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Anybody know what years the C380 was made?

Not absolutely sure, but I believe the model years were '97-'03, with production dates that seem to span '96-'03, the 387 appears to have been introduced in '03 (presumably for model year '04).

Somehow they managed to make a wheel pilot work without a separate gyro or fluxgate compass in 1492 and then complicated stuff by requiring additional parts and wiring.

Yeah but that wheel pilot's name was Fernando and he too had a low likelihood of surviving the trip

Yonar- I've seen your boat around LB. We have  the same system but without the gyro. A few points:
1) I'm not sure how a wheelpilot can work effectively without a rudder position sensor. It has no way of knowing center.
2) Does your wheel come off easily or does it bind on the gear mount? If it binds, the motor is likely to strain. The post mounted on the binnacle needs to fit cleanly in the slot on the wheel pilot
3) I chose a different location for the magnetometer. Where you placed it is very close to the main wiring and you might get varying magnetic fields in the area, but I doubt that is the problem. We placed the magnetometer in the aft lazarette against the forward bulkhead
4) We had problems similar to yours (but not the stripped gears) when we first installed our "new" unit which was actually 3 years old (but never used, never installed). It would randomly crap out. At first we though it was a wiring problem, line noise  or low voltage at the control unit or head. We later realized that it was just the control head that was failing (the autopilot kept steering correctly for a while after the head crapped out)- and it was getting worse with time. We sent it to Raymarine and they confirmed a bad board on the control head. They wanted a fortune to repair it- like 2/3 the cost of a new one- but after explaining that this unit was new (but out of warranty)- we were able to agree on a more reasonable price. Another thing- they diagnosed it within a day of receiving it, very suggestive that they had seen this before. They sent the unit back and it has worked flawlessly since.

Hi Everyone- Anyone checking the for sale page might notice that 2nd Wish has been sold. Our boat partner Len Hirsch passed away last year and my wife and I decided to move up. Like so many C34 owners we have purchased a Catalina 380 (1997) and are currently trying to get her into as good shape as our C34. I told the new owner about the Association and C34 web page and I hope he has as much fun with her as we did. I'll still be lurking around here though-no better place in the world for sailboat advice!
Thanks for the help through the years.
Todd

Lance- Have you contacted your insurance company? Seems to me this is all subsequent damage to an accident (the wire popping off when it was moved). If the wire had caused a fire, wouldn't they cover the damage? How is this different? I'm no lawyer though...

Sold.

I just changed the packing on 2nd Wish.We had the WM PTFE/
graphite fiber stuff and Syntef lube for more than 4 years and it was fine. I recently noticed the nut was getting warm, tried readjusting it, no luck. Bought Duramax Ultra-X from Hamilton Marine for a few bucks (literally). I ended up using a little lube but the shaft is nearly dripless and quite cool to the touch. I get an occasional drip when running which  causes a fine spray of graphite loaded water as the shaft spins, but nothing which accumulates. I've probably run 10 hours since the switch and no noticeable change or accumulation. In short, pretty happy with the stuff. Also, I used  3/16" packing, did it at the dock.

Had exactly the same problem with the acorn nuts on the chainplates. With those I had good access to both sides and nothing worked- impact drivers, pb blaster, heat - tried it all. Eventually I used an angle grinder with a metal cutoff wheel to cut up through the acorn nut (vertical cut). Excellent tool control. Made quick work of the job- less than a minute. Interestingly enough the nut got hot enough that it broke free before the cut was complete. I did take care to protect the headliner and chainplate. 

This press release might explain it...

http://geminicatamarans.com/News/2014-09-25.Catalina-Partnership-Builder.html

Craig- I can't see how not having a panel ground would kill the sender. The sender is already connected to 12V through the gauge. The coil resistance of the gauge will limit the current which can go through that path no matter what. That said.. it is certainly possible to kill the sender by connecting 12 V directly across the sender terminals (12v*12V/33 ohms= 4.4 Watts!). A bad gauge can therefore cause premature failure of the sender if the coil insulation breaks down and the resistance is reduced. A loose 12V wire touching the sender terminal will have the same very bad effect.

I still can't help but marvel at the design of a fuel tank sender which actually runs current (up to a 0.36 amps in a fault condition) through a potentiometer which is sitting in or next to a flammable fluid. If you look at the sender design, the soldered electrical connections are not sealed and I doubt the potentiometer is either. Whole thing just sits in diesel. Something to be said for counting hours and multiplying by 0.4 gallons. 

Kevin- Great advice from Ken. If there is any uncertainty about the thermostat- remove it from the system. That will guarantee flow through the housing if the pump is working (you can replace it later with a new unit if that was the problem). This may or may not help, but simplifying the system when diagnosing a problem can be useful for ruling out components. You can do the same with the water heater- simply replace the connections at the engine with a short section of hose, if the problem goes away, the trouble is in that loop. How much coolant did you lose? Where did it end up (the bilge I presume)?   

On our '87 the fuel tank is most easily accessed by removing the wood panel on the port side in the aft cabin, as Stu said. You cannot completely rule out a wiring problem without accessing the connection to the sender. Getting the panel back on after the repair can be a challenge. We purchased our replacement sender, a Moeller unit from WM, which subsequently failed within a few months. WM replaced it and it worked for about another year until it failed. I'm currently looking for another brand of sender!

Another interesting note on this topic.. A neighbor's C34 also had no read on the fuel gauge, so we diagnosed the problem according to the guide from Seaward on the Tech Wiki page. Gauge passed the test procedure as did the wiring. Getting ready to replace sender, we checked the sender resistance (not part of the procedure) and the sender was fine. We concluded that the gauge was bad even though it passed the specified tests. We verified this by disconnecting the sender wire and putting a resistor from s to gnd on the gauge. We quickly found that the gauge read ~1/2 with 2000 ohms resistance- well outside specified 33-240 ohm range. I had never heard of this particular failure mechanism, but I thought I'd share the knowledge. In short, the test procedure should include a resistance test of the sender after the last step in the gauge test: After disconnecting the sender wire from the gauge,  use a multimeter to measure the resistance between the sender wire and ground (on the gauge) if it reads between 33 and 240 ohms, the sender and wiring are good- the problem must be the gauge (assuming it passed the first gauge test). 

2nd Wish is for sale, a 1987 MK-1 in very good condition. The boat has been well maintained and has had $10,000 in upgrades in the past 5 years, including windlass/bow roller (2011), Bimini (2012), new sails (2014), new sail cover (2014). For more information go to:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6pQkxSliky_U2c0SklKMThadGM/view?usp=sharing

The price is $45,000, send a PM or e-mail if you're interested 2ndwish@earthlink.net

So that works out to something like 4.3 inches of extra shroud length on one side and 4.3 inches too little on the other- an 8.6" shroud differential. Sounds pretty big, most of the range of the turnbuckle. Are you sure the boat was not listing 1 degree when it was measured? Did you sight the backstay against the mast?

Did you check the input line (the one you mentioned has 12V) when the foot switch is contacted? If it too drops to 5V, likely the switch is good and you have a wiring problem upstream. If it stays close to 12V, then you likely have the bad switch.  Looks to me like that is not a solenoid, but rather a high current foot switch. Relatively easy to check whether it is bad by jumpering across the terminals and see whether the windlass works. Can do that safely by switching off the breaker, bolting both red wires in the picture to one stud and flip the breaker on. Have someone at the breaker to flip it off quickly . If it works, you have a bad switch. Replace it-preferably with a solenoid and auxiliary foot switch. If  jumpering doesn't work you have more homework.