I just hope there isn't something hiding that I don't know about yet because after three months I'm starting to gain some confidence in the boat.
Mark, welcome. "Something hiding?" Yes, it's a boat!
More seriously, though, we have done our best to be able to provide you and others with everything we've found so far. There will always be something new. The way you put your message is that you have reviewed what we've provided. You wrote:
"I think the focus needs to be on the issues that a surveyor will miss because he is not a specialist on the Catalina 34." What I did was spend over a year looking for a C34, and I provided my surveyor with as much C34 website documents that were available way back in 1998 for our then-twelve year old boat. The surveyor asked me for a copy of the material! However, not everyone reviews this website
before they buy a C34, many find it only later. You want focus? Whose focus? Again, I suggest reading Steve Lyle's First Year Weblog (
http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,663.0.html), which discusses exactly what you mention, and which is very important. But remember, we can't control the quality of surveyors, and we can't make prospective buyers read this website, either. We also can't "make" C34 owners find this website or even read or fully appreciate its depth after they've bought their boats. We appreciate everyone who visits and contributes here.
And there's nothing specifically different on a C34 than any other boat as far as a QUALIFIED surveyor's concerned: engine, electrical, rigging. In fact, the C30 and C36 systems are very similar, if not identical The traveler bolts were a C30 issue, too, not just C34s. The traveler bolt issue was first written up by Jim Moe, our former C34 Association Editor and the owner of both a C30 and C34. The wiring harness applies to all Catalinas within a certain age range, and many other boat builders as well. Not only were the trailer wiring plugs prone to disintegration, but the whole "ammeter in the cockpit" electrical design was nuts. Having the alternator output go to the 1-2-B switch was also a cost conscious move, not an electrical design one. And the Universal diesels with alternator bracket issues were installed on lotsa Ericsons among others, too. I helped fix a friend's M25, he was on my dock, and altered another friend by email when I learned he had this engine in his new-to-him boat. They were BOTH Ericson 32s, NOT Catalinas.
It appears to me that the issue is NOT specific to Catalina 34s, but rather having surveyors who are qualified AND UP TO DATE on issues with boat systems, because the issues we have found in our C34s exist in other boats, too.
If you're "searching" for stuff to "worry about" why not read the Tech Notes Index? Or the Knowledgebase? Their "Table of Contents" approach may identify issues you may not yet be aware of, I don't know what you've read, but you certainly do. Reading the WIKI index is also helpful. Heck, I bet eventually you'll get into upgrade projects once you "settle in" on your new boat.
Glad you like the "package" and look forward to learning what else you may find and seeing you here.
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Topic: CRITICAL UPGRADES - DO THESE OR ELSE!!! (Read 148732 times)