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I realize you northern and east coast guys see your bottom every six months for months at a time but here in SoCal for me at least it happens only once every four years and only for a few days so it's kind of a big deal. Also this is the first time I'm having the yard do the work, with ever increasing CA regulations it's just gotten to be too much of a PITA and they are openly trying to discourage DIY.

What I found amazing is we had discussed cutlass bearing replacement since it's original and 36 years old but after inspection the mechanic said it was fine and he saw no reason to replace it. He said worst case it'll be fine at least until the next haulout. I asked how this could be and he said whoever did the original alignment did an outstanding job. Who said Catalina doesn't know how to build boats!

What impressed me was by recommending not replacing the cutlass bearing they just saved me $500!

On a sail trip to Catalina island an interesting, or alarming, thing happened, while charging the batteries with motor I noticed on the front right motor mount the front bolt bouncing around in the slot. I pulled it out and saw it was sheared in half, I checked the other seven, which were fine. That's a pretty beefy bolt, I've no idea what could cause that.                                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                                                                        I'm just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience. If so how did you proceed with the fix.

This concerns the Oberdorfer water pump on the M25, I'm not sure if later model motors use the same pump or not.

End of last season I did a 100hr service which included impeller replacement. Upon completing this service I usually do about a 30min run in to make sure everything is working properly, which it was, including cooling water moving through the exhaust. To start the season I usually do a motor run up to make sure it's working properly, which it normally is. This time however these was no water blowing out the exhaust.

What I found when I pulled the pump cover was the brass bushing on the pump shaft was spinning but the rubber impeller wasn't. The bond between the two had broken so the impeller wasn't turning. I've probably replaced 20 impellers over the years and this is a first. I went to my local chandlery and got a new one, I asked about this and the guy said there may have been a bad batch, but he wasn't sure.

I've used a lot of these impellers and I'll still rate it as extremely reliable, but if there was a bad batch and you are changing or have recently changed your impeller I'd keep an eye on it at least until you've got several hours on it. And keep a spare handy.

Some of my most memorable sail days have just come out of the blue. One in particular, maybe my best, comes to mind. It didn't start out that way, it just happened. I was taking Top Gun to Avalon for a week to meet family and friends. It's about a 4 1/2hr trip and a couple of friends volunteered to go with me to help out and keep me company.

The trip didn't start well, first the friends flaked out so I'd be singling over, next I had to leave early, which in these parts means no wind, so I'd have to motor all the way. Since the idea was just to get the boat over there neither would be much of a problem, but it certainly wouldn't be much fun.

I departed my slip assuming I'd be motoring all the way as I've done many times before. As I cleared the harbor an unusual breeze kicked up from nowhere. I thought fine, it won't last long but I rolled out the jib to take advantage of it and do a little motor sailing. Strangely the breeze held and actually freshened to 15 to 20 knots, I thought what the hell so up went the main and off went the motor, I'll enjoy it while it lasts, plus the sails were making a knot and a half on the motor. I didn't drop the sails until I arrived in Avalon.

It was a fast trip(under 4hrs) and a smooth trip. At a certain point I shut off the auto pilot so I could sit high side and hand steer the boat, fully enjoying the sensations of a boat flying along in perfect conditions. Sadly, all too soon I arrived at my destination.

While I've had many great sail days I've never repeated this one, that was about 25yrs ago. Maybe that's why I've kept my boat for so long, because while I've never repeated that memorable sail, there's always the possibility that I might.

I'm in the middle of my 100hr service and took note of my glow plugs, with over 1500 hours on the motor it occurred to me that I have never done a thing to them. Maybe because for 30+ years I've never had a problem, I push the glow plug button for 20 to 25 seconds and the motor fires right up every time.

A fellow C34 owner had recently replaced his glow plugs(not sure why)which got me thinking should I replace them or not, I don't know. That's why I'm posing this question to the collective wisdom of the C34 herd.

The topic was right of way and rules of the road. There is a very impressive picture of a power boat sitting atop a really nice sailboat. Now while I consider myself reasonably well versed in the rules of the road, I wouldn't call myself an expert, but it seems the story missed the number one rule(at least for me), DON'T LET ANYONE HIT YOUR F**KING BOAT!

When I'm faced with an undesirable boat to boat interface I don't care who has the right of way or weather it's power or sail or whatever I'm not going to let anyone hit my boat. In that situation I start with the assumption the other boater has no clue about the right of way or is simply inattentive.

    I know this topic has been has been covered has been covered to death, but it seems to be usually about the problematic Beckson ports or the need to rebed the port be it Beckson or Lewmar. My problem is I have a leak in one corner of one port, I have replaced the rubber seal twice---no joy. My question is has anyone used a sealant when installing the rubber seals?

    Up until a few days ago, not only had I never seen a "Sugar Scoop" model(and only in pictures), I had never even heard of it. Living in Long Beach, CA which is about 30mi from Woodland Hills, where Catalina built them until California chased them out of the state, I've seen a lot of 34s but never seen one of these. They must not have built very many of them before they went to the "walk through" model.

      I just finished my 100hr service on my M-25 which always includes replacing the Oberdorfer raw water impeller. I don't know about you guys but I've always found this operation to be a pain in the arse. Sometimes it goes fairly smoothly, most times not. This was one of those not times. The impeller went almost all the way onto the shaft and stuck. What to do? I consulted to manual which said if you remove the shaft you'll have to pull the whole pump to reset shaft. I went ahead anyway and pulled the shaft with impeller attached. On the bench I was able to properly set the impeller w/ circlip on the shaft. Then I used a zip tie to compress the impeller vanes, I was able to slip the shaft right back in, removed the zip tie, done and done.
       Going forward I think this is how I'll do it from now on, this method allows you to R&R the impeller on the bench and the slot end of the shaft fits in similar to putting a distributor in an engine block

     This is the start of what I hope will be a very short thread. After much diagnosis and attempted fixes I've finally had to concede that my 31yo Adler Barbour needs to be replaced. I bit the bullet and ordered a new(Adler Barbour CU-100, VD-150) unit. It's due to arrive within the week. I'll post updates on how it goes.

    I was wondering if anyone has done anything with these voids. On Top Gun #273 I have three of them running along the center line under the aft berth and water tank. A few years ago I noticed the one farthest forward(under the berth hatch)had filled with brackish, smelly water and little critters frolicking therein. I cleaned, filled, and glassed it in so now the water just runs past into the bilge. I thought I had solved the problem until I removed the rear tank and found two more voids. My feeling here is standing water in the boat not a good thing. I'm getting ready to fill these two remaining voids. I can't be the only one who's noticed this.