Mini WebLog

[hump180]

Everyone, here is my mini web log of some updates and things gone wrong with our first two months of ownership. Most of these updates were made possible by the shared knowledge of the board and could be a little mundane for most of the experienced owners, but I wanted to share my experiences in case someone could pick some tidbit from it. Sorry if it is a bit lengthy.

Replaced Jabsco Head    - when we received the boat, water would spray out the pump housing when pumped and it was cheaper to buy a whole toilet rather than the replacement part. The direct replacement was a straightforward install with a bead of life seal around the toilet to seal out moisture from getting to the bolts and a touch of seal on the bolts to keep moisture out from above.

Rebedded chainplates – We had moisture in the deck and decided to rebed the chainplates as one of the first projects of importance. I followed the great instruction given by the FAQ section of this sight to accomplish this, but with one deviation; no sealant on the underside of the plates. A knowledgeable sailboat mechanic and boat builder stopped by as I began the project and wanted to assist so I happily agreed. He pointed out that by sealing the underside of the chainplates, where they contact the headliner, you would effectively be sealing the moisture in the deck with the advent of leaking. He convincingly argued that by leaving the seal out, it would be the tell tale of a leak when it began, and therefore would indicate when it is time to rebed.       

Teak Louver Door – The nav closet door was missing when we purchased the boat. When we called H&L marine (original manufacturer) as advised by Catalina and the board, they were very unprofessional, at least with their customer service. They do not return calls, have no E-mail for the business, and seem to rely on only fax for communication. After poor service I called a place in Florida (S&P Custom, Inc). The owner, Steve, was very customer oriented and worked with me to get every dimension and requested pics, which I emailed so he could match the door as close as possible. The door was perfect. Great company if anyone needs custom teak work.
   
Al's Nav Closet Shelves – Built from plans on the site in FAQ section. Just to let anyone interested in this project know; the shelves Al used for the project are out of production, but still available online in a few places, so act soon to buy them or risk having to hunt down something similar.

Memory Foam – We ordered a king 4" topper from overstock and cut it in two pieces to the pattern of the v-berth cushions and still had enough leftover to make 3 pillows. Cut a sheet to fit over the new and old cushions.

Resealed Aft Portlights – Used the info on the site for this much-needed project as the aft cabin was saturated from constant leaking. Didn't need any fancy tools to remove the ports, just razor cutters and a plastic hammer to tap out the ports from the outside. Part of the trick to removing these ports are having some patience with loosening the old seal with a putty knife or similar while trying to not scratch the boat. After having seen the bad job that Catalina did sealing the ports, it was no wonder they leaked. They had not sealed around the bottom of the port, where it sits in the cutout hole in the hull. This caused any water that made it past the seals to drip out near the dogs, giving the false impression that the dogs were leaking.

Raw water filter gasket – The first day of ownership, this was leaking badly and I did not know about the gasket, so I had to have the local hardware store make me an o-ring, which worked great. Now I just need to figure out a way to blow air out of the intake to unclog the occasional Lake Erie seaweed from the thru hull.

Removed smoked Plexiglas completely from the cabin (big improvement to me). Later I will replace the doors with 1/8 teak with finger holes to open as suggested by others at the board.

Removed table from the boat - This really opened up the interior space. I got the idea from a U of M professor I met while he was cruising the North Channel (Ontario) in his classic 38 Catalina. He said it made the boat feel roomier for his family and they did not use the table for much anyway.

Refinish Sole – Lots of work and lots of lessons learned. Five coats of Minwax Helmsman clear gloss look great. Also sealed the bottom, as there was a lot of water damage. I am reinstalling the floors tomorrow and I will also position some felt strips in places under the floor panels to reduce vibration noises. We noticed all the different vibrations that come and go as we walk through the cabin under power. Maybe the felt will help.    

GPS 545 – I opted for the 545 without sonar and with an internal antenna to minimize the amount of wiring to perform. Straightforward mounting on Edson mount and wired to autohelm ST50 wind instruments for power at the binnacle. I am now in search of a portable 12V battery power source with disposable battery capability, so that I can rig an extra power cable to it on case of a power failure at night or during foul weather I could still have GPS navigation.

Stainless shift lever – When we purchased the boat the throttle lever had been replaced by the new Stainless Edson type and the shift lever was stowed below for good reason that I will not get into in great detail, but I will hint that it involved me backing into something when I could not engage the new lever into forward because it struck the binnacle.
I tried to fix this problem by changing the adjustment at the trans linkage, but it could not be adjusted enough. The next process involved me detaching the shift arm at the transmission and changing its orientation with the trans in neutral and then retightening in its new position. This gave me the travel I needed, but I would advise anyone attempting this to be very careful and be patient, as this was not an easy adjustment to make.   

Added a K&N air filter because I did not care for the original setup and the K&N was simple and effective, also alleviating the need to locate filters every year. The "brillo" that was the old filter was very dirty and had released particles on the screen protecting the intake. When I ordered a new filter they, sent me the foam one that was wrong for my setup. I feel better with new setup and maybe it will even help the engine breath better.

Next projects include Cutlass Bearing, repitch prop to 10.5" or possibly a Kiwi, and possibly reupholstering our badly worn interior, and probably many things I am forgetting.

Bill      

[waterdog]

Two months and this is all you've done?   Don't worry, you should be able to pick up the pace now that you are familiar with the boat.   

Good call on the sealing of the chainplates.    We should annotate the FAQ to raise the issue so that people can think in through and make their own decision about whether to seal at the headliner.

[Stu Jackson]

I'm impressed, wonderful report.

"Now I just need to figure out a way to blow air out of the intake to unclog the occasional Lake Erie seaweed from the thru hull."

From my May 2008 Secretary Report in Mainsheet Magazine:

Among the interesting little "tidbits" of information that I'd remembered reading about on the website had to do with cleaning out the raw water intake with a dinghy foot pump.  On a nice mid-winter March sail with Ken Heyman, our treasurer who was here visiting, we had just left the South Beach Marina and were motoring over to see the "Lady Washington," one of the tallships that regularly visits the Bay Area and has cannonball encounters of the close kind with fellow tallships.  Since it was cold out, there seemed to be a bit more white smoke from the exhaust than usual,  which I attributed to the lower air temperature.  Upon checking the temperature gauge, we noted it was pegged and stopped the engine immediately.  Ken and I went through a checklist of actions we could take.  Sailing back to the marina was not among them, since there was no wind and the end of the ebb was setting us north towards the Bay Bridge.  Thru hull strainer clear – check.  Raw water entering – check, but a trickle and less than expected.    Raw water pump impeller in one piece – check.  Raw water pump turning – check.  Spare raw water pump gasket to replace cover – check.  Temperature gauge working properly – check.  Hoses and thru hull clear – hmm...  We got the dinghy foot pump out from the lazarette, replaced the strainer and opened the seacock.  Because the arrangement of the hoses and the strainer on "Aquavite" aren't configured to connect the pump there, we removed the hose from the raw water pump and used the dinghy pump at that end of the hose.  That turned out to be actually be easier than trying to work under the head sink.  There was significant resistance at first, but after setting the three way valve on the foot pump to a higher pressure setting, the pump started working.  Whatever had been clogging either the thru hull or the line was flushed out.  Once everything was reassembled, we started the engine and all was well.  Lesson Learned: It pays to read the material on the website because you just never know when you'll be faced with an insurmountable problem only to find out that one of our skippers had "been there – done that" and had most importantly reported it for all of us to know.  Thanks to Ken for his analytical assistance!

[karista]

Did you use the Memory Foam as a topper on top of the cushions or did you re-stuff your cushions with the Memory Foam? If so, how do you compare the Memory Foam to the standard cushion foam used by Catalina?

[hump180]

Karista, we used the memory foam on top of the cushions. This added some base to the 4"topper and also protects our newly upholstered cushions as a bonus.