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Garage, Galley & Hangar
GG&H
Technical Owner's Manual
Catalina 22FIG. 1
21.5'
CATALINA YACHTS
Catalina 22
The Complete Owner's Reference
REV 1.0 · 120 PP
SAILBOAT · 21.5'
GARAGE, GALLEY & HANGAR
9 chapters · 116-term glossary · 40-entry index
Sailboat · Catalina Yachts

Catalina 22

The Catalina 22 is Frank Butler's first Catalina, a trailerable swing-keel daysailer-cruiser built more than 15,000 times between 1969 and 1995 that did as much as any single design to create the trailer-sailer market. It suits the driveway sailor who launches from a ramp and does the work themselves, forgiving to learn on and cheap to own, with a pop-top that turns a crouch into near-standing headroom at anchor. This reference is honest about the swing keel's chain of small wear parts that can genuinely hurt you, plus a plywood deck core that wets at every fitting, a leaky pop-top gasket, and a trailer you inspect like a second boat.

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A sample of what's inside

Specifications

Length overall21.5 ft (21 ft 6 in), beam kept under the trailering limit
Beam7.67 ft (7 ft 8 in)
DraftSwing keel 5.0 ft down / 1.67 ft up (fin 3.5 ft, wing 2.5 ft)
Displacementapprox. 2,490 lb (original), 2,250 lb (later/Sport)
AuxiliaryTransom-hung outboard, approx. 5 to 6 hp long-shaft, no inboard
Used marketapprox. $2k to 9k, condition-driven

Known issues, covered honestly

  • The swing keel is a half-ton of cast iron held up by a chain of small wear parts (pivot pin, hanger bolts, cable, turning ball), and failures are documented, not theoretical: sheared bolts, parted cables, and keels tearing out the bottom of the hull.
  • Four keel hanger bolts are the last link holding the keel on, and owners have found them sheared or even missing on trailered boats, so you crawl under about a foot aft of the keel front and check all four before every tow.
  • The plywood-cored deck and cabin top go soft and delaminate wherever hardware leaks, the pop-top dogs, stanchions, and mast step included, the most common walk-away-or-negotiate-hard finding on a cheap hull.
  • The trailer is usually the most neglected part of the package: frame junctions rust through where water is trapped and wheel bearings seize and drop a wheel at highway speed, so it needs inspecting like a second boat.

…and the full survey guide, service schedules, systems, and parts sourcing in the complete volume.

Custom Edition

Make it your boat.

We fold in your year, your engine, your electronics and refits, your hull number, and your vessel name and your own boat's photo on the cover. The book stops describing the boat that left the factory and starts describing the one in your slip.

$260
personalized to your vessel