Reflections Upon the Catalina 22 as a Motorboat

Converting an abandoned trailersailer into a lightweight motor cruiser

Article by John C. Harris

I read with interest Marty Loken's study of pocket-cruising motorboats. He and I seem to think alike, and the idea of converting an abandoned trailersailer into a lightweight motor cruiser is something I've pondered for years.

I'll not begrudge Frank Butler's success in selling Catalina 22’s, but I will agitate some of the 15,000 owners with the observation that it is the blandest of vanilla sailboats ever to displace water. To the extent that there is any “styling,” it is styling with all distinction and individuality burnished away, to be objectionable to no one. And boring to everyone.

Still, the choice of the redoubtable Catalina 22 as a donor hull makes sense on many levels, perhaps the most compelling being that you can have one for the price of hauling away the carcass. The Catalina’s shallow hull—a feature that made the design cheap to produce, and trailerable—is a good fit for a lightweight powerboat. The rusting lump that passes for a keel may be fastened permanently in the stowed position. That weight is necessary for stability, and will help a little with tracking. I would avoid donor hulls that have a lot of salient keel, both because of the inconvenient draft, and because cutting the keel off might result in dangerous instability.

And here I think we should sober up and reflect on the dangers of turning a trailerable sailboat into a powerboat, particularly with a standing-headroom wheelhouse. I’m anxious that someone taken up with enthusiasm will attack an old Catalina 22 with home center plywood and two-by-fours, erecting a trawler-like edifice in imitation of a Grand Banks. I can hope that such a departure from sound naval architecture would invert instantly upon launch, thus sparing the owner and future passengers “death by misadventure.” Worse would be a partial success: something that seems stable enough in calm conditions but which, in an unlucky wave size and period, kills her crew.

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