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It is time to move up to a larger Catalina and move towards retirement.  Our Catalina 34 has served us well and she will be missed.  She spent most of her life in free water on Lake Erie before being moved to the Chesapeake Bay in 2103.  We have taken great care of her and she is in excellent condition for the next proud owner.  Regular upgrades and maintenance have taken place.   Full canvas, newer main sail, cockpit cushions, full electronics (new autopilot and chart plotter); custom canvas winter cover; and many more too numerous to mention.

She is available through S & J Yachts at:    http://www.sjyachts.com/

Full Details:

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listing/pl_boat_detail.jsp?&units=Feet&id=3001197&lang=en&slim=broker&&hosturl=sjyachts&&ywo=sjyachts&

I have a Maxwell 500 windless on my 1992 C34 that only allows use of rope anchor road.  Is there a conversion gypsy that can be added to allow chain?  My back can't take the last 30 feet of lifting anchor...getting too old I guess.

I have a 2006 Brig inflatable dinghy (PVC) with wood floor boards.  Each year I take it apart and roll up the dinghy, put in its storage bag and leave it in the garage for the winter.  Temperature rarely gets below 10 degrees here in Delaware, but is possible. This year, I am thinking about keeping it assembled/inflated and hang it from the ceiling of my garage.  I have read mixed reviews on how to storage it and would welcome opinions or experiences on what other people do.

I have a 1992 C-34 with a walk-thru transom and I need to replace a valve on the cockpit shower.  The hot water valve was hit by something and now appears to have a small crack in the assembly that the water comes into the valve. I went to Catalina Direct and they no longer stock the valves, but only the entire shower assembly.  I would prefer not to buy the entire shower assembly, but simply replace/repair the valve.  I noticed the break while putting the boat away for the weekend, so did not have a lot of time to investigate. So, I don't know the extent of the damage...appears most of it is plastic, so I am assuming it could be tough to find replacement parts at the hardware store....I am assuming several of you out there have come across a similar problem...ANY ADVICE?  

I currently have a NavPod on my pedestal guard.  Within the NavPod, I have wind speed, depth, and knot meters installed....no room to add more instruments.  These are all tied to a single 12V power and ground that is fed back to the electrical panel to a breakerswitch to turn on/off electronics attached.  I have never had any issues and seems to be adequate.  I really don't want to try and run another line through the pedestal guard unless I have too.  I would like to add an additional platform to my pedestal guard to hold a chartplotter.  Can I just piggy back on the single 12v line that is fed to the NavPod, or do I need to run a dedicated power/ground from the chartplotter back to the panel or battery?

So, this is my first season with my boat located in salt water, after the boat spending 20 years on Lake Erie.  I moved the boat from Lake Erie to the Chesapeake Bay this year and sail out of Rock Hall, MD since early May.  I arrived at the boat this Friday to find that I had limited mobility and dramatically reduced RPMs under power.  Could only get up to 2 knots and she was working too hard.  I had not been to the boat for three weeks and it had been sitting at the dock.  I have been hearing the stories around the Bay about how this year has a high level of bottom growth, so I had a pretty good idea of what the problem was.  Upon having the boat hauled by the marina, I found a good inch of barnacles on the propeller, strut and propeller shaft.  Thus, very restricted movement on the moving parts. The bottom was is good shape where painted.  A complete scraping of all the metal components and a good bottom cleaning, I was ready to go and had an easy 7 knots under power again. Life is back to normal and ready to go sailing again.  However, to avoid this happening in the future, can anyone provide guidance on a product that I can put on shaft, strut and propellor?  Also, is there an recommendation for the transducers for depth and knot meters that can be used to protect them as well.  I am loving the Chesapeake Bay, but us "un-salted" sailors have a learning curve.

I am relocating to the Wilmington, Delaware area and will be moving my C34 to the Rock Hall, MD area from Lake Erie.  There are many marinas in Rock Hall and I have talked with them all.  Does anyone have any recommendations on marinas they would suggest mooring?  Or, any marinas that I should avoid.   Obviously, any advice about Rock Hall and/or sailing in the Chesapeake would be appreciated.  Thank you.   

I am relocating my C34 to the Chesapeake Bay area from its current home on Lake Erie, western basin.  I have a steel cradle that I use to store the boat during the winter.  However, they do not have facilities, that I know of, that can accomodate cradles where I am going, and I will need to use jack stands once I move the boat.  If there is anyone that would like to trade their jack stands for my cradle, please let me know.   My boat is currently located in Port Clinton, Ohio.  The cradle is in good condition and has four (4) stands.  My boat is a wing keel.  I can be reached on the forum or at tadams11@woh.rr.com as well. 

[or has something else failed in the system that I need to check out]

As I was getting ready to leave the boat this past weekend, I went to use the head and found it was not fully operational.     It would not pump water from the lake to rinse the head.  It would take the waste from the bowl to the holding tank without any problem.  I checked the thru-hull and it was not obstructed...thus, I am making the assumption there is a clog or some sort of obstruction between the thru-hull and the bowl.  Does anyone have any advice on where/how to check the line to see if there is an obstruction...or has something else failed in the system that I need to check out.  Thanks!

I was out for a very nice sail in about 12 knots of wind this past weekend when I started to hear a noise from my steering while my autopilot was engaged.  (it may have been too stiff for the autopilot, not sure)  When the wheel turned, or when I manually turned the wheel, I heard a noise that can best be described as a soft rubbing sound. It was most certainly NOT metal on metal, but like a plastic or rubber on another surface.   I do have an Autohelm ST4000 autopilot on the wheel which I don't know the age.  The sound was most prevalent when the wheel was "under load" and not when we were sailing down wind or in lighter air.  The sound continued when I was motoring back to the marina, but at a lesser extent and not as prevalent.  No noise at all when the wheel is turned while resting in the slip.  When I got back to my slip I inspected the steering mechanism through the inspection area in the aft berth and did not find anything that looked unusual in the steering mechanisms.  I removed the compass from the binnacle and took the top off the binnacle to inspect...nothing looked unusual. 

I am now trying to figure out if the noise was coming from my autopilot or if I have something in the steering system that is failing, etc.  Has anyone experienced this or does anyone have an suggestions as what this might be or what to inspect for issues?

Also, should any lubrication or maintenance be done to the steering system?

Does anyone know the dimensions of the propane tank that was original to a 1992 C34?  My tank has run empty and being that it is so old, I either need to replace the tank or replace the valve...trying to determine best option for us.  I forgot to take measurements, etc. last weekend while at the boat.  I am looking at the possibility of purchasing a new tank, but smaller, so it will fit in existing locker with the new type of valve, etc.   

I have read the posts regarding this issue, but I need not see any dimensions that will fit in the existing propane locker without modifying it.  As always, any wisdom be appreciated.

Has anyone had experience with using portable 20Watt solar chargers on their boat.  I am considering adding one to the boat to allow me to trickle charge the batteries during the day while on the hook.  This would only be for the occasional long weekend out and about, as we don't do any extended cruises more than a week at a time.  I have seen the portable ones that simply plug into the cigarette lighters and are used as a trickle charger.  I just want to do power maintenance to offset the drain from my refrigeration and to eliminate having to run the engine so much.   I have two group 27s for the house bank and one group 24 for the starting battery.

I have a 1992 C34 and I am going to convert the ice-box to refrigeration.  I have installed a new battery bank to accomodate the electrical requirements brought on by installation of refrigeration.   

Can anyone tell me how big the (cubic feet capacity) the icebox might be?

I want make sure i install the correct size capacity of compressor and plate.  If anyone can tell me dimensions and capacity, it would be appreciated. Thank you.

A friend of mine who previously owned a Catalina 30 gave me a UK Flasher...cruising spinnaker.  Can anyone tell me if the mast height of a C34 and C30 are close enough to fly the same spinnaker on both with success?  I figure that I will fly it about 5-6 feet off the deck to make it work.  Thoughts?  If anyone has any pictures of their deck layout with a cruising spinnaker, that would be helpful as well.  I have flown them on smaller boats and I assume the principles are the same.

I would like to purchase a new main sail for my 1992 C34 Tall Rig.  Does anyone have any reccommendations as to what loft I should purchase from?  I use my boat for cruising on Lake Erie only.  I want to get a good quality sail for a reasonable price (not too much to ask), but more importantly, I want to be able to get good customer service as well.  Thanks for your thoughts.

In my earlier post I inquired about installing refrigeration...many good suggestions as I anticipated. Thank you. While I am contemplating the type, placement, etc of the refrigeration sytem and electrical upgrades I will continue to use blocks of ice until I install some refrigeration.   

I am not a big fan of the foot pump for draining the ice box...has anyone disconnected the pump and simply let gravity drain the ice box to the bildge? This was the method of my previous boats. 

[PICTURES WOULD ALSO BE HELPFUL]

I am a proud new (to me) owner of a 1992 Catalina 34 (hull 1211) with the walk-thru transom. Upon purchase this spring I thought I might like to install refrigeration into the ice-box.  After an extended weekend cruise this week, with blocks of ice, I have now determined I do indeed want to install refrigeration. (Not too found of the pump system for the icebox)  I am sure there are multiple posts regarding this issue, but since I am new to the forum, I am not sure how to find, so I thought I would just ask. 

I am sure there are many different answers to this question, but would appreciate all responses...PICTURES WOULD ALSO BE HELPFUL...hint, hint.  Here is what I am wondering...

- Where should the compressor be installed? and how?
- What is the size of the ice-box...what volume am I trying to cool
- What are the recommended unit types and brings for both the evaporator and compressor

Any advice would be appreciated.   I sail on western basin of Lake Erie and the temps are fairly mild, with August being in the 90s...so It does not stay too warm too long. Thank you in advance.