New to me sailboat

[ranck]

I have just purchased a 1982 Montego 20. This is my first sailboat, and it appears to my untrained eye to be in fair shape. It's supposedly spent most of its life on a trailer and being used for weekend outings. It has a 2012 Shore Land'r trailer that is in good shape. My first question is where can I find rigging instructions. It all seems to be there, but I want to learn how to set up while it's still on shore.

Second question, how does one know if it needs new gelcoat or if I can just clean up the hull and put bottom paint on it? Again, it looks pretty good to me. No obvious cracks or chips, and how do you paint where the boat is sitting on a cradle/stand?

 

[flashback]

Your best bet is to find someone who has some experience and can help you with the rigging . Most sailors will be happy to share information..
The gel coat will buff out pretty well from what I see in your photo..
You'll need to get it off the trailer to re paint the swing keel..

Looks like fun!

 

[tpenfield]

Welcome to iBoats . . .

I started my boat ownership with a Catalina 22 sailboat, moved on to powerboats, but also have an O'Day Mariner sailboat that I am restoring.

As for your questions . . .
#1 - Rigging: Google is your friend and can help you understand the rigging.
Here is a link to some information, but there are certainly others.
https://sailboat.guide/universal/montego-20

You definitely want to practice rigging and de-rigging on land before you head off to the launch ramp, else you will end up as YouTube comedy fodder.

Mast raising is probably going to be the most challenging task, and the penalty of failure is quite high There are lots of mast raising videos that you can search online.

#2 - Gelcoat: It depends on the current condition of the gelcoat (i.e smooth/shiny vs. chalky) if you are seeing areas where the white gelcoat has worn off, then it is probably a good indication that a complete re-coat would be needed. so, a judgement call on your part. I would clean it up and see what you think. Re-coating gelcoat requires some skill and equipment.

#3 - Bottom paint: You may not need to paint the bottom. BUT . . . if you plan on keeping the boat in the water, it is best to use an anti-fouling paint. Are you going to be in fresh water (lakes) or salt water (ocean)?

I have documented my boating experiences and here is a link to my Catalina 22 website . . . http://www.tpenfield.com/Catalina22/

As you proceed, be safe and ask questions, that what the forums are for.

 

[flashback]

Welcome to iBoats . . .

I started my boat ownership with a Catalina 22 sailboat, moved on to powerboats, but also have an O'Day Mariner sailboat that I am restoring.

As for your questions . . .
#1 - Rigging: Google is your friend and can help you understand the rigging.
Here is a link to some information, but there are certainly others.
https://sailboat.guide/universal/montego-20

You definitely want to practice rigging and de-rigging on land before you head off to the launch ramp, else you will end up as YouTube comedy fodder.

Mast raising is probably going to be the most challenging task, and the penalty of failure is quite high There are lots of mast raising videos that you can search online.

#2 - Gelcoat: It depends on the current condition of the gelcoat (i.e smooth/shiny vs. chalky) if you are seeing areas where the white gelcoat has worn off, then it is probably a good indication that a complete re-coat would be needed. so, a judgement call on your part. I would clean it up and see what you think. Re-coating gelcoat requires some skill and equipment.

#3 - Bottom paint: You may not need to paint the bottom. BUT . . . if you plan on keeping the boat in the water, it is best to use an anti-fouling paint. Are you going to be in fresh water (lakes) or salt water (ocean)?

I have documented my boating experiences and here is a link to my Catalina 22 website . . . http://www.tpenfield.com/Catalina22/

As you proceed, be safe and ask questions, that what the forums are for.

Ted, I just spent an enjoyable sunday morning reading your Catalina oddessy, thanks for sharing I hope the op will spend some time there..

 

[ranck]

Thanks for the responses. The bottom is dirty, and I'll know more once I get it power washed. I have the equipment for that. I need to either build or buy some sort of cradle to get it off the trailer and high enough to bring the keel down. That should make cleaning easier.

Definitely, for now it will live mostly on the trailer and used in fresh water for weekends, and a planned beach week at Deep Creek in MD. It's going to need some replacement cushions and wood restoration. I'm familiar with woodworking and upholstery, so feel pretty confident with that.

 

[ranck]

I just want to say I learned a whole lot just reading through tpenfield's Catalina 22 page, and following links to his various projects. Some very good info, especially the single handed mods. I'm probably going to do a few sails this Summer and then more in-depth projects in Fall and Winter months. My primary sailing will be on Claytor Lake in Virginia, and possibly some in Maryland lakes/reservoirs as time allows.

 

[flashback]

Stepping the mast will be your first challenge and should always be done on land. The gin pole is a wonderful aid. Have plenty of help with it until you learn, its very cumbersome and standing rigging can and will get hung up.. Murphy's law!

Can't stress enough that you inspect all the hardware, fittings, etc. and be sure you're boat is safe..

 

[tpenfield]

Day (or even weekend) launching can get old real fast. I did that with the Catalina 22 for one season, then got the mooring.

The quickest sailboat set-up & ramp launch that I've seen was a family with a MacGregor 22. That had it figured out to a science and each person had a well thought out job. I think they did the entire set-up and launch in under 10 minutes. It was like a blur - things were moving so fast.

The other end of the spectrum, . . . I've watched newbies take a couple of hours to setup & launch. Never saw then back again.

 

[flashback]

If you can find a Marina with a trailer lot you can leave the mast up and save a bit of hassle..

 

[ranck]

A progress report, slow as it seems. I've been delayed by seemingly endless rain and then family obligations, but I now have a boat lift set up and will be lifting the boat next week to clean/polish the bottom. I stripped all the woodwork off and have cleaned and oiled all the teak bits. Starting to rebuild the console but that's just cutting and mounting a new plywood panel to replace the falling apart old one. Hoping to launch soon. I'll post a new picture once I have to hull cleaned and the woodwork back in place. Maybe with the rigging stood up . . . fingers crossed.

 

[ranck]

So, I ended up dropping the keel out and using a wire brush to remove rust and scale. Then applied POR 15 to hopefully slow the rust progression. Also, power washed and repainted the bottom.

 

[flashback]

looks real good! ought to be a bit quicker now..! nice job on the lift as well..

 

[ranck]

My son-in-law and I put the mast up while on the trailer and figured out the rigging wires, etc. Then, after painting the bottom and re-installing the swing keel, I towed the boat to Deep Creek Lake in Maryland and put in at the state park boat ramp. I had intended to do a practice launch much closer to home, but time got away from me and we had a slip rental for 4 days, so I took along my grandson (15) and he helped me with raising the mast at the launch site. Unfortunately, this turned out to be just after sunset and the wind totally died. We used the trolling motor to move her to the rental slip for the night. Finally got her out of the slip on day 2 and got wind in the sails. Not a great first sail, but not bad.

I found that when I got a good breeze and the speed came up there was a humming vibration sound. I finally concluded it must be the keel or the keel cable vibrating. Is that normal? I think I should replace the bushing on the keel hinge, but didn't have time to do it during my refurb of the keel. Is that a possible cause? Or, do I just have to live with it?

 

[ranck]

looks real good! ought to be a bit quicker now..! nice job on the lift as well..

Thanks. We had several dire predictions on the home made boat lift, but it worked and I learned a bit despite nay-sayers on the internet. Not this forum.

 

[tpenfield]

Keel cable 'huummm' is common to lifting keel boats. if you give the cable a bit of slack once the keel is in the fully lowered position, the noise/vibration should go away.

 

[Buster53]

Looks like you have done a lot of good work. Congrats.
Suggestion…this is a pretty good forum, but not so much for sailboats. Why not spend some time on a sailboat specific forum like sailnet.com.
For every sailor here, there’s probably a 100 over there.

 

[flashback]

Looks like you have done a lot of good work. Congrats.
Suggestion…this is a pretty good forum, but not so much for sailboats. Why not spend some time on a sailboat specific forum like sailnet.com.
For every sailor here, there’s probably a 100 over there.

That's true but here you won't have to sift though so much BS!

 

[ranck]

Looks like you have done a lot of good work. Congrats.
Suggestion…this is a pretty good forum, but not so much for sailboats. Why not spend some time on a sailboat specific forum like sailnet.com.
For every sailor here, there’s probably a 100 over there.

I appreciate the suggestion. I was just unaware of sailnet.com, and I've been getting reasonable and helpful responses here. But, I have also introduced myself over on sailnet. They have some old discussions thread that actually talk about my particular boat model, so that's good.

 

[Buster53]

I appreciate the suggestion. I was just unaware of sailnet.com, and I've been getting reasonable and helpful responses here. But, I have also introduced myself over on sailnet. They have some old discussions thread that actually talk about my particular boat model, so that's good.

Good to hear. Again, this is a great forum, but mostly power boaters, with some sailors sprinkled in. Sailnet is a BIG forum of just sailors and fortunately, some with your same boat.