TOPIC: Newbe - 1958-60 Cathedral Yacht Corp - Cathedral

Hi all.
As it says I'm new to this forum and Vintage boats. Into Vintage cars mostly. Do some Powder Coating and general messing with Vintage stuff, including the wife. I'm from Bristol, In. I am the owner of the boat listed in the subject line. Don't know much about it other then the name of it. Can't find much info on this one. Anyway it's in pretty good shape, but does need some attention. It is powered by a 1986 50hp Force (U.S. Marine / Chrysler). Just got this boat in October from a friend. Also got the motor from him. He was going to scrap it, as he knew nothing about it, so I snatched it up. It is a real good running motor after replacing the points and cleaning the carb. Had it on the lake twice and it preformed pretty well, just needs to be refined a bit more. Missing a few dress up items and all the seats. Plenty of work ahead, but I'm going to enjoy it. I'll probably have plenty of questions. Hope I can find the answers to my repairs that lay ahead. Thanks for reading me.
JT

WELCOME JT : CONGRATS on your boat package.. Yes , they can be fun
& adictive. I live in East Tn, south of Bristol , Tn big Nascar
race town. . I believe one of our most active members , Bill Anderson lives in your area.. Vintage cars & boat shop .??

. Should be lots of activity / Shows in your area.

jt,nice boat ,never heard of it before,but very nice,the motor looks good too,but if it has been sitting for awhile you might want to replace the impeller,it keeps the motor from over heating.
im not good at it but there are alot of great people here that can help you through it,john

Thanks guys. One of the things I had planned on doing is changing the impeller. I am also planning upgrading it, so I can use a power trim/tilt. I have to change the pivot part for one that has the mount for the trim. Figured while I have it down, I would check everything out. Have already added a TellTale to it. Then before I put it all back together, I would like to powder coat the external motor parts, rather then paint with liquid paint. It will outlast paint by a long shot. See any problems with powder coat as opposed to regular paint?

I have two powder-coated motors (powder-coating done by prior owner). The thickness of the powder coat is a challenge when reassembling- parts don't mate together like they should/fasteners don't seat as well. Wouldn't be my choice. Sandblasting, zinc phosphate / zinc chromate bare aluminum primer, and a good automotive paint work for most everyone. Clearcoat helps as well- apply over the new paint and decals.

Yea, unfortunately, some coaters don't take the time to mask off mating surfaces. Bad karma. I make a point to mask off all mating surfaces. At least ask the owner of the parts. Powder shouldn't be any thicker then paint. Anyway, Thanks for the input. It's always valued.

Glad you're a pro- on my motors the fellow who did the work wasn't: he powder-coated right over a stripped bolt and filled some important screw holes (2 '57 Evinrude Larks)

Got my boat up on the car hoist yesterday to have a good long look at the underside. Have a few places that I think will need repair. One for sure. The others are deep scratches (for the lack of a better word). Would I be able to use gel coat on the scratches or something more filling. And what would I do for the star crack, which by the way is not all the way through. I thought about cutting the cracks wider and then filling. Thoughts please. Not sure what to do on a boat repair. Thanks.

jt,i use fiberglass resin jelly,its a little stiffer then bondo,but it works the same,i think it sands nicer to,its good stuff in my opinion,john

I used the resin Jelly on acouple scratches on My hull and its held up really well in most spots also, there is one crack I need to address better because the resin jelly cracked again and there is a slow seeping leak there. So I think if the star crack is too deep it may need fiberglass patching then the resin Jelly.

I wonder if that boat is really from that vintage. Tri-hulls like that were not round in that time frame that I recall. Looks more like a 60-70's design that a 50's to me, but I am not familiar with the builder. Looks similar to Thunderbird boats which were 60's-70's.

crosbyboat wrote:

I wonder if that boat is really from that vintage. Tri-hulls like that were not round in that time frame that I recall. Looks more like a 60-70's design that a 50's to me, but I am not familiar with the builder. Looks similar to Thunderbird boats which were 60's-70's.

I have to agree to a point. The only physical evidence that I found on the manufacture is an article from a boating magazine dated 1969. But it did not have the curved windshield that was popular in the late 50's and early 60's. And since I posted, I found (thru a cop friend of mine) that the boat was registered as a 62. Now if the boat manufacturer's followed the automotive styles, as it appears they did, that could be the case with this one. So, I guess I have to say that it is a 1962 for the sake of an argument. Which is fine with me, as it is still vintage, like me.

The Thunderbird boat is a very similar design and I thought that maybe the Cathedral Yacht Corp may have been bought by them. But I think the boat companies back then were a lot like the RV companies of the time period and went in business and out as fast as they were bought up. But probably not. My boat company seems to be lost in history somewhere not to be found.

stashm2 wrote:

I used the resin Jelly on acouple scratches on My hull and its held up really well in most spots also, there is one crack I need to address better because the resin jelly cracked again and there is a slow seeping leak there. So I think if the star crack is too deep it may need fiberglass patching then the resin Jelly.

stasm2,is right,i sould have seen that pic,but im on dial up and it takes so long for all of the pictures to load,so my fault,grind out all the loose ,soft stuff then,either mat and epoxy or some tiger hair,if its not that bad,then the resin over that,on that bad one,and dont use spot putty it will shrink over time,i use high build primer to fill the very light crazing and light cracks in place of spot putty,john

by the way ,the way that hole has cracked,dont be suprised if you find out it already was fixed,but someone used bondo,auto body filler,i could be wrong but it looks like it was a repair job gone wrong,john

I'll agree that she looks more like a late 1960s or early 1970s boat.

I did a newspaperarchive.com search for "Cathedral Yacht" and came up with only three hits:

1. 21 May 1968: marine dealer Lakewood Motors, Inc. of Belmont, NC was advertising for sale boats by Thunderbird, Duo, and Cathedral Yacht plus Murray trailers and Mercury outboards

2. 24 August 1968: the Dane County, WI County Board approved an expendature of $3,500.00 for a boat and trailer to Cathedral yYacht Corp.

3. 12 January 1969: advertisment by OMC saying that Cathedral Yacht was one of many boat builders to use OMC stern drive units.

No Canada hits.

Andreas

boy andreas,you amaze me with the way you can come up with this info,i could look for days and not find anything im looking for,you are good at it.john

thompsonboat wrote:

I'll agree that she looks more like a late 1960s or early 1970s boat.

I did a newspaperarchive.com search for "Cathedral Yacht" and came up with only three hits:

1. 21 May 1968: marine dealer Lakewood Motors, Inc. of Belmont, NC was advertising for sale boats by Thunderbird, Duo, and Cathedral Yacht plus Murray trailers and Mercury outboards

2. 24 August 1968: the Dane County, WI County Board approved an expendature of $3,500.00 for a boat and trailer to Cathedral yYacht Corp.

3. 12 January 1969: advertisment by OMC saying that Cathedral Yacht was one of many boat builders to use OMC stern drive units.

No Canada hits.



Andreas

Hey Andreas, thanks for all the digging. But I came up with the below add on my boat. It also has a plate on the boat, that verifies who and where it came from. I have searched everywhere I can think of. Still looking for more, if I can ever find it.
The date on this add is from "Motor Boating" magazine, Jan. 1969 and the windshields are all framed in.

Probably not Helpfull but My Renken 18 looks alot like yours style wise and is a 1969 just for style reference.

I would think these two boats would be from the same time period. Just my thaughts.

Looks real close to mine. I have seen the Renken's. Not a big issue with me really. Mine is registered as a 1962, so guess I'll go with that. At least for the time being. I just want to get it back in the water. Had it in a couple of times before I put it up for repairs. I'm excited to have what I have and looking forward to using it. Thanks, everyone for the input. If anybody comes across anything about the boat company or my boat in general, please post it.