DIY Rail Mounts for Your Portable BBQ Grill

It amazes me how expensive boat grills and their accessories are. Of all the boating gear, they are the boat jewelry: glittering polished stainless steel grills, covers, and ridiculously priced mounting hardware for every conceivable configuration. But they don’t make the food taste any better. It must be big money for the manufacturers, knowing how much men love to eat and love their grills to cook on.

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How to Replace Worn Tiller Bushings

While I was doing my How To Repair a Rudder project, I noticed that the tiller bushings were worn and loose. At the time, I hoped they would last the season until I figured out how best to replace them. That was wishful thinking. While putting Summer Dance in the water for our last cruise, one of the bushing flanges nearly fell off in my hands. It didn’t keep us from sailing that day, but it meant I was going to have to make the repair sooner rather than later.

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How to Rebuild a Rotten Battery Tray

The battery tray on Summer Dance was heavily water damaged. The nails holding the side pieces to the base had rusted away and the pieces pulled away easily by hand, leaving only the base. It was badly stained and rotted and gave off a very funky smell. Fortunately, the previous owner had installed a plastic battery box and screwed the strap anchors into the base, but it had to be replaced completely.

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Ergonomic Hatch Dog Knobs

One of the first things that you learn when you step into a C-22 cabin is to watch your head. With the pop top down, there’s only a little over 4′ of headroom and you will hit your head on something every time you turn around. Every C-22 owner probably has scars on their scalp from the ends of hatch dog bolts. They protrude nearly straight down at you from right over the galley and settee, where you spend the most time!

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Annotated tongue extension

DIY Custom Trailer Tongue Extension

The one thing that my new Calkins trailer lacked compared to the old Trail Rite is an extendable tongue, a necessity at some of our local ramps. The only information on the Internet that I could find about adding a tongue extension was a universal aftermarket extension. But the cost was more than I paid for the entire trailer and I still needed to install a brake system. This looked like another $tingy Sailor project!

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A Quick and Easy Sliding Hatch Fix

Like many older C-22s the sliding hatch of Summer Dance made screeching sounds when it was slid open and closed. The noise comes from the front edges of the hatch scraping on the side rails and on the cabin top. The front edges scrape because the side flanges wear thin from years of use, lose their clearance, and allow the hatch to ride lower in the side rails. The thinner they get, the more scraping and screeching. Too thin and they start cracking from the stress of weight on the hatch when standing on the hatch to handle the sails.

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Make Your Galley Easier to Slide

The first mate is particular about her spaces onboard Summer Dance, one being the sleeping area, the other being the galley. I’ve not seen the underside of the galleys in other boats, but ours is bare plywood except for the key strip that slides in the slot in the top of the starboard settee. It’s a simple, crude setup that works, I suppose, even though it has a lot of friction. Also, the fiberglass underneath is pretty scratched from protruding screws and staples; staples because the staples in the original teak key strip had rusted years ago and the strip had fallen off but not been replaced.

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Repair and Restore Your Galley Water Pump

The galley on early Catalina 22s had a hand operated, piston type water pump from a manufacturer who has since gone out of business and for which parts are no longer available. The previous owner told me that the pump needed work and since most older parts like this were made better than the modern stuff (plastic), I decided to see if it could be restored.

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