Replacing cabin sole

[Ross Fisher]

I am about to replace the cabin sole on Avventura due to delamination caused by ingress of moisture. Rather than using the old panels as templates, I wish to ask Catalina for the CAD pattern that they, (or their subcontractor,) used to cut out the profiles in the first place.
My wood worker claims that this should be a no-brainer!
Has anyone requested a copy of the CAD files from Catalina, and if so, will they supply them?

Happy sailing.

Ross

[Ron Hill]

Ross : You've got a damn good question!!  It has never been asked before !

I have the feeling that you are going to want to use the old panels as the patterns.  I say that as Catalina has been know to change small interior things in differant production years and not tell the dealers.  Did they keep those differant production records - don't know??

Great question and we'll all be interested in Catalina's answer.   

[Stephen Butler]

Not to be negative, but I would be very surprised if Catalina or its subcontractor used a CAD eqipped tool to produce sole pieces for the its boats, and if so, certainly not until very recently. Boats still remain one of the largest and primarily hand-built items manufactured.  A short (personal) example was a project to install the same model of marine engine/transmission in 60 "identical" brand new hulls from a premium builder; each and every installation was unique.  Hulls flex, layups differ, stringers are never positioned quite the same, etc. The only "identical" items for each hull/engine/installation were the drawings.  Just a thought.

[Ross Fisher]

I wrote to Catalina Yachts today and this is their reply.
" We used wood patterns to make up the flooring and do not have drawings for the floors.  Even with the wood patterns, each floor was fit into the boat so that the teak and holly lines matched up exactly. "
Hence the solution is to use the old floor as patterns, and carefully line up the teak and holly lines.
Worth the research to potentially find an easier way.
Happy sailing,

Ross

[Stephen Butler]

Sorry to hear that Catalina could not supply you with CAD data, but kudos to CY for replying.  I have been trying to get a manufacturer's response for 3 months with success.