Topics

Has anyone had a poster or muriel made from a picture of a Catalina 34? I'm a previous owner and would like to have something like this made. My problem is that I don't have any pictures of my boat under sail so I would also need to find someone that I could provide a jpeg or a similar type file to have made, maybe even from Catalina. Any help or ideas appreciated.

I just saw this in the internet and thought it might be helpful in some cases.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ba2_1475277076

Anyone going to the Sailboat show in Oakland this year? It's April 9th thru 12th.
I'm hoping to go if nothing major comes up at home.

Mike

This is the control unit for the SL 250 Display for speed and depth. I do not have the SL 250 unit. I do have the power cable, Bus cable, paddlewheel speed sensor and the instruction manual. Cheaper than K Mart 

If interested email me at:

mjstimmler@cox.net

Mike

I'm not quite sure how this would work but it looks like a good idea.

http://www.sail-world.com/cruising/index.cfm?nid=93693&rid=11

Here's a great video that shows the dedication of the boaters in New York city to help evacuate the people in Manhattan after the twin towers crash.

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDOrzF7B2Kg&feature=player_embedded

Hope you enjoy it.

Mike

Hi Everyone,
As of a few weeks ago we sold our boat to a nice couple named Gary and Mary. They have moved the boat from Mission Bay to the Coronado Cays in the south bay. They will also be renaming her to Mariposa del Mar which means Butterfly of the Sea, a logical transition from Calerpitter. I have also given them the link to this site so I know you will be as gracious to them as you have been to me.
I will still be involved with this board, you are a great group of people and you can't get rid of me that easy 

Mile and Joanne

Last weekend, I found a leak in the short 4 inch by 3/16 return hose that comes off the rear cylinder and connects to a bracket that adapts it to what looks like 1/4 inch.
Has anyone had as much trouble finding the 3/16 inch hose as I did? Everywhere I went. the smallest hose they had was 1/4 inch. The Universal dealer could order one for me but did not have one in stock.
What I had was obviously the original hose since it was painted the gold color and also was a reinforced type hose. Napa had the 3/16 hose but it was not reinforced nor rated for fuel use. Some of the shops I went to indicated that since it was "ONLY A RETURN LINE", I didn't have to worry about the type of hose but I was very skeptical about that. After hopping around to many shops, the good folks at Marine Exchange on Shelter Island refereed me to a Yanmar dealer just down the street who did have the hose and although it didn't appear to be reinforced, the dealer assured me that it is the hose that Yanmar uses on their return fuel line and it seems to be working just fine.

I don't recall this hose being addressed anywhere on our board and was wondering if anyone else had this problem.

Starting out, it seemed to be such a simple solution but wound up being an all day project.

Mike

This came from Boat U.S and the info is at:

www.boatus.com/gov/cba

Sadly, we have decided to put our boat on the market for sale.   

Details are in the boats for sale section

Mike and Joanne

I would like to replace the petcock on the muffler and was wondering, does it screw directly into the fiberglass or is there a metal sleeve that it screws into? I'm concerned about removing it and cracking the fiberglass in the process. Any tricks to this job?

Mike

Does anyone know if there any problems with using the ultra low sulphur diesel fuel currently sold at gas stations?

It's about $1.00 per gallon cheaper than the "untaxed" fuel at the fuel dock.

I have used the low sulphur stuff a few times but only 5 gallons at a time by gerry can when our fuel dock was closed temporarily.

I'm thinking back when they were converting from regular gas to unleaded and some cars weren't designed for unleaded and got valve damage as a result.

Any similarities?

I have been having an increase in engine vibration fur the last few months and at first thought that it was related to the recent cutless bearing replacement but on closer inspection I've found that my forward starboard motor mount is bad.
Also Ken Heyman pointed out while he was visiting with us a while back, some water that was around the muffler at the exhaust riser hose connection. I traced this later to a small hole in the exhaust riser, just above the hose connection which I was able to temporarily fix with epoxy putty.
So, it looks like it's time to replace motor mounts along with the exhaust riser and hump hose.
I've been reading the threads and it looks like most are using the vetus k50 or k75. Is there a better choice of one over the other? Has anyone tried to use the factory mounts from Universal?
On the exhaust riser, will the one from Catalina Direct be OK? As others have noted,  Catalina Parts requires that you send the old one to them to copy, Catalina Direct doesn't. I'm concerned that the one I get will fit and do I need to replace the flange or reuse the old one.
Catalina Direct looks like the best source for the 8" hump hose, which I understand will reduce vibration as well.

Any help will be appreciated,
Mike

Has anyone seen or used one of these "Bow Catchers"? We were looking a new marina in the south bay and a few boats were using this type of arrangement so I pulled out an old furling line from the dock box and converted it to a "bow catcher".

I haven't tested it at full speed yet,   but it does hold everything in place if I'm docking short handed and I don't have to scurry quite as fast as before.

Here's some pictures,
Mike

I had been having intermittant problems with flushing the head. When trying to pump the handle, you would get tremendous resistance as if there was a blockage and you could not force it down. A dockmate recommended that I just put more pressure on it and try to force it  to clear the blockage. I tried this and it actually started working and was pumping and flushing just fine. This happened twice and I was able to clear it by forcing it.........until last weekend. It wound not budge at all on the down stroke and so the adventure begins. I took apart the pump assembly to check the joker valve and the flapper gasket at the bottom. The 0 ring was obviously good with all the pressure it was creating. So now cones the hoses. First of all I was expecting to get a blast of nasty stuff when opening up the hose connections but just the normal residual came out which was bad enough. We checked the short piece between the head and the Y valve and it had some build up but was not blocked. Next the longer length between the Y valve and the holding tank. First of all I had never used the Y valve and it was frozen solid, wouldn't budge. We opened up the hose connections and found our problem.I was expecting to find a paper or cloth plug but what we found was a solid build up of salt in the hose to the point that when we took out the hose and tried to pour water in the top, none came out the bottom. Also I took apart the Y valve and it to was plugged solid.

The attached picture will give you an idea of the blockage. Has anyone run into this solid of a blockage?

I had our boat hauled out this past Monday to have some work done.
1. bottom paint
2. replace the old signet transducers with the new raymarine transducers for the new instruments in the navpod.
3. replace the stuffing box hose along with the whole stuffing box assembly.

I have a friend who is a surveyor who did an inspection of the bottom and he found some play in the cutless bearing and recommended replacing it while the shaft was being disconnected to work on the stuffing box.

The next thing I know, the mechanic is telling me that he's going to have to drop the rudder to get the shaft out and the cutless off and all the associated extra cost. So I proceded to tell him that I knew many owners through the Catalina IA that have done this without dropping the rudder and he said that he's been doing  this for so many years and he's NEVER been able to do it. So we agreed to disagree but he did promise to at least try before dropping the rudder.

The next day I called the yard owner to express my concerns about the additional cost of dropping the rudder and also asked if he knew about a device called a strut-pro that could remove the cutless without even removing the shaft and he said that they normally use a hydraulic ram devise to basically do the same thing but the Catalina's have what he called " A THIN WALL CUTLESS", which has a tendency to crumple inside the strut when trying to remove it that way. My answer was, "what do we have to lose"? If it crumples then pull the shaft like you were going to do anyway and if you get the cutless out, then we don't have to worry about getting the shaft out.
He agreed to have the mechanic at least try all these things first before dropping the rudder.

This is one of the problems with not living near your boat. You have to put a lot of trust in the yard doing the work. Living in the Phoenix area, it's not a easy jaunt back and forth, otherwise I could keep an eye on things.

I was planning to drive back down Friday to collect our boat but I won't know until Thursday if all the work is done and the outcome.

Is anyone familiar with the term "thin wall cutless" and is there problems in this area?

I will keep you posted on the outcome.

Mike

Have any of you used the funnel type fuel filters from West Marine? I think they used to be called Baja filters.
I purchased one recently and wound up taking it back because of the reservoir in the bottom of the filter that is supposed to collect the water and dirt particles holds a few ounces of fuel. When you're done using the filter, what are you supposed to do with the few ounces of fuel or water or other crud that collects in the bottom? Maybe I need to carry a mason jar with me and dump it in my neighbors flower bed when I get home.
Just wondering what everyone else does.

 
       http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/



This is pretty cool. I got from a tech at the San Diego West Marine.
It shows actual realtime AIS information anywhere in the world although it does not show movement so you would have to reload the page every so often.
If you have a laptop or Iphone type device with access to the web on your boat, you could probably get by without having to buy a AIS reciever.

OK, reading further into the FAQ area of this website, this website is not intended for navigational purposes.

Happy Holidays

Mike

I'm is the process of cleaning and repainting my HX and I know that for the zinc to function properly it must have a good metal to metal contact where it threads into the HX. So I'm thinking that the HX  mounting bracket that mounts to the engine block also should have a good metal to metal contact to provide a good ground for the HX to work properly. Does this make since? Should I clean the paint off so that I  have a bare metal spot on the bracket where it's bolted to the engine?

Also, do I need to use permatex on the rubber gaskets and O rings.

Mike

Has anyone replaced the rubber hose coupling connected to the packing gland? Mine is looking pretty nasty and looks like it should be replaced possibly along with the whole packing gland assembly.
The shaft would obviously need to be slid back but I was just wondering what I'm up against.

Mike

Talking recently with a diver that does allot of maintenance on boats in our marina, he shared something that he advises all of his customers to carry as emergency equipment and that is to carry two of the wax rings that are commonly used on a home toilet flange.

He went on to say that they would seal almost any type of leak or puncture in the hull including losing a shaft.

Sounds logical to me and cheap insurance!

Mike

A few months ago I purchased a new stereo system for the boat. It was on sale at WM for $100. The manufacturer is Dual and it comes with 2 flush mount speakers.
What I really like about is that it has a ipod input that you can use for any device that has a headset jack or a external speaker jack and sooo     what you can do is if your TV is close by you can plug the headphone output into the ipod jack and use the cabin speakers to listen to the TV. Almost as good as surround sound
Also if your VHF radio is close by you can plug the external speaker jack into the ipod jack and use your cockpit radio speakers to listen to your VHF so you don't have to use a seperate speaker.
It also plays CD's both regular ones and those loaded with MP3's
The kicker is that it has a USB port that they advertise as being a charging port to cell phones and any device that will charge from a USB port but what the add doesn't tell you is that you can also plug in a USB memory stick with MP3 music loaded on it. These things will hold thousands of songs and are much better than using the old method of a CD stacker.

Any way I really like mine and I noticed they are on sale again for the same $100

Chack it out!

Mike

Does Garhauer offer a discount to C43IA members? I thought I saw something once on our sire about it.
It looks like I'll be mounting my radar antenna on the stern on their tower.

I will also be selling my existing Garhauer motol lift since the radar tower has one included.

Anyone interested?

I'm weighing the options of mounting the radar antenna on a pole mount at the stern rather than the mast. I see a equal number of boats at the marina with this configuration. This would solve my issue with the cable length not reaching the mast without buying an extension cable and splicing it. Installation and maintenance would be simpler. Some people have told me that the range is not affected as much as expected.

Have any of you dealt with this issue?

Mike

Could someone tell me which switch the instrument lights (tach,volts,temp,oil pressure)normally connect too. Mine have never worked and this past weekend I found out why when I had the panel off for the first time to replace the tach/hour meter. They weren't connected to anything and all but two of the bulb sockets were missing.I'm thinking that the running lights circuit would be a logical place, but what is the norm?

Mike

Has anyone found a good source for NavPods?     

My engine hour meter seems to have quit working even though the tach still works just fine. Is there a wiring issue that could allow the tach to work and not the hour meter or are they common which means that the hour meter must be bad.

Any ideas?

I have noticed that the interior wood color on the newer Catalina's are much lighter than my "89. Is this simply because mine has darkened from age or are they just using lighter wood?

Mike

For those of you interested in an alternate way to get up your mast, you should check out this websits for the Prime Climb Mast Ladder at

              http://www.prime-climb.com/default.htm

I recently bought one and have used it successfully to install a lazyjack system and to check my anchor light without success. A drawback to this system is that when you go up to the very top of the mast, you are somewhat restricted by the backstay wedging you against the mast so you would have to stand on one side of the mast and kind of wrap an arm around the backstay for support. After working on the lazyjacks, I was kind of tired so I decided to wait for a day when I had more energy th attack the anchorlight.
An advantage is that you don't need a halyard. Just in case the reason you need to go up the mast is because you lost your halyard or  your halyard breaks and you don't have a spare, then this system would be good to have. You can also use this by yourself if necessary although I had a helper safely laughing his tail off below me.
They reccommend that you use a harness with a line around the mast so that you can tie yourself off and work without holding on. Being a retired telephone guy, I elected to use a linemans body belt that worked quite well.
At around $400.00 their not cheap but could serve a necessary purpose. I believe the ATN climber is about the same price range but again they require a halyard or a dedicated static line.

Is anyone familiar with the Guest 2620a Charge Pro? It is a 2 bank 20 amp charger and This is the charger that was on my boat when I bought it . I am in the process of replacing my batteries and it seems that this charger has been doing a pretty good job so far but I am considering the Xantrex,

Any thoughts?
Mike

Has anyone put a dodger on a tall rig? I recently had a bimini made for our boat and was considering a dodger too but never realized how low the boom is and it seems impractical to do it. I'm assuming that all tall rigs have a lower boom than standard rigs.

Mike

While getting ready to put the dinghy and outboard back on the boat I thought of an easy way to flush the outboard while on the stern rail.
After hoisting the outboard up and securing it to the Stern rail mount, I then took a plastic 5 gal bucket and clipped it to the hoist and rigged it under and around the lower unit of the outboard, filled the bucket with water and started the motor to let it run for a few minutes. If you have an external tank, this is a good chance to let the engine run out of gas with the hose disconnected. Make sure you keep the water hose available to keep the bucket full.


Mike

In doing some research about my other thread about oil pan replacement, I went to the C34IA home page and clicked on manuals and then on parts list to look at the engine diagram showing the oil pan and its related parts and part numbers. When talking to the local parts supplier, he had different part numbers than I did for the oil pan, so I gave him my part number and he cross referenced it to be for a m25xpb rather than the m25xp. I'm not sure what uses the m25xpb but I knew that ours as the m25xp.

I just wanted others to be aware that the manual is for the xpb and not the xp.

Does anyone know if any of the C34's use the xpb? And is there a manual available on line for the xp.

BTW, the first page of the manual does say M25XPB, but I guess I "ASSUMED" it was the same and maybe most parts are the same, but obviously not the oil pan.


Mike

I've read a lot of posts about replacing the pan but no one has commented on how hard is to get access to all the bolts. I'd like to hear from someone who has done this.
Also, is the Kabota pan compatable? One of the posts mentioned there was a difference that can be resolved by some minor welding changes.
Mine is terrably rusted from a previous leak and I probably won't know if I will have to replace it until I take it out and look at it.
Prices quote from a local Universal dealer is $313 for the pan and $50 for the gasket.

Thanks in advace,
Mike

I just got done reading the article in the January Cruising World with Ken and Vicki being "Secret Shoppers" at the Annapolis Boat Show.
Although there were no Catalina's in the judging I just loved their final comment in the article which was:

"Overall, however, they came away with a fresh appreciation for the 34 footer they already owned"

Way to go Ken and Vicki


Mike

This is the second time I've replaced my fuel filters and had no problems the first time but this time after successfully replacing the primary Racor filter bleeding and test running the engine for about 15 minutes, I attempted to replace the secondary spin on filter at the engine and as soon as I started to loosen the filter, the fuel was for some reason under pressure, resulting in the previously mentioned shower. Some condidion must have been different than the first time I changed it out since I surely would have remembered the shower. The tank valve was definitely closed as I think it should be but I'm not sure weather the bleed screw was open or closed, or if that would matter. What did I do wrong? Luckilly I had lots of rags.
Also, Is anyone familiar with the significance of the different colors of diesel fuel? The stuff I put in my boat has a reddish color and some fuel I got a the corner gas station was much More transparent with a greenish color to it. I know that here is a color put in the fuel to show that it has been taxed and possibly the low sulphur and the ultra low sulphur may be colored differently. Can anyone tell me what color goes with what.
I need to be color coordinated for my next shower!!     

While preparing to head out of the dock,the Admiral inadvertently turned the battery selector to off while the engine was running.  know this usually fries the diodes but everything seems to be OK. Both voltmeter and ammeter seem to be reading normal or does the problem not show up on the meters. Is it possible that they could survive a short duration of being without a load? Also, I have never physically traced the charging wire from the alternating so it could be bypassing the switch.

Any thoughts?  

Mike

I am hoping to be able to work on my h/x this weekend, My question is, when I disconnect it how much antifreeze will I loose? Do I need to plug any lines. I will probably be bringing it home to a local radiator shop to get it boiled out so it will be off the boat for 2 weeks.

Thanks,
Mike

Ron and Stu have obviously out done themselves in helping us all and maybe we should think about creating a new rank for them. Most Master Chief's in the Navy would be insulted to be promoted to Ensign but maybe a Warrant Officer rank would be appropriate.

What do you all think?

Mike

I presently have the Signet Marine depth and speed indicator ( i don't know if these were original equipment but they look old but still work) and I would eventually like to upgrade to Raymarine ST60 series. I am having my boat hauled in a few weeks to have the bottom painted and am thinking about having the transducers changed to the ST60 transducers.
Does anyone know if there is any compatability between the speed and depth transducers? If I change them to raymarine will my Signet units work on them until I buy the Raymarine units?
Or if I leave the Signet transducers in will the Raymarine sustem work on them?
I hope someone has researched this or tried the same thing.

Thanks in advance,
Mile

Is there an easy way to tell if my glow plugs are working? My engine has been hard to start for some time now but it does always start.When the engine is cold I usually hit the glow plugs for 45 seconds, crank for 10 seconds,no start, Then I hit the glow plugs for another 45 seconds, crank for 10 seconds, no start. Then I wait for about 5 minutes then do the same thing a third time and it ALWAYS starts on the 3rd attempt. The cranking is always strong so I don't think it's a battery problem and when the engine is warm it always starts no problem, I do not have the solenoid on my glow plug circut but with the amount of time I'm heating the plugs, that shouldn't be the issue either although I'm sure it would help. Would I have this issue if one of my plugs is not working? I do see a definite voltage drop when I'm hitting the glow plugs so I know that something is drawing.
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance     

Mike

Has anyone recently put a dodger and bimini on their boat? I'm hoping to get some ballpark estimates on how much each would cost especially if anyone is in the San Diego area and has used a particular company.

Thanks,
Mike

I'm seeing you guys talking about exhaust fans and my '89 doesn't have one. Are they optional or did the PO possibly remove it. I actually thought they were only necessary if you had a gasoline engine. Should I ask Santa for one?

Mike

I replaced my sink and waterheater on my last visit to the boat and got everything done except connecting the AC power to the waterheater which I will be doing this weekend. I've seen the term Crimp and solder used and I am wondering when you say solder, do you mean to pre tin the wire before crimping or are you soldering after you crimp? The old one was crimped and heat shrink was used as well. Is this the preferred way to do it? I'm assuming wire nuts are out of the question. As for the heat shrink, do I need to use a heat gun or will a match or lighter work?



Thanks,
Mike

This is half of a retaining clip that hit the cockpit floor while we were sailing last week. I looked all around for something missing but couldn't find anything. Now that I'm awaw from the boat, I'm wondering if it could be from the wheel shaft. The clip is about one inch diameter inside. I cant think of anything that big coming from the mast or standing rigging. Any ideas?

Anyone know of a easy way to renove rust stains from fiberglass? I think one of my helpers used a steel wool pad for cleaning something in the cockpit last week and this weekend I have little rust freckles all over the place. I have reduced some of the stains with Simple green but not eliminated.
I've heard that oxalic acid works but am hoping for a simpler solution. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Mike

I have read most of the posts on replacing fuel filters and bleeding the system but are there any special considerations if I'm replacing both the primary and secondary filters at the same time?
I've also managed to find the P S diesel additive that Ron recommended and am going to give it a try. I forget whether the secondary filter is horizontal or vertical. If vertical can I fill it with the additive as well. I'm a little skeptical about putting anything other than diesel fuel directly into the system, but if Ron says it'll work then I'll give it a shot.
Thanks,
Mike

I just received my motor lift from Garhauer and won't be going to the boat for another week so that should give me plenty of time to over analize everything. Although it didn't come with any instructions, it looks pretty much self explanatory. Can I assume that the ring that comes with it is a backing plate and the ball mount should be through bolted? In order to get a flat mounting surface for the ball,is the post on the inside or outside of the stern rail?   
Thanks,
Mike

Since I live in Phoenix and my boat is in San Diego I'm hoping someone is close by their boat and can tell me the distance from the top rail to the center rail on the stern rail. I'm trying to build an outboard motor bracket. I'm considering using common 2 x 10 or 2 x12 lumber and some U bolts to mount it on the rail. Any thoughts or ideas.

Thanks,
Mike

I know that Catalina says you can use either Ford AFT or GM Dexron II fluid as long as you don't mix them but what if you don't know whats in there now. Would you need to flush the Trans to make sure you don't get a mix? Is there a preference of one over the other. Thanks.

Mike