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We bought a cruising asym for our 34 back in 2019 and have used it exactly once; when the sailmaker came out with us to make sure everything worked to our spec. It did, it was beautiful, and we never used it again.  I underestimated the amount of time we'd use it for the kind of sailing my wife and I do, as well as the work involved for two people 'of a certain age.' The sail was built by Luis Gianotti (LG Sails) in San Diego, who was a designer for UK Sails before he went out on his own.

Asymmetric spinnaker from LG Sails. Cruising model, step up construction, front and foot sections 1.5 oz, back 0.75 ox. Challenge nylon (40/60% mix). 4-color layout. Spinnaker box bag. ATN Spinnaker sleeve

Rigging for spinnaker:
- 140' 3/8" (10mm) regatta braid for spinnaker sheet
- 1 Ronstan RF6210 snap shackle for spinnaker tack line
- 3 Ronstan RF44100 blocks, swivel head 12mm rope, for spinnaker sheet fairleads (on aft cleats) and tackline (on anchor roller bale).
- 2 Ronstan 6mm soft shackle for turning blocks.

We spent over 3300 USD for the sail and associated rigging. I'd like to get 2K. I've attached some pix from our trial run.

Thanks
- Mick

Yesterday after a very long stbd broad reach I jibed to head back to the barn. I then noticed that I had mis-fed the stbd jib sheet through through the genoa car. Rather than tack to take the load off the working stbd jib sheet I figured I could re-run it while under load.

Hah.

The stbd sheet got away from me (of course) and the the jib and both sheets started flailing as you might imagine. I was able to wrestle the stbd sheet, get it re-run through the car, and get things back to some semblance of normalcy. After a deep breath I happened to glance at the lazy sheet on the port side and was astounded to see that with all the thrashing around the wind had managed to tie this exquisite knot on the port stanchion just forward of the gate. I thought I'd share. Needless to say, I couldn't find it in Ashley.

Hi all
The Adler Barbour (now Dometic) compressor for our fridge is located in the stbd lazerette and vents into the enclosed space. From my rough eyeballing of the space there's no where near the recommended volume to vent the compressor properly, especially when both aft lockers are full of stuff (as they always seem to be). There's a space right above the compressor where hot air would get trapped, and it seems like that would be a obvious  place for a vent. So obvious to me that I'm wondering what I'm missing.

I've attached a couple of pictures of the proposed location. Anyone done this?

Happy New Year, all.

I've recently got a new dink to replace my 1999 9'2" Avon. Great boat, but things do wear out. The 8'9" RIB I replaced it with seems to require a bit more oomph than the 3.5hp Tohatsu 4-stroke I've been using. The manufacturer (Achilles) recommends a 6hp, so I've been looking at the Tohatsu or Yamaha 6hp 4-strokes but haven't pulled the trigger. I was talking to a cruiser friend and he offers me a free 8hp Yamaha 2-stroke that he bought new in Panama. Knowing him it's in good shape, but six years ago I got rid of an Evinrude 3hp 2-stroke and bought the 3.5 Tohatsu so I didn't have to find storage for both gas (the generator) and gas-oil mix for the outboard. If I accept the 8hp Yamaha I'm right back to where I was with figuring out how to accommodate two different kinds of fuel on a (relatively) small boat.

Has anyone come up with a good solution for gas storage on a Mk II ... or a Mk I for that matter? Right now I can store 5 gallons (one 2.5ga can, two 1.25ga cans) in the anchor locker fairly easily. If we go a long distance I can store a 5 ga can on the rail as well. Thanks.

I'm considering getting a 35# Mantus as a back-up anchor for my Rocna 15, since the Mantus can be disassembled to be stowed. However, the spade on the Mantus seem to be more angled back than the Rocna, making me wonder if it will sit properly in the anchor roller without jabbing into the gellcoat on the bow. This is the standard roller on a Mk II.

Thanks.

I have a bag of 9 Carling switches I bought as spares for my '85 C30's instrument panel. If anyone wants them they're yours for the cost of a USPS Priority Mail shipment.

I would like to mount a whisker pole on my mast. I see too many sitting in stanchion chocks unused because of the effort required to deploy them, especially short-handed. Jon W was kind enough to show me his elegant setup for a fixed-length pole, but for a variety of reasons I think one of Forespar's LC poles (either the 10-18 or 12-22) would work better for me.

Here's the question: Forespar's spec states the 10-18 is for "boats up to 33 ft", but if you go to their selection page (http://www.forespar.com/whisker2011.shtml#C_LIST) the 10-18 is the recommended pole for our boats. Huh? I wrote to Forespar and the response I got from Randy Risvold was

"The 10-18 Line Control is the correct one for a Catalina 34. The 12-22 will be too heavy."

It would be nice to use the lighter pole since this will be on the mast. The cost savings helps too. However, I'm curious if other C34 owners have had issues with the 10-18, and perhaps the 12-22 is a better choice - in spite of Forespar's recommendation.

Thanks.

I need to replace the deck light on my Mk II, and since I'm "in the neighborhood" I figured I'd replace the steaming light as well. Does anyone have the spec for these bulbs? The owners manual lists both lights as "2LT 996 505001" which googles to a Hellamarine page in German that requires Flash. Boo.

I've attached - I hope - a picture of fixture. Thanks.

Once again, I have a Sherwood G-908 that DEPCO has deemed too far gone to refurbish. The pieces are free to anyone who is willing to pay the USPS medium box flat-rate postage.

I have a CQR 35 lb anchor that has become "surplus to my needs." It's served me well, but I broke down and bought one of those new-fangled NZ numbers. I don't need three anchors.

This is an original Scottish-made CQR, not a knock-off. I currently have it on Craigslist for $200 but I'd be happy to sell it to a C34 owner for half that. You'd pretty obviously have to be in southern CA.

I modified the space under the V-berth on my Mk II for more storage, and in the process removed the drawer and frame. If anyone would like them (for whatever reason) they're up for grabs. I'm not sure if they'll work with a Mk I.

I'm in north San Diego so it would probably be best for someone in the LA-OC-SD area who can pick it up. However, if you want to pay to have UPS package it up for you I'll be happy take it to them.

When we got our 34 several years back I was a bit concerned that the engine already has around 1200 hours on it. While this was only about 100 hr/year, I worried that there might be something I should be wary of with that much "unknown" usage. (It wasn't until later that I found the extensive maintenance records the POs had kept - thanks Jay and Harvey!) I called Catalina and talked to Kent (the tech rep at the time) and his comment was "I'd be more worried if it DIDN'T have 1200 hours on it!", the logic being that diesels need to be worked regularly. I always shake my head when I see the ads for 2001 boats "with only 120 hours on the engine!" Yikes. Run.

An article just came out in Latitude 38 that adds even more credence to the idea that a low engine hour diesel is not necessarily a good thing. A diesel engineer claims that you should turn your fuel over at least once a year, because  "If you run old fuel that has lost its caloric oomph, as so many sailors do, it wrecks the engine." Interesting read: http://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/lectronicday.lasso?date=2016-07-11#Story4

Does anyone know if the 11# composite propane cylinders will fit in the well of a MkII? From the published dimensions (15.24"H x 12" Dia.) the height is OK, but they look to be about 1.7" larger in diameter than the Worthington aluminum cylinders. I was wondering if anyone had installed one. Thanks.

I replaced my old style Lewmar portlights. I no longer need the gasket material and glue the previous owner had purchased to refurb the old portlights, so they're free to anyone who wants to pay the USPS priority shipping. Send a PM.
- Mick

Would you kindly include your boat's information in your signature? It's easy to do ... 60 seconds tops. Right on the top of this page there's a PROFILE tab where you can fill in the info. At a minimum your hull number, but things like Mk I or II, hailing port, your boat's name and year, your NAME would be nice (so people responding to your posts can refer to you by something other than your username.) Maybe you don't even have a Catalina 34 but provide valuable info to the group (I can think of several people in that category.)

This is a minor gripe but Stu's last post about the through-hull location for overboard dumping reminded me that I wanted to post a request.

A couple of months back I posted a gleeful message that Oberdorfer had come out with a new model of raw water pump, the N202M-908, that is a drop-in replacement for the dreaded Sherwood G908. This seemed like great news for M35B owners who were fed up with the poor quality and maintainability of the Sherwood but didn't necessarily want to do the necessary surgery to modify the Oberdorfer N202M-16 to fit an M35B.

I got one of the new Oberdorfers from DEPCO and promptly violated RULE 1 by installing new untested equipment on my engine before a long trip. Dumb. With some friends (also on a C34) we headed out to Ensenada from San Diego, about 62nm. All was well until about the last hour when I noticed steam coming out the exhaust. The engine temperature was fine so we continued to the marina (Cruiseport) and I promptly forgot about it (thus violating RULE 2 - if something's broken fix it.) A couple of days later we started the mini-bash back to SD and the steam started earlier, probably because the engine was working harder going against the current. Again, the engine temperature was fine, but I checked the temperature of the exhaust hose coming off the riser and where it exits the boat: neither were usually hot to touch, so we "steamed" back to SD.

Once back I did some research, and it seems the main cause of steam in the exhaust is insufficient water being injected into the exhaust at the riser. What changed? The Oberdorfer, of course. It doesn't put out as much water as the Sherwood, and apparently the small difference was enough to cause the problem. I checked this by going out the day after we got back by running the engine to operating temperature with the Oberdorfer and verifying the steam problem and then swapping back my Sherwood and doing the same test. No steam.

I called Oberdorfer and asked what the flow rate was for the N202M. The person I talked to said he wasn't sure, but "probably 9-10 gpm." When I described what had happened he suggested that that pump was not on the "recommended list" for the M35B. I called DEPCO and without hesitation they asked me to send the pump back and they'd issue me a credit. This with 30 some-odd hours on the pump - great company.

I still wanted a backup pump, though, and since Ken Kloeber had offered to provide dealer pricing for raw water pumps to C34.org members I contacted him about the cost of a new Sherwood. This started a long (and still ongoing discussion) about why the Oberdorfer wasn't working for me when many others had made the swap. Ken volunteered to send me an Oberdorfer to test, but that's a whole separate discussion. (5 second summary: The Oberdorfer puts out about 20% less than the Sherwood and neither put out anywhere near 9-10 gpm at an M35B's normal operating rpm.) Ken had a very good question for me, and that's what this post all boils down to: Since the Oberdorfer is such a superior pump to the Sherwood, what's the harm of a little steam in the exhaust if the engine's staying cool? I'm thinking not much.


- Mick

This is kind of a strange question, but can anyone verify the C34 Mk II's fuel tank holds 25 gallons? Given the inflated published figures for the holding tank and aft water tank I thought I'd ask. It seems like a pretty critical thing to know. Thanks.

We recently did a 60+ nm passage with substantial following seas. We gave up on the autopilot fairly quickly. When we got back I searched this list and found a thread started back in Oct 2001 about tweaking some of the settings to make the ST4000 behave. I've made the changes and will test them out on the same passage this weekend (without the same sea state, I suspect), but I'm curious if anyone has come up with anything better in the last 14 years. Here's the changes:

Rudder Gain:    Old 3, New 2
Response:        Old 1, New 2
Autotrim:         Old 3, New 2
Drive type:       Old 1, New 2
Rudder damp:   Old 2, New 4

Thanks all.

I mentioned this as part of a discussion thread, but it seems to have gotten lost. I have the pieces of a Sherwood raw water pump I'd sent to DEPCO for refurbishment, but they said it would cost almost as much to refurb as buy a new one. If someone wants to attempt a rebuild themselves the parts are free for the price of USPS medium shipping box.

I know this one has been beaten to death, but there's actually some good news for M35B owners who'd like to swap out their Sherwood G908 for an Oberdorfer N202M-16 but aren't crazy about all the surgery needed to make the Oberdorfer fit. DEPCO has worked with Oberdorfer to create a N202M with a "Sherwood" mounting flange. It's basically a drop-in replacement for the Sherwood. Oberdorfer calls it an N202M-908 (get it?).

I've attached some pictures. I found out about the Oberdorfer after sending my 2 year old Sherwood (with only 157 hours) back to DEPCO for refurb. I was going to just replace the impeller but realized its condition was way beyond that. John at DEPCO called and confirmed that the rebuild would almost be as much as a new pump, but "you might be interested in this new Oberdorfer product ..." Since I had had no issues with the Oberdorfer on the my C30's M25XP I was more than pleased.

This one is driving me nuts. After any kind of substantial rain fresh water collects by the engine raw water intake through-hull. There is no drain hole to the bilge there (yet!) so there's no where for the water to go. For the life of me I can't figure out where it would be coming from, and would appreciate any suggestions.

I've attached a picture (after cleanup) where the buildup occurs. Thanks.

Hi All,
Some recent events have prompted me to check the integrity of my deck cleats. I've already put backing plates on all my stanchions, but for some reason just figured the cleats were OK. (After all, they're designed to be able to hang the boat, right? At least hanging from a dock when grounded at low tide.) The aft cleats do have backing plates of sorts, but I'd be happier if the plates covered the entire footprint of the cleat. However, the forward cleats only have fenders and lock washers. Since these are the cleats I hang my anchor bridle from they could conceivably come under substantial load. I've attached pictures of both below.

After some discussion with Warren, the very helpful tech support guy at Catalina, he suggested that either the forward cleats were secured with a glassed-in backing plate through which the bolts are threaded or the engineers at the time had felt that the fender washer arrangement was enough. These are Herreshoffs so the load is a bit more distributed. I suggested putting a couple of 4" Beckson plates in the chain locker so I could put true backing plates on the forward cleats, but he didn't feel it was worth the effort as he knew of none that had failed.

Anyway, I'm curious if and how other Mk II owners have approached this. Thanks.

I'd like to get to the space under the linoleum (?) galley sole between the head and the bilge. I started to unscrew the sole to see if there was an access plate but noticed that the linoleum had been sealed around the edge with silicone. Before  I make a mess of things (and more work for myself) does anyone know if there is access there, or would I have to cut a hole?

There was a similar discussion about Mk I's about a year ago, but I was warned not to post to it because the thread was too old.

Thanks all.

This is more for your info since I doubt any of you are compulsive (or dumb) enough to do this, but after pumping out today I decided to measure the capacity of our holding tank. When the 42 gallon aft water tank is actually 30 gallons (see earlier post) I thought I might find some similar inflated capacities with the holding tank. Unfortunately I was right. After a couple of fresh water rinses I opened the inspection port and poured water in with my calibrated bucket: 13 gallons. Not 18. The tank's a Ronco B212.

Next project is installing a New Providence Solo-1 tank monitoring system.

I just got an ad from PS for their ebook "Entry Level Cruiser-Racers". An excerpt from the book:

"An interesting aside: We learned in talking with builders and dealers that they know their market, including personality types, and the likely use of the boats. By their accounts, Catalina owners are more likely to sail, and work on, their boats; Hunter owners are more likely to use the boats for dockside entertainment, and reach for a credit card when repairs are to be made. Beneteau owners seem to fall somewhere in between."

I guess we all knew that.

Turning off the smug now before it comes and bites me you know where.

I'm replacing the Sherwood pump on my M35BC. The old one is pretty corroded (see attached) and I figured it was time to bite the bullet. There seems to be some disagreement about whether or not to use a gasket sealant like Permatex on the seal when you replace just the impeller, but I couldn't find anything on the list about using sealant (or not) on the gasket when you replace the entire pump. Thanks.

I'm considering adding stern cleats on the raised areas on either side of the swim step. Location TBD (see attached photo.) I'd like something better to tie up the dink when we're moored or at anchor. I'd also like to be able to work a stern anchor off the cleat if necessary. So the questions are: Has anyone added cleat(s) in this location, and if an appropriately sized backing plate were used will this area carry the load of a stern anchor? The Herreshoff cleats I'm considering are at Catalina Direct, parts Z1062 or Z1586.

There's been some discussion lately about tank capacities (holding, fuel, water) on our boats. I've always be suspect of that 42 gal claim in the owner's manual for the aft water tank on a Mk II. I know the forward tank is the same 25 gal tank Catalina used on the 30s (in fact I can still see the "C30" in magic marker on the side of mine), but the aft tank just didn't look that much bigger. Today I got a bug up my *** and measured. 28 gallons. I can only guess that someone misread the 2 mark as a 3 on the bucket when he/she measured the aft tank's capacity originally.

That's a big difference, and quite obviously affects planning for long trips if you're not going to see fresh water for a while.

Hi all,
I'd like to add under counter lighting over the fridge and stove. It looks like the Mk I's had a fluorescent fixture there, but from my admittedly limited experience that light was omitted from the IIs. Hence no wiring to attach a new LED strip to. Has anyone added under-counter lighting in a Mk II galley, and if so how'd you run the wires? There doesn't seem to be a straightforward path.

Hi all,
My recently-purchased '99  has a 35# CQR, 80' of 1/4" HT chaib, and 250' for 5/8" Nylon 3-strand for the primary. I would like to go to an all-chain rode with 300' of 1/4" HT, but I have a couple of concerns. The first concern is weight: 225# of chain plus a 35# anchor seems like a lot to put on the nose of a relatively small boat. Am I going to compromise performance? Second concern is the windlass. The Maxwell V500 has a maximum pull of 500#. I realize I'll never be lifting the entire length, but given all the other factors that come into play is this cutting it too close?

Does anyone have a similar setup they could comment on? Thanks much!

Hi all - my first post. Be kind ...
We just bought a MkII and the original owner replaced the teak hatch boards with smoked plexiglas. The original boards didn't make it through the chain of successive owners, and we'd really like to have those teak boards back. Does anyone have a good aftermarket source for these boards (or have any for sale)? I understand the CA company that made them (H&L Woodworking?) for Catalina no longer makes them since Catalina moved all their operations to FL.