Messages

Our 88 with a Universal M25XP is a RH prop.

I have a Dymo Label Manager 160 and love it. The interior electrical panel on Ohana is the white variety and I've labeled the "accessory" switches with the correct wording for what they actually control. As noted above the font size is adjustable as is the font itself so the labels look pretty darn close to the original on the panel itself.
I've also labeled a few hoses around the boat but end up putting the label on and then wrapping the hose and label with clear packing tape so they won't "sweat" off. Works great!!!!

So sorry to hear this Noah.......I hated the thought of getting another dog after we had to put our last little girl down......they really do steal our hearts. (and occasionally a burger!!!)

This is going to sound odd...but I had pretty much the same thing happen two weeks ago on the second day out on a 17 day sailing adventure. We motored quite a bit on the second day and I noticed the the batteries were showing 12.4 volts several hours into the trip, I immediately powered the motor off and inspected the wiring suspecting a loose connection, turns out that everything was tight....or so it seemed.
At the end of the day I did a really deep dive and finally found that the positive post on the alternator itself was loose....inside the alternator. I could start the engine and when I reached in and pushed the post ever so slightly toward the side of the alternator it would move and the motor immediately loaded up, remove the finger and it would unload.
I removed and disassembled the alternator and found the two nuts that tighten the post to the rectifier had backed off causing a loose connection. There had been a good bit of arcing going on in there and the back of the bottom nut was pretty much gone, the rectifier itself also had a bit of damage to it as does the positive post itself.
I was able to clean things up and tighten the post down to the rectifier and got everything working again but I'll definitely need to go thru the entire alternator and replace a few parts.
The moral of this story is....don't just check the connections, check every component you can and suspect everything. The alternator was brand new just two years ago so it never rose to the surface on my suspect list....although it was in fact the problem to begin with.

My wife and I helped out daughter move out to Montana a few weeks ago and I drove the diesel truck pulling a car hauler. The average price for diesel was 5.50 (+,-)...and it looks like it's only going up. That trip was about $1,600 just for fuel. 
Yesterday we took Ohana out for a "spring sail" and I honestly didn't worry about starting the engine....it sips so little I just don't worry about fuel costs on my sailboat....I did sail right up to the dock on the way back, but that was due more to a favorable wind angle and not wanting to end the day than worrying about a few drops of liquid gold (aka; Diesel).

I own and use a 2700 PSI gas unit and have used it for many years on deck and on the hull above the water line. I use the wider tip (40 degree I believe).
If held approx 8 to 12 inches above the surface it does an outstanding job and I've never caused any new leaks or harmed anything in any way that I'm aware of.
I did this job this past Saturday and unfortunately the boat won't look this good again for the rest of the year. 

I struggled to replace them without removing the intake manifold but in the end I pulled it and the job went off without a hitch. I wouldn't hesitate to do it that way again.
If the gasket(s) is in good shape, it's okay to reinstall them/it.

This is what was left of our original riser.....obviously it had been bad for some time and I could tell there was an exhaust leak in the engine locker.
I measured carefully and ordered the stainless steel parts from a plumbing supplier and assembled it myself. (Ferguson Plumbing Supply)
Total cost was just over $100.00 in early 2020.
Luckily the nipple weld assembly was reusable,  it appears it was made from bronze or brass and is virtually perfect.

Just for giggles I found these photos of the aft water tank setup on our 88 mk1. Given the sheer size of this tank it surprised me that it wasn't strapped down......but also noting how tightly it's surrounded on all sides, I realize it isn't going anywhere either.
Our older boats aren't set up anything like the MK2 I believe, but I'd be interested to see how this tank is secured in the different models anyway.

Curious, it seems that perhaps Catalina chose to secure the various tanks around the boat in the MK2 MUCH better than they did in the MK1 boats. If your tank is strapped down (in either model) can you tell if it was done this way from the factory????
I'm not trying to be flip or negligent with my earlier comment about it being that way for over 30 years but to be honest, how many folks here with either model say they've had a tank full of water (or worse) get loose in a C-34?

Our aft water tank isn't secured in any way other than the two cables coming down from the pedestal and the plywood bulkhead in front of it holding it from sliding forward into the aft cabin. It obviously came from the factory this way and has now been this way for 34+ years and running.
If I were to take the boat off shore (highly unlikely) I would definitely attend to this as well as addressing the other three tanks (fuel, black water and the second water tank under the starboard settee) as they too aren't held in place with anything secure enough to hold them if the boat were to go inverted.

Stu is correct, the issue wasn't me peeking down between my toes to see where my rudder is pointed, this install is meant to provide said info to the autopilot and help it control the wandering it seems to enjoy by not having this info. This condition doesn't seem to happen all the time but this brand new Raymarine unit wanders much more than my old Navico WP30 did (at 20+ years old) on my last boat. The very fact that Raymarine offers it seems to indicate that it is needed to assist the autopilot.....and it really wasn't all that expensive so I'm giving it a shot.
BTW, I did wrap my wheel this winter with black nylon seine twine and put a turks head knot at the topmost position of the wheel so I know when the rudder is centered. I don't even have to look at the wheel to know when it's centered.
I do like that rudder cap on the MK-1 though, but mostly when I'm backing the boat into a slip, I'll peek down to be sure it's centered and then lock it so the rudder won't just take off and make my docking procedure look like less of a controlled crash than it already is.
I do plan to report back on the addition of this rudder position sensor and whether there is a noticeable improvement in performance this year over last. Hopefully this will help others decide one way or another whether to spend the time and money and what to expect when installing it on a MK-1 if they do.

Post install follow up!!!! Installation of the rudder sensor was actually easier than I first thought, I did end up pulling the aft water tank as it was just much easier than working around it.
I did have to remove and rip down the starboard propane locker support to approximately the same depth as the 4x4 quadrant stop it attaches to. This gave me enough clearance for the arm to work correctly between the sensor and the quadrant. It's depth is now 3-1/4" rather than the 5" (+,-) it once was. I was able to fabricate a mount for the quadrant exactly like Alex used on his 1.5 (many thanks Alex, SUPER design). It's a 5/16" piece of fiberglass I had from the fabrication on my windlass mount I made a few years ago. It's really overkill for this application....but it was "free" and just sitting there....
To mount the sensor itself I used a piece of aluminum angle material screwed directly into the new propane locker support.
Mounting the sensor at the front of the quadrant over the water tank keeps it well protected and away from items just tossed into the aft storage compartment. (It'll happen....eventually)
I'm still finishing up a few other winter projects so I haven't had the opportunity to test the unit yet, but given the reports from others I have high hopes for some much improved performance of our Raymarine EV100!!!

Nice clean installation!!! We have the same unit on Ohana and I absolutely love that thing, I did get a deal on a angled pedestal guard so I just ordered a NavPod for it but that install is pretty slick.
Please report back regarding the functionality of the wireless masthead wind instrument. I've heard mixed results regarding it working correctly (connectivity issues) so if yours works well, that might tip me over the edge as far as adding it.

Stu,
Apparently Catalina figured that out too....the door below and to the outside of the galley sink on Ohana opened like a door when we got her. I'm quite sure it had never been removed so perhaps one day at the factory someone thought..."Hey...let's try it this way, look it works BETTER!!!" 
OR.....someone put yours in on a Monday morning and really wasn't paying a lot of attention to what they were doing. 
The world may never know........