19?? Dorsett Catalina

[pats]

Each time I go down to work on my boat near Tucumcari NM, an old man comes over to talk to me and tells me that he has a Dorsett Catalina like mine. He wants to sell it.......... I've asked him the same question each time, "what shape's it in"? He answers the same each time, "kinda rough". Each time he has left me his name and telephone #. I tell him, "I'll try to come by and look at it". Well, this time I did. I stopped by his house on my way home, but he only had a few minutes to show me the boat, he had a Dr. appointment. It was also spitting wet snow. I grabbed my camera and took these pictures real quick, I told him I'd stop by on my next trip and talk to him about it. "Mighty fine", he said, and left.

Hope you enjoy the pictures...........

[Helmar]

Well, that is the hull that I had. It could be 1960 give or take a few years. This is before they figured out that the V stil hull would help the ride in rough water. These being designed in the San Francisco Bay area and for the choppy waters was one of the best riding hulls designed, as long as you didn't over power the boat and get on the rear of the hull, which, was kind of hard as the bow just at the cabin bulkhead was the lowest point in the boat. I would venture to say, that needs All the wood replaced, stringer and all.

I will be showing what I feel is the correct way to install stringers. (just my two cents and One opinion, lots of others I am sure)

[pats]

Hi Helmar,

You are correct about it needing ALL the wood replaced. It probably needs everything and then some. He offered to sell it to me for $100.00. I'm thinking about it. I think the windshield is still good, and I want to replace mine because of cracks. I'm not sure, but I think a new windshield for my boat would be in the neighborhood of $600.00. My problem buying it is, I don't have anywhere to store it down there. I could tow it home, but that's 300 miles. I'm sure the tires on the trailer need replacing, and the wheel bearings packed before traveling that far. I'm paying $400.00 a year for indoor storage for my boat and there's not enough room to store it there also. But, I'm kinda like you, I hate to see these old Classics go to the dump. So, ..........I'm thinking about it. I know that with time and effort, this "old gal" could be made like new. I even have a new color scheme in mind. We'll see.........

I'm looking forward to seeing your post on installing stringers, I have that task coming up. I will post my progress from my latest repair trip soon.

[Helmar]

Hi Helmar,

You are correct about it needing ALL the wood replaced. It probably needs everything and then some. He offered to sell it to me for $100.00. I'm thinking about it. I think the windshield is still good, and I want to replace mine because of cracks. I'm not sure, but I think a new windshield for my boat would be in the neighborhood of $600.00. My problem buying it is, I don't have anywhere to store it down there. I could tow it home, but that's 300 miles. I'm sure the tires on the trailer need replacing, and the wheel bearings packed before traveling that far. I'm paying $400.00 a year for indoor storage for my boat and there's not enough room to store it there also. But, I'm kinda like you, I hate to see these old Classics go to the dump. So, ..........I'm thinking about it. I know that with time and effort, this "old gal" could be made like new. I even have a new color scheme in mind. We'll see.........

I'm looking forward to seeing your post on installing stringers, I have that task coming up. I will post my progress from my latest repair trip soon.

Well, Jared and his son who bought mine has pictures of what the 61 looks like on the hull so you can see the stringers.

You are right, when they are all gone, that it, Gone is Gone !.

Yes, to tow it that far, I would bet she needs tires and bearings checked and packed. I would bud cap those anyway. If the bearings and races are still shiny, pack and go. Tires that small will heat up too so if weather checked, you could loose a tire on the trip.

Most likely would need a towing light kit and some duct tape to make sure they don't come undone or fall off.

Once you get yours done, see how you feel about the accomplishment you made. If it feels good enough, you have the time, go for it.

[Jared Payne]

Hear is what my son and I are doing. That Dorsett looks like a 16 not a 19, When we took off the cabin and measured straight it was 16ft1in.

[Helmar]

Hear is what my son and I are doing. That Dorsett looks like a 16 not a 19, When we took off the cabin and measured straight it was 16ft1in.

What they call the Catalina is called a 17 foot boat but how they started measuring them back in the day was due to the cost of licensing, so I have been told.
The Catalina is supposed to be 16 ft 6 inches so they say. Not sure how they measured it to get that either.

When you get into the Jan Juan's which is supposed to be 19 feet, they are 18ft 10 inches...Seems the San Juans had more cabin room plus more cockpit room than the Catalina but once you get into the Farallon, it was mostly cabin and not so much cockpit area.
I remember the Farallon just as you start to step off the deck down into the cabin, from the top of the floor to the keel was 18 inches. Took a Lot of foaming on those.

This little Bell Boy that I am working on, I pulled the top loose but have not raised it up off the hull yet, but they call it a 16 foot boat but the specs show only 15ft 11 inches. I bet its less.
Most of this information I get from were we sent all our documents (I think Bill Roberts sent most of them) to Fiberglassics as back then, Kelly Woods had collected the most information available for them. We felt why try and duplicate what was already done up nicely. We were Fiberglassics North West at one time but they decided to drop the Northwest so we broke out on our own and became ClassicBoatClub.com. Long story.....

[pats]

Hi Guys,

Sorry about taking so long to reply, I've been out of town taking care of Christmas visits . Jared, thanks for the pictures of the stringers. Were the stringers just tabbed in? I think on my 1964 model, the stringers sat on a sheet of 1/2'' plywood. Did yours? From the description in your pictures it says that your going to modify your splash well for a bench seat. I would be interested in seeing your progress on that, and your design. I'm going to reach a point very soon on my boat, that changes or modifications would be very easy. I've been looking at a re-build that Helmar did on fuel tanks and thinking about using the same idea or design. I've also been keeping a sharp eye on Helmar's latest posts about his Bell Boy restoration. Especially, the fiberglass testing on the stringers. Thanks again for the pictures, post a few more if you have time.

[Helmar]

Hi Guys,

Sorry about taking so long to reply, I've been out of town taking care of Christmas visits . Jared, thanks for the pictures of the stringers. Were the stringers just tabbed in? I think on my 1964 model, the stringers sat on a sheet of 1/2'' plywood. Did yours? From the description in your pictures it says that your going to modify your splash well for a bench seat. I would be interested in seeing your progress on that, and your design. I'm going to reach a point very soon on my boat, that changes or modifications would be very easy. I've been looking at a re-build that Helmar did on fuel tanks and thinking about using the same idea or design. I've also been keeping a sharp eye on Helmar's latest posts about his Bell Boy restoration. Especially, the fiberglass testing on the stringers. Thanks again for the pictures, post a few more if you have time.

For the most part, I think your going to find MDO plywood in them. Not sure about the 64 model as you notice the hull design changed, Allot !. Its about the time they figured out the V Hull design for a better ride. On the early ones, they stuck her nose pretty deep in the water so she could handle the choppy waters of the San Francisco Bay waters were she was designed. The cabin top design did not change much at all.

On my Bell Boy, I am still in the process of putting in the transom. One more sheet of 1/2" exterior Green plywood and then its time to start on the keel stringer..
There are many ways people can put in the stringers. Me, I work with the laser as I will just set it back up and shoot the vertical and horizontal line down the keel in which I just measure down from my laser line.

Another way I have seen this done is using a string line for level. You run the string just above the stringer from the bow to the stearn and then across from port to starboard. I just never came up with a good way of holding the string tight other than Gorilla tape. If you go across the top of the keel stringer and then equal distance down from the chine edge, you can get it that way too.

I also have a couple of small laser levels that I use that I can place right next to the stringer and shoot my line too. That works just as well as the spinning laser on the transom. No need for so much measuring.

I also have a straight edge board that I made up that I lay right on top of the old stringer, then I use pop cycle sticks from the top top of the stringer down to the hull. (once I get to that point, I will have pictures to share) I take that out and lay it on my keel board that will need the bottom cut to fit the hull. Kind of hard to explain and draw a picture with words.....
I also use a degree angle gauge where the hull starts to change angles as I am moving forward. I start out maybe ever 8" from the stearn forward and were the hull starts changing, I write the degree angle change on the pop cycle stick so I know to change the angle of the saw. When I get closer to the bow, that changes fast so maybe every 4 inch's I will put a pop cycle stick and write down the change of angel to cut.
Then its in and out of the boat fitting with the power plane or draw knife (mostly power plane) until I get the fit I need..

Once I have a good fit, then I mix up several batches of FiberFilller to lay down just under the keel stringer to bed the keel stinger on. Use whatever squeezes out on the sides to make a nice fillet (like you would do caulking a bath tub or shower) to help when the stitched roving/matt, to go over the stringers. Also allowing for the height of the bottom of floor to nest on it.

Hope I did not make this too confusing. Once I get to that step, I will make sure to show pictures.

[pats]

• Helmar,
  
  I'm going to copy your last reply, and reply to it in the Boat Restoration forum. In your 16' Bell Boy Restore post. Your reply has some very good and important information, that coincides with your Bell Boy Restoration Project. I don't want the information to be obscured or "lost" here in the Classic Boat Sightings. Someday, someone like myself (a beginner) will be desperately needing it. I hope that my doing this doesn't offend or break the rules.....