Toronto Boat Show

[tonywright]

I was at the Toronto boat show in January and toured a C375 there (there was no 34, so figured I might as well). There are some things we liked on the 375, and other things not so much. The saloon is clearly designed to serve as a party headquarters, with all the space for roaming around down there. Nice head forward, but the V-berth seems a step back from the C34, which still seems to continue to reign in the under 40 category (and compares well with some over 40's as well). Most seem to be opting to position the V-berth lower down, which makes it narrower, plus they seem to want to make it narrower at the head for easy access from each side. Net result is a rather disconcerting "coffin" shape!?

I still don't like the look of the new anti-skid, but it is probably easier to manufacture without voids, and easier and cheaper to repair.

It is interesting to check out the under sink plumbing on the new models: They have made the plumbing look very modular and run it down the back wall of the cabinet. Thru hulls are hidden under a trap door in a floor to the cabinet, making the space apparently useful for storage. But I am in the habit of shutting off the thru hulls whenever I leave the boat, and when under way. Clearing out the cabinet to lift the hatch, etc would be a pain. So I suppose you would need to specify remote controlled thru' hulls. Anyone priced those out? Speaking with some owners down there, it seems many leave the thru hulls open anyway. (Haven't they heard that this is how most boats sink?)

The Admiral loves those front loading ice boxes. And no, I haven't figured out any way to retrofit the C34 ice box to do that.  But one mod that looks doable in the galley is the nice piece of shaped Plexiglas to shield the seating area from sink splashes. But where to get the stainless (or are they chrome?) brackets to hold it in place?

With all the ups and down of the exchange rates, it seems that Canadian dealers are now quoting in US dollars. Must have got burned. (I remember that Swans was offering a par exchange for boats ordered in Annapolis last October). If anyone took advantage of that, they would have saved 20-25%.

Racor had a display of their spin on filter units, and I could finally figure out what all the little knobs and screw fittings are for. Like how to drain water from the filter, or how to fit a remote water sensor. Most models have a priming pump on the top. But who would know it was a pump just by looking at it? (You have to unscrew it a few turns before it will operate).

Had a discussion with a supplier of custom tanks about enlarging the holding tank, or fitting an extra tank somewhere. Seems like either could be a viable option. I do have a y-valve that could be repurposed to connect to a second tank...I'll do some thinking in the spring.  For making better use of the holding capacity we have, a vacuum flush seems to be the thing, but pricy at $1600 or so.

The design features that most impressed at the show were on an Island Packet 37. For those of you that like changing Racors regularly, how about a small triangular-shaped door on the side of the engine compartment? When you open it up your Racor filter is strapped to the back of the door, with the flexible fuel hoses bending nicely as it opens and closes. The fuel filter is ready to service without having to contort into unnatural shapes to reach it...!
 
Another nice feature on the Packet: a full sized galley garbage can in its own little cabinet, on heavy duty slides for easy access and storage. Now if only I could figure out a way to implement both of those features..

Finally a talk with Raymarine about what could be ailing my wind display, which started acting up last summer, and then quit. A theory offered was that the mast-head transducer could have suffered from a lightning near miss, and then gradually degraded. I will have to retrieve it from the boat and send it in for testing.

Tony

[sailingdream]

I went on the first sunday after opening and that island packet was an amazing craft with more storage than anyone will ever need :)

I agree with the the C37. Way more room for a party than long term cruising. :)

Did you notice how dead the show was this yr? I have been going for yrs, and it just seemed like the sunday was a weekday, very little traffic and the booths were empty and seemed like everyone was begging me to come in and see what they had.  Sign of the times I guess.

[canuck]

Our Vancouver boat show starts in a couple of days. Local Catalina dealer has pre boat show pricing specials as follows:
Catalina 28  $94,900        New 2009 price $148,638
Catalina 309 $114,900     New 2009 price $167,889
Catalina 320 $134,900      New 2009 price $203,339

Pretty ridiculous given the state of the economy!

[Ted Pounds]

Tony,
I'm with you 100% on the thru-hulls.  I was alway religious about closing all of mine whenever I left the boat.

[Craig Illman]

Susan - That looks pretty standard for a Mk1, but your Facet pump looks pretty new.

Craig

[tonywright]

For the MKII it is under the aft berth in the bilge area behind the shaft. You need to remove the mattress cushions, and the covering board, and even then it is almost impossible to check the see-thru bowl. I guess with mirrors and a flashlight you might...

Where you have your racor mounted, I have the seawater pump for the A/C.

Susan, in your photo you will see a knurled knob on top of the filter. This looks like the priming pump that I discovered. It needs to be unscrewed a couple of turns before you can pump.

Tony

[Stu Jackson]

Do NOT bother with the hand pump on the Racor.  Use the electric fuel pump - that what it's for!  If you do a search on the word "theoretical" you'll find Ken Heyman's great fuel bleeding instructions.  Many of us have installed a fuel pump shutoff switch at the engine, so when the key is on, and the pump is running, you can turn the fuel pump off when bleeding (especially at the engine mounted filter).

[Jon Schneider]

To Stu's point, while the back-and-forth of the thread isn't all there, you'll find step-by-step Racor filter changing instructions, along with a tip on how to avoid having to bleed the system on the wiki.  Look in the "filters" section here: http://www.c34.org/wiki/index.php?title=Fuel