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Hopefully all Floridian Catalina owners and their families made it through Hurricane Ian safely and as best as possible.

When I saw this boat on the Weather Channel, I immediately recognized it as a C34 or 36. Hard to say if its low in the water or just heeled way over in big swells.  Hopefully the boat survived. For us East Coasters, this is a worst case scenario.

One other important point - they don't work with any kind of wind with rain since the wind just blows the rain in.

I installed them on my boat (MK 1) located in Maryland.  They keep out very light rain or drizzle.  Steady and harder rain - no, in part because of splash from the rain hitting the deck. The forward / v-berth cabin visors work less well than the main salon ones, may be because of the slope/angle of cabin is less vertical (?).  Ventilation - no significant loss of air flow.  Reduce leaks from old portlight gaskets - possibly.  They have held up pretty well, although I knocked off a forward one in the early spring and have not bothered putting it back on.  Would I install them again?  Probably not. Maybe a 6 out of 10. 

Mine failed 2 years ago and I replaced it with a Whale Gulper that I installed vertically on the inside wall. One advantage of the gulper pump is that the pump head where the in/out values are located can be rotated which helps some with the install. Also it can be installed vertically.  Getting the pump screwed in was tricky but with the toilet paper cabinet removed, at least you reach it from both sides.  The new pump is a big improvement and certainly quieter.  We use the shower a lot cruising in Maryland in the summer, so it's an important thing on our boat!

I have the Raymarine wireless wind indicator/speed system.  My experience has been mixed. For the first 5 or so years it work great. Then the wind direction indicator started being consistently off for a couple of years, finally this year (@ year 8?) it failed completely.  To Raymarine's credit, it took a week door to door to get it repaired. They replaced the transmitter for around $400 which is less than a new unit. Now it works great.  But if / when I pull the mast some day, I would consider replacing it with a wired one if it starts to act up again.

Also replaced both deck organizers with new 3 way Garhauers in the original configuration which has been a big improvement. New blocks at the foot of the mast helped too and I have no problems getting the main up w/o winch most of the time. 

Garhauer makes stacked organizers, so potentially one could run 12 lines aft. The challenge will be finding space for fair leads. You might need to make your own custom ones that could be mounted under the traveler.

Mine is not vented and when I asked if it should be I was told by the yard it's not necessary on engines our size. I think I checked with PSS to confirm but don't recall 100%. You do need to burp them when you haul out and check the bellows periodically after a few years to make sure they are not dry and cracking.

Normally I'm one to never question Ron Hill but this time I have to disagree about cutting foam! It's super easy to cut with a basic 2 blade electric carving knife- or at least with $20 carving knife I got on Amazon. Honestly compared to most of the other projects I have done based on advise from this forum, foam replacement is one of the easiest ones.  Even shaping the v-berth cushions was not too hard. Redoing the cushion buttons is pretty straight forward too but you need a 10" upholstery needle. For under $200 in less than 3 hours I've replaced the v berth cushions and several salon cushions.

I've been replacing the foam in various cabin cushions over the past 2 years and have using this open cell foam https://www.thefoamfactory.com/opencellfoam/LUX-R.html

There are lots of foam options, such the firmness, etc. The one I used is quite firm but we put a 2" memory foam on top of it for sleeping which together works great for us.

Cutting the foam is easy - use an electric carving knife.  Also easy to glue foam pieces together.

This definitely is a DIY project!

Here's a picture of the Everfoward stuck in the mud of the Chesapeake Bay, also taken on my first sail of the season!  BTW it's sister ship was the one the got stuck in the Suez Canal.

I'm impressed that this guy skis from his boat in northern Norway in February. So, I guess its just a matter of perspective! (Or something!)

https://youtu.be/bbnrz8_UeRY

The forward water tank vents through a stanchion on the deck. You should be able to find the hose leading up to it by looking in the galley cabinet over the ice box.

Starting with hand standing is always the safest option although I have carefully used a random orbital sander with 150+ grit.  My approach has been to sand, apply teak oil, and then coat with Minwax polycrylic which is water-based but can be applied over oil finishes. Teak oil kinda acts like a light stain on sanded teak but you will need to test how well it covers water stains.  There are pros/ cons with polycyrlic. I like that it is low fumes and drys super fast which allows me to get 4-5 coats on in a day and be done. I did the entire main salon in 2 days and that includes sanding. It's can be fussy to work with. But so far it's held held up well and has a good gloss. Might be worth looking into the water based poly that Catalina uses on new boats.

The faulty ignition switch was installed with the weep holes facing up since the key position worked better - namely was not as close the plexiglass panel screen.  At the time when I replaced the ignition switch that failed, I did not think it would make that much of a difference, since I also have a Sunbrella cover for the engine panel.  But apparently it does make a difference!  This time I did install the switch with holes facing down since I figured that contributed to the switch failing.

RE:  Weather cover - I plan to get one since I did not install it with the cover.

Update: I replaced the ignition switch and that appears to have solved the issue. So it was an electrical gremlin in the ignition switch.