat like this again, that'll be exactly what I do

You're not the first to suggest this. I got another boat recently, and I can't wait to try that!

Me too! But because keeping a boat on the water is VERY expensive where I live, this is the most cost effective way for me to be able to sail a boat this size! But hey hopefully in the future I'll get that chance.

It's been a year and I still have flashbacks. Some SERIOUSLY hard work!

I'll have more chrome to polish on other projects, maybe I'll do a comparison video! Thanks for the recommendation!

I've been practicing! I'm getting better, but I'll rerecord for future videos. It all adds to the ambiance, and that's half the fun of it.

It's a 1979! And still has years of memories left to give!

I'm open to suggestions! I've heard wire brush, I've heard ospho, I've heard acids etc. Any tips?

@Big Pec I've done some research, but I'll do more before I start the project. I prefer learning from other people's mistakes!

Growing pains! I'm much better about that now. Sorry!

@@petesfleet640 🤣 there there!

I hopefully have more restorations in my future..... and I've heard this a lot. Something tells me I'll have the chance to try that out, and you're not the first to have suggested it, or something similar. Thanks for the advice!

@@petesfleet640 I enjoyed the first few videos. Wish you were able to make more. Can’t wait to see what you have planned in The future. Maybe one day I’ll be able to help you work on your projects

@@JasonRothman unfortunately real life got in the way for a bit, but I'll be giving the projects and my channel more attention. If you're ever the south Florida area and want to lend a hand, I love making new friends and working on boats. I have 13 projects I'm working on, and extra hands are always welcome.

Yes! Apologies, slowly, but many more to come.

Sounds great! Welcome aboard!

It was a ton of hard work. I hadn't considered a polishing mitten...... hmmmm I'm going to add this to the list of things to try the next go-around. Thanks!

You're very right about that! I'm planning on either sandblasting or grinding it back to bare metal, and then epoxy and finally bottom paint. I imagine it'll be an entire video

@@petesfleet640 And check the inside condition for cracks on the hull and top underside. 👍

@@marcryvon absolutely

I put the west marine buffing compound on, but I didn't put water on, no. Should I have?

@@petesfleet640 get yourself a bug spray bottle filled with water and use that...friction is the problem and you can soon burn through the gel coat.....give it a go it will make your life loads easier. Looking forward to seeing the end result (love this kind of stuff)...all the best.

My thoughts exactly

I've been sailing since I was about 15. Learned on smaller boats, like sunfish and zumas, etc, and moved up gradually. It's always best to make the mistakes on a smaller boat with fewer consequences. About the mast.... a lot of it will have to do with where you are. I'm located in South Florida where boating is popular, and I have some access to boat parts, used yards, etc. I would imagine that Florida, the Great Lakes, and Southern California would all be great places to look. I'll touch on this more when I do my video on my mast, but I actually also bought a 27' mast, even though this boat calls for a 25', and was myself planning on cutting my mast to height as well. One of the critical parts to make that happen was to get the mast foot that matched the mast. ALL that being said, the mast girth etc from a 27' to a 20' might be a big difference. Always better to have a thicker mast than a thinner, but it's worth consideration. The EDEL 540 is also a sloop rigged boat.... at the mast looks to be almost same as the mast on a 420 club racing boat. Those are some of the most popular boats around.... you might have better luck if you look for a 420 mast and fit it to your boat! I'm not an expert, not professional, just my thoughts.

He always has several boats around usually going for very cheap/free/etc. If you'd like to send me a DM, I'd be happy to put you in contact with him.

I'll give that a shot! Thanks

Sorry to be gone for so long Lynn! This isn't my full time job, it's just a hobby project, and I do get behind. I know it's taking a long time, but I have one new video out since this one was released, and I'll be uploading another one in the next few weeks.

I definitely appreciate the perspective and you could be completely right. I did do a good amount of research and watch videos, but ended up going with the advice of a local professional. And the only cost I had was the compound, wax, and the wool cutting pads. The angle grinder, pads, 3 types of compound and wax were going to be closer to 200 or more, so this option won out. You're the first one whose told me I should've gone about it the other way, I'd love to understand why for next time. Thanks!!!

Thank you for the advice. I thought there might be a better way. I find it amazing that most boats in the marinas I go to have very dull boats. Polishing my boat will be a priority , but i will be sure to do it the best way possible.

I've been practicing! I'll get better as time goes on

@@petesfleet640 - Sorry man, I honestly didn't realize it was you singing CHEERS!

I'm working on it!!! It's a tough habit to break, and something I don't do in my normal speaking pattern, so I don't understand why I do it in videos. I noticed it too late on this video, but on my most recent video, I definitely edited out a few ums on the audio. I need to find a better thing to do while I'm thinking, or commit to narrating over all of the video clips. Which do you think would be better? Thanks!

And yet, a manual focus would be so so much worse for the kind of haphazard one-handed filming I'm doing while I work.

I'm a beginner, but I'll get better over time!

I'm still learning, but my skills are getting better every day! I take requests

@@petesfleet640 i would rather hear you talk or your better half than i would hear any kind of music in the video. If i wanted to watch a music video i'd chose that genere. i chose watching a boat saving not a music video

This sounds like the voice of experience to me. I did inspect it thoroughly before putting even anything more than a pressure washing into the boat. So before I even bought rubbing compound, I inspected the hull for major damage, checked the deck for soft spots, checked the wood and bulkheads, observed the keel and assembly as best I could without removal etc. And then started with what I felt were the most obvious bits. I definitely have a few local salts I can call upon for advice, but I'm also always open to more!