The Catalina 22 is a cheap, mass-produced trailer-sailer, so on this boat you are usually your own surveyor. Settle the keel question first, then work the boat and its trailer top to bottom with these model-specific checks.
About 90 percent of C22s have the cast-iron swing keel, and it carries nearly all the boat's real risk, so a fin or wing boat skips most of the dangerous list.
These bolts are the last link holding the keel on, and owners have found sheared 5/16-inch bolts and even empty bolt holes, so confirm all four are present, tight, and unrusted.
The cast-iron pivot hole corrodes and wallows out (elongates) on boats that sit, and side play means a worn 1-inch bronze pin or an egged-out hole.
Broken strands (meat hooks) at the swaged fittings mean the wire is failing, and owners replace this cable every two years on schedule rather than waiting for visible damage.
A frozen or flat-spotted turning ball shreds the cable, and the small original winch hub fatigues the wire, so both are wear items to price in.
This short hose sits below the waterline, and a loose or cracked one can sink the boat.
The side-to-side clunk that wallows the pivot can crack the trunk, and the plate the lock bolt threads into can separate from the keel box and leak badly.
The original foam-and-wood-cored rudders soak up water and turn to mush like wet cardboard, with hairline cracks at the trailing edge and worn kick-up hardware.
The plywood-cored deck wets out at fittings and the tabernacle, and gelcoat cracks radiating from the mast step signal a flexing, water-soaked compression area the whole rig stands on.
Early C22s carried the gas tank inside the cabin, a genuine fire hazard Catalina later fixed by moving it to a vented above-deck locker.
The complete pre-purchase inspection: the first ten minutes that can end a visit, a system-by-system walk, the sea trial and haulout procedures, what each finding typically costs to put right, and nine reasons to walk away. Built to print or to work through on a phone in a bilge.
The full Catalina 22 volume walks every point in depth, with the fix costs, the service data, and the parts sources. Leave your email and we'll send you the printable checklist.