Catalina 22 bottom of mast crimped?

[nickfox45]

So I'm looking to buy my first boat and recently checked out a Catalina 22 in my area. During the inspection, the owner mentioned that the bottom of the mast was crimped near the holes where the mast attaches to the deck. It even looks like a small piece of the metal has broken off. I've attached a picture.

My questions on this are:
1) How serious is this? Should it get fixed immediately if I purchase this boat, or could it wait a while?
2) What's the best way to fix it? The owner suggested perhaps having a machine shop trim the bottom few inches from the mast and getting new holes drilled, but I have no idea if this will affect the boat's performance?
3) How much (ballpark) would this cost to fix?

Really appreciate any feedback you all can provide. I'm still very new to this process, and don't know everything I don't know.

[20ft cruiser]

You definitely need that fixing.. Get it trimmed and re drilled also check the foot properly too and if the mast is now shorter all the stays will need to be shorter too. If the stays will wind up tight then your lucky but The stays where probably the cause of this in which case get new. my boat demasted last year and a new mast was 2 grand so my advice if you buy is don't budget cut on mast or stays..

Sent from my D2403 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[nickfox45]

Thanks for the info. Can you provide any more insight on how the stays may have caused this? I assumed it was from someone overtightening the mast connection.

[Randyonr3]

The fix is to cut the bottom off the mast and put a spacer under the mast step.. that little horseshoe unit the mast sets in atop the cabin..
Chances are the owner backed into a tree or his garage with the mast down.
I've own 8 - C22s,

[SkiprJohn]

There appears to be a lot of jury rigged repairs to the foot of that mast. Obviously it was not well cared for in raising and lower and storing. Is the rest of the boat in good condition?

If you know of any old masts in your area with the same extruded aluminum you can cut and splice using an inner sleeve. That is an option.

Randy has an option. 20ft has another option and as was stated you'll have to shorten shrouds and stays if you do shorten the mast and shortening by a little bit is much harder than lengthening. You can do that cut yourself with a hacksaw but be very careful to make a square cut.

You can do it all yourself but do you want to buy a boat that already needs that kind of work and if it needs that, what else does it need?

kind regards

[nickfox45]

Thanks Randy and John. The rest of the boat does seem to be in pretty good shape, although I'm admittedly new at judging that. This was the current owner's first boat, and I got the impression he took pretty good care of it, although he was honest that he did a lot of his own repairs and kind of figured things out along the way, which may explain some of the jury rigged fixes.

[jeepbluetj]

Dunno where the OP is, but in my area there are 5 Catalina 22's listed right now on craigslist. There's lots of them out there - you may wish to look for another one with a good mast.

[MarkSF]

Interesting use of the word "crimped". Sounds so much better than "broken".

[sbaer77]

I had to get the bottom of my C-22 mast re-soldered also and it cost $500.00 at a machine shop. I have a great Cat 22 (1988). Beautiful boat that I'm going to have to sell soon. I'm in Washington State though. If interested, let me know.

[shelled]

We used the mast step shim kit from Catalina Direct. It consists of a 1" shim block and longer hardware. Current price $28.86. CD has a good
selection of replacement parts to keep those 22's going.
Great starter boats -- Good luck.

BR

[SkiprJohn]

If the price is very good and the boat seems in good condition then maybe it'll be a good fit for you. You will need to make that repair. $500 would be cheap if you hired it done.

I understand the appeal of a Catalina 22 because that was my first boat. It was a fin keeler so I didn't trailer it and the mast stayed in place until I painted it. It was a good boat for a first and I learned a lot by working on it.

kind regards,

[nickfox45]

Thanks again to everyone who offered their advice. I think this is more of a job than I'd want to take on at the moment. I've located a Cat 25 in my area and an leaning that way instead. Being 6'3", the additional space and headroom is a huge draw.