Messages

@pbyrne

Whomever is giving you that answer about the coolant either

1. Doesn't know what they're talking about
or
2. Is intentionally feeding you BS.

Over 30 years, half of that on the hard over Buffalo winters I've never had a drop of coolant in the bilge in the spring. So, no it's not a known problem about Universals.

I tend to think the bad info is #1. because (even if it occurred as "they" claim due to contraction,) CLAMPS ALSO CONTRACT over the winter (greater than the rubber hoses) and therefore hoses connections become even tighter, not looser, during the winter. 

And, there's NO WAY a "drip" from such a "loose" hose connection due to contraction, not under pressure with cold coolant, would lose 2 cups.

The engine closed cooling system has something going on, somewhere, and it's fixable. Permanently.

[If you use a hole saw it's best to plug the old hole with a wood plug before drilling so the pilot drill on the hole saw works and the hole saw doesn't walk.
Jim

Hey Jim if you have that situation here's 3 easier outside-the-box hacks I use (plugging the hole is my last resort.)

Drill a hole in plywood for an external guide, and kneel or stand on it (at least until the new hole gets started.) Or affix it with double sided tape or whatever.
https://youtube.com/shorts/q-CzRZoC4GI?si=sSqRDRmIXzI_cfTQ

Use two saws, if the original hole is a nominal size:
https://youtube.com/shorts/HdKg3IooOB8?si=0PfI_xEPUGRliT5P

If the original hole is odd-size cut a larger hardwood hole and sand it down to the correct diameter for an arbor.
https://youtu.be/vOUfFaIJUqo?si=i34fdHsT_agcf5e9

Here are a few sample spreadsheets I uploaded -- from simple to complicated, that one can modify to suit oneself:

https://c34.org/wiki/images/c/c4/Energyplan_0.xls
https://c34.org/wiki/images/b/bb/2012_Sample_Energy_Budget_0.xls
https://c34.org/wiki/images/8/8f/Energy-Calculator-4.xlsx

It doesn't need to be diamond -- carbide is fine.

I got a complete set of carbide-tooth hole saws at a great deal off Craigslist!
I used them on the bottom of a stainless cabinet (electrical, nothing nautical) and it was an absolute LIFESAVER -- a bimetal hole saw "never would have cut it".

For that distance any FRS talkie will be fine.  Stick with a known brand name.  Look at hunting stores vs a marine store! 

I prefer earbuds vs a headset and suggest that you buy where you/she can try/return to find what works best, lest it become simply an annoyance (and another marriage penalty.)

Some models (I believe Midland FRSs is one) you can buy a plug-in Bluetooth dongle that will pair to your favorite phone Bluetooth. 
Another consideration is wind noise -- so again try/return -- because a boom mic w/ a foam windscreen may work better than a mic hanging on a wire from an earbud or clipped to a jacket lapel.

Hey Pete

I am a cheap, I mean frugal, sailor so IIWMB I would turn the D into a locking D. 
With a Dremel, grind a vee into the side so that the thumb screw blade drops into a slot when it tightens past a certain point.  That's how my small shackles of that size "lock."
Otherwise, put a drop of blue Loctite on it.

The backstay adjuster did not wear the bow shackle pin. 
The PO put it on the backstay because it was worn from the anchor.   
Besides being ugly it'll last your lifetime on the backstay.  Otherwise, replace it with a new Wichard (or IIWMB a Wichard snap shackle w/ clevis instead of an eye.)
https://defender.com/en_us/catalogsearch/result/?q=wichard%20shackle

-Ken

Pete

Photos of which you're replacing?

I use Wichard or Garhauer for most my hardware.

Guenter

I'll add that it's better off to:

Make a bracket to affix the tee/pressure sw/pressure sender to the exhaust manifold and use a flex hose.
Or
Mount the tee off the engine with a flex hose.
Or
Install the Westerbeke parts/bracket/hose that mounts a bracket and tee on the unused engine mount holes. I've done that on two M-25s/XPs.

(note that the original early M25s (like mine) had the pressure sw/tap for pressure sender mounted atop the bell housing with a flex hose between them.)

Jim

These links may help you develop a budget

https://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,9361.msg69541.html#msg69541

https://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,2199.0.html

but basically just start a spreadsheet of every usage you have, amperages, hours on-time during one day.

For each use
Amp x on-hours = amp-hours usage for one day.  Sum them all.

The other side of the budget is more involved; e.g., anticipated engine run time per day, alt output. # days between shore power charging (cruising or on a hook), solar, etc.

You're probably not going to change your alternator (or maybe you are considering that?) but the key to balancing your budget is meeting the amp-hrs demand by balancing that against the variables on the supply side of
- Shore charging
- Engine hours
- Alt output
- Solar charging
- Bank capacity

Demand A-Hs = AHs replaced by

Daily Engine supplied AH
+
Daily Solar AHs (if any)
+
Daily Shore AHs (if any)


The Bank capacity has be enough to either/both:

Provide the demand before the daily replenishment is complete

OR

Provide enough to make up any deficit in replenishment until back on shore power.

Finally, does anyone know what the keel bedding is on a 2000? It would at least be nice to know what was used that could essentially rot!

Ask Warren Pandy at the factory.


Some have installed a pvc pipe tower at each nut to keep the nut inside dry from water in the bilge. I used 5200 to seal around the bolts and under the washers before nutting down.

Seems that it would be worthwhile to track down the source of in the bilge and eliminate the coolant?

Guenter

Note that the Kubota engine port is NOT 1/8" NPT.  It is 1/8" JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) which is for all practical aspects interchangeable with British BSPT thread.

You can buy a BSPT-male x NPT-female adapter or a BSPT x NPT pipe nipple from McMaster and other sources.

I have for a long time disagreed with the thought (Catalina factory fantasy) that smiles are due to the blocking.

You have two planks that do NOT bend (the flat top surface of a hefty lead keel) AND a box beam constructed in the bilge stub.  You are NOT going to bend the keel stub by shifting more or less weight forward or aft on the keel.  For a crack to open, on one end the non-bending beams would need to open up, which creates a "V" to the ether end of the non-bending beam.  It doesn't happen.

Besides, what happens to the "tender joint" (that according to CTY cannot resist being loaded by so-called mis-blocking it) when the keel is NOT supported (i.e., with (literally) tons of stress on it, while being kicked to and fro and back and forth while tacking and crashing through swells while heeled?
That doesn't create more dynamic stress on the joint than statically loading it (by so-called mis-blocking it)?

@pbyrne

I think you are looking at the result of freeze-thaw. 
A little water gets behind the fairing (typically from wicking down the keel bolt threads and attacking the polyester "mung" keel bedding.) 
Then it only gets worse and worse, year after year.  That's what happened on my C30, except about 1/3 of the bedding was "gone."  Not gone as in missing, but "gone" as in turned into wet mush (like wet drywall) from water leaking down the bolts to the bedding and attacking it.

I doubt you tightened the keel by torquing the nuts.  More likely you were compressing the nuts into the fiberglass bilge. 

IIWMB here what I would do to first investigate/confirm what's going on.

1) Use your angle grinder ("cheap" at Harbor Freight if you don't have one) with a 1/4" thick wheel https://www.lowes.com/pd/DEWALT-Silicon-Carbide-4-5-in-Grinding-Wheel/1207179 (buy several!) 
Using a Dremel as some typically suggest (or any other child's tool) is just wasting your time.  It's an adult job, use an adult tool.

2) At the most forward and aft points, grind away ONLY enough fairing covering the joint to expose the joint/bedding material.  It should be whiteish-gray (or grayish-white?), about 1/4" to 3/8" thick, polyester mung between the keel and stub. 

3) Snap a chalk line to mark the precise location of the joint along the keel.

4) Use the wheel sideways -- such that you grind a slot into the fairing/bedding.  NOT flatways grinding away a 4" or 5" swath of fairing.)  Lightly grind a shallow groove then keep going back over it to deepen it until you get to the bedding. Grind just below the edge of the bedding, not deep into it.

5) Probe the condition of the bedding (ice pick, thin screwdriver, etc.) to see if it is competent or if spots have deteriorated.

6) Obviously while grinding you can determine what's going on, how extensive the "peeling" fairing is, if the bond is broken and is loose, and if it needs to be ground away as well.   

7) What you discover will determine the fix -- simply filling the ground-out slot with G-Flex, or grinding off more fairing (wider swath) to wrap the joint (I used 4" biaxial glass tape/epoxy resin, but I would use carbon fiber if I did it again today.)

I believe that all Catalina lead keels have a coating on them!!

When I dropped my keel there was no fairing/coating.  The only dressing was to fair the keel stub to the lead and formed a smooth "crescent" from the stub to the keel. 

You can see where the VC Tar had been applied right atop the lead and and the joint before I faired over it. 
Actually not shown yet in that pic, I did similar to the CTY fix and wrapped the jont with 4" biaxial tape.  Then faired over it.

Pic #2 is after applying the first smoothing-out coat (West + medium weight filler.)

Interesting -- my C30 keel stub was short for my keel -- about 3 inches short!!  Pic #3




 

@junaido

How much pressure were you using to test it?

Here's what "I think":

1) I could envision alternate ways -- one being epoxying blocks to the hull and using aluminum or stainless bars to clamp down the flange of the muffler to the plywood.

2) This is an example of what I have said several times.  With the poor quality of the OEM Aqualift muffler, it's a Fool's Errand to fix it unless opening up the seam, separating the two halves, and fixing it "permanently."  I did it twice (then deep-sixed it and have a pre-loved stainless steel can muffler (from a Westerbeke.)



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