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Messages - ewengstrom

#1
Main Message Board / Re: Stack Pack Mast Attachment
August 12, 2024, 11:51:52 AM
I built the Sailrite "Sail Pack" a few years ago and did add the small eye above the forward part of the pack and above it.
If you're worried about hitting the conduit I suggest you use a drill bit that is marked at 1/4", or even use a collar to limit the depth of the drill bit. Once you have the holes, tap them out for a machine screw of similar depth and then your conduit and wires will be safe.
I rewired my mast this past winter and encountered no damage to the old wiring from adding the eye.
Hope you love that pack as much as I do, it's been a great addition.
#2
Main Message Board / Re: shower drain
August 01, 2024, 10:09:47 AM
Stu,
Thanks for your reply to my question. I did do a search for "shower sump" but pretty much everything I read seemed to use the term "shower sump" interchangeably with I believe was the shower drain. I did try to access the Tech Notes article you referenced but for some reason my credentials aren't being accepted on both a laptop and my phone. Not sure what's up there but that's another issue.
 
FYI, I'm quite intimate with the plumbing on my boat, I drilled a big hole in the floor to access the area in question. There literally isn't enough room between the bottom of the floor and the hull to get my hand (size LG, not XL) in that hole, I can feel the clamp on the shower drain with my finger tips, but can't see it without a mirror.
My entire inquiry revolved around my curiosity as to where this sump would be placed on a Catalina 34. If anyone has one I'd sure like to see how it's installed, like Dan I think it's a good idea.
#3
Main Message Board / Re: shower drain
July 30, 2024, 04:09:10 AM
Stu,
I understand you to say there is (or should be) some kind of sump box under the floor outside the head door.
I've drilled a 4" hole in the sole under the wood floor for access to the shower drain hose and there is no sump on our boat, in fact the only reason I'm replying is I'm pretty sure that since I can barely get my hand into the space there to access the hose clamp I just don't see where a sump would go??? The shower drain itself is glued or glassed in with a 90 degree elbow that is aimed directly aft to where the hose comes out under the sink, then there is a one way valve and then a few feet from that is the pump itself.
I'm just wondering if others have the above described setup, or do they in fact have a sump down there somewhere?  :donno:
#4
Main Message Board / Re: Scupper Hoses
July 25, 2024, 03:18:43 AM
Kevin,
What led me to even look at that one way valve was the fact that the exact same thing happened to a friend of mine on his Catalina 27 a few weeks before it happened to me, the info was fresh in my mind so that led me to look inside the valve. As a P.S. to this story, when I popped it off this spring, there was stuff in there again....not blocking it...yet...but it was there.
Cheap and fast fix IMHO, but I get what you're saying about fixing things that aren't broken.
#5
Main Message Board / Re: Scupper Hoses
July 23, 2024, 08:32:29 AM
Kevin,
I'd recommend a vented loop be added to that bilge hose.
Ours didn't have one but it had a one way valve about 1' back from the pump. As far as I know it's been like that since the boat was new. A few years ago we were on a cruise and had motored for several hours. When we anchored I checked the bilge and found it full to within an inch of the floor boards. (Yeah, I know...I should have had the pump set to automatic, but I didn't...my bad)
After much pumping and looking for a broken fitting I finally determined that a small piece of 16ga wire jacket had found its way thru the bilge pump and had lodged itself in the one way valve. This wasn't a problem until we were motoring and I must have run the bilge for a minute. The bilge emptied and then because the transom was squatted down and the bilge fitting was below water it created a siphon and over the course of a few hours it filled that bilge right up.
No harm done, except for a minor panic attack, but I've since installed a vented loop that attaches to the propane shelf in the aft locker. That loop should have been done in the first place.
#6
Main Message Board / Re: Epic sailing photos!!
May 29, 2024, 04:23:26 PM
Sailing out of the Lower Machodoc Creek near Dahlgren,Va. in some pretty sporty conditions.
#7
Brian,
Our 88 had some pretty sad caps on them when we bought her so I went ahead and ordered the SS caps from CD. I'm like Noah who doesn't appreciate them stamping their company name into the cap...but it is what it is.
I did find that the one for the starboard water tank tended to bottom out before I could feel the O-ring engage. For some reason CD had them made with a safety chain that is supposed to attach to....well.....I'm not sure.  :?
There is a small attachment point made directly into the bottom of the cap and I found that even when I'd removed the chain and screw that held it, the mount itself still contacted the shoulder inside the fill, stopping the cap from seating correctly. Since I couldn't use the chain anyway I ground this mount off and now all four work like a charm. I specifically remember this being a problem on the starboard water tank, definitely not the aft tank as the fill is 1-1/2" so there was more room to work with and this modification wasn't necessary. Same goes for the diesel fill and the waste port. Those fittings are all bigger, it was only that starboard tank fill that gave me fits.
Other than the above, they work well and I for one like them.
#8
Main Message Board / Re: Chipping keel?
April 26, 2024, 04:43:06 AM
Kevin,
You pose a valid question with "What's the purpose of paying to epoxy-barrier-coat a lead keel?
A barrier coat is to prevent blisters from forming on a polyester-fiberglas hull."
But I would note that Mars Keel, the current manufacturer of lead keels for Catalina Yachts, does coat their new and repaired keels with Interprotect 2000E before palletizing and shipping.
Perhaps this is due to the fact that lead will oxidize very quickly without some sort of protection and an epoxy barrier coat sure qualifies as a good protective coat.
I've personally seen this kind of oxidation and it happens very, very quickly. There is a mild coating of oxidation after only one hour and it gets heavier as more time passes.
I personally didn't mind grinding the exposed parts and immediately coating them with an epoxy barrier coating to protect it. I honestly can't think of a paint coating I would have substituted, but even though my boat is done and re-launched at this point, I'd be interested in knowing if there were an equivalent or better coating.
#9
After 30 years (+,-) this strip is probably missing on most boats. (just my guess)
We pulled the mast this year for what I'm sure was the first time it's been out of the boat and during some measuring I found that we actually have a tall rig, not the standard rig I was told it was.
We stripped the mast for painting and the only tag I found on it was a paper tag on the inside at the bottom that was so far gone it was in tatters and unreadable.
A tape measure is the only sure way to accurately find out what is standing there, even the PO was wrong in his assumption and information he provided, and he owned the boat for 15 years.
#10
Ron,
You are correct about lead oxidizing, and it actually starts in minutes, not hours. I worked very closely with my keel this past winter and found it was a very interesting (and frustrating) metal to work with. The melting point of lead is 621 degrees and boy does that make it hard to work....(especially drilling)
Before each step on my keel I would either sand it or wire wheel it to remove the oxidation and create a good clean bonding surface. I also wiped it with acetone and then coated it immediately. I did use an epoxy barrier coat over the entire surface after bonding, glassing and fairing the joint.
#11
I was asked not to distribute the photos shared by Catalina, but here's a close up shot of the aft portion of my keel showing the glass below the joint. Your mileage (and boat) may vary.
#12

QuoteI'm the second owner and for the 4 years I've owned it the keel hasn't been touched other than to tighten the keel bolts, and for the other 20 years, most of that it spent on a tame, fresh water river, in Ontario Canada.

I'm 100% confident the keel has never been removed, ever, for any reason.

Unless there's a layer of fiberglass hiding somewhere the picture doesn't show, Catalina did not use fiberglass on this keel.

I can also say that there were 3-4 other C34 MKII of around the same age, where the boat used to be, and they all looked identical at the keel to hull joint to my eye.  I looked around the yard the first year this started to happen.

That's quite interesting. My assumption came from more than a few conversations with Catalina Yachts, they sent me some very helpful info for my project and one of those items was a picture of the keel joint on a new Catalina sailboat and the keel joint was very clearly glassed over along its entire length.
When I ground mine back it too had been glassed along its entire length. My assumption was that since mine was an 88 and the photo provided was of a new sailboat that it was probably SOP at Catalina to glass the joint. Apparently that may not have been the case thru the years.
#13
Sticking my nose in here simply because I do have a bit of experience with Catalina 34 keel attachment.
In going back and forth with Catalina recently I know that Catalina covers the joint with fiberglass and then a fairing compound over the glass to smooth it out. I found evidence of this during recent work on my C34.
Based on this picture, I see no evidence of the glass, only a clear line at the keel joint itself. Perhaps this boat had its keel removed sometime in its past but the joint wasn't glassed over when reattached? Or the joint was exposed for some reason and not glassed back over?
I'm definitely of the mind to remove the bottom paint and fair and putty the joint as needed. If the flaking recurs then you can consider grinding the area back and glassing the joint, but with no weeping it's definitely a cosmetic repair.
As is often said around these parts, YBYC.
#14
Kevin,
Well....I knew I was going to like that, but I didn't know it would be as much as I do.....that's one slick mod sir.
Thanks for the first item on this winter's mod list!!!!!  :clap
#15
Kevin,
Do you have pics of the mod? I'd be interested in the placement of the new leg and where it lands. I've done modifications to railings before but mostly additions, not removal.