Category Archives: Customizations

2006, Customizations, Mainsheet, Port Lights, Repair/Replace/Maintain

Improved Ties For Portlight Curtains

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Improved Ties For Portlight Curtains
Bob Bierly

August, 2006 Hull #: 255

Many of you have probably experienced the wearing out of those dainty little strips of velcro provided by Mother Catalina to hold the accordion / pleated curtains for the opening and fixed ports. Not only have mine died, but I never did like them anyway as two hands were generally insufficient to fold up the shade and pull down on two or more velcro tabs. [Note: your editor also finds them a bit of a pain: to reset any shade it’s difficult to retrieve the underneath tab- Warren]

So, here’s a simple, cheap and effective fix requiring little work, not much material and even less talent. For each port you need ten inches of flat elastic material about 1/2 inch wide. Cut the elastic into two 5- inch pieces. Form a loop by overlapping each 5 inch

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2006, Customizations, Mainsheet, Winter Cover

Winter Covers

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Winter Covers
Richard Herbst & Warren Elliott

August, 2006 Hull #: 93 & 44

I know August is a bit too warm to think about this subject, but think about my perspective. It’s now June and quite warm here in southern NY, and I’ve just returned from many months in the warm Bahamas and southeastern U.S., so I really don’t have winter even vaguely in mind. But, duty calls! And when you read this, cold weather won’t be far behind, at least in northern climes.

This article was submitted by Richard Herbst, a C380 captain from N.J., where winters are real. This is for those looking for inexpensive protection for that prized sailboat.

Why Cover Your Boat?

In many areas, winter weather causes water to cyclically freeze/ expand and melt/contract.. Over time, this can lift and destroy various parts, including tabbing that holds bulkheads to the hull. The rate of

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2005, Customizations, Mainsheet

Companionway Door Options – Mainsheet August 2005

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Companionway Door Options Author:Warren Elliott
8/1/2005 Hull #: 44

Mainsheet August 2005

Hi C380+ Captains, Admirals and Crews–

Here in the N.E,. thankfully, the new season is in full swing, with nice warm temps and some fair winds. Trust you’re all enjoying sailing. But, if anything is preventing your getting-out-there boat-wise, please contact me or sign into our Sailnet.com email discussion list where there’s a lot of captains ready to help.

This Mainsheet issue is devoted to four companionway treatments, most of which are “doors”. I must confess that I received much of the info a couple of years ago, so some of it is a bit dated, but still applicable. My apologies to the four captains, who may have expected to see their handiwork “somewhat” earlier. The first article is a fairly detailed one from Tom and Barbara Lincoln, who were sailing in the Bahamas. Lately, they are “sailing”

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2005, Boom, Customizations, Mainsheet, Repair/Replace/Maintain

Dutchman Boom Brake Installation and Use – Mainsheet May 2005

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Dutchman Boom Brake Installation and Use
Kevin Murray
Mainsheet Date: 5/1/2005
Hull #: 88

The Dutchman Boom Brake is designed to control the speed of the boom as it crosses the boat during jibing. This can be a dangerous situation in moderate or higher winds. It also makes a great preventer for use when running downwind. As shown in Figure 1, this brake consists of three sheaves mounted between two plates in a triangular configuration; a line wraps around these in a serpentine fashion. The two upper sheaves are fixed and do not rotate; the lower sheave either rotates or is fixed depending on the setting of the control knob on the front of the device.

When the line running through the brake is tensioned, it grips the line with greater tension yielding more grip. By adjusting the knob and/or tension, more or less braking friction is in winds below

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2005, Customizations, Mainsheet

Genny Furling Line Controller – Mainsheet February 2005

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Genny Furling Line Controller
Warren Elliott
Mainsheet Date: 2/1/2005
Hull #: 44

How to control my headsail’s furling line? This was one of my first challenges with our new C380. It was obvious that some sort of block and cleat arrangement was needed in that port cockpit area; but then a secondary question arose: how to accomplish this without drilling any holes in that beautiful fiberglass, and still keeping the furling line out from underfoot?

Without the ability to simply ask our great Sailnet email group [Sailnet didn’t exist and I didn’t even have a PC “back then”], I set about scrounging through my voluminous “junk box”. [Much to the Admiral’s chagrin, I save all sorts of “stuff”]. I decided to concentrate on attaching “something” to the genny foot block, as it seemed to be in a good location. After quite a few visualizing exercises, a plan developed: use a

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2005, Customizations, Electric Winch, Mainsheet, Reviews, Tools

Affordable Cordless Drill as Winch Driver – Mainsheet February 2005

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Affordable Cordless Drill as Winch Driver
Roger Cheney
2/1/2005
Hull #: 132 

Faithful readers of this column [others are to be pitied!] may recall an earlier brief article [May ’03] in which Wallace Shakun [Morning Star, C380 #12] proposed using a heavy-duty cordless drill to drive winches. He put the idea into practice using a straight-drive 1/2″ Bosch drill together with an adapter “bit”, which he developed, that mates a standard 1/2″ chuck with our winch drive socket.

The idea sounded good to me, except that I felt a right-angle drill would provide an easier way to resist the high torques developed [about 500 inch-pounds]. Wallace indicated that the straight-drive version worked well, but that he was also considering the right-angle approach.

Milwaukee now has a hefty right-angle drill, which develops a “bit” more torque, and which costs somewhat more [$300 vs $200]. Roger Cheney [C380 #132, “2nd Wind”] has

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2005, Customizations, Dinghy Davits, Mainsheet

Weaver Davits

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Weaver Davits
Rick Beauregard

November, 2005 Hull #: 160

What To Do With The Dink

After another great weekend of sailing, snorkeling, barbequing, and general partying at Emerald Bay at Catalina Island, getting ready to go home is a drag. We start the routine around 11:30, to wait for the predictable San Pedro Channel trade winds to fill in. First, we retrieve and put away the flopper stopper, then I stow the Honda generator, and the eight horse Yamaha, haul the kayaks aboard, and uncover the main. Last but not least is the dinghy.

I used to tow my 10 foot inflatable Quicksilver and take care of it when I got to home port. But I didn’t like the effect it had on my sailing performance. I hauled it aboard and laid it on the foredeck a few times, but up there it gets in the way and is a

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2004, Customizations, Mainsheet, Rig

Improving the C-380 Single Line Reefing System

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Improving the C-380 Single Line Reefing System
Tom McMahn
8/1/2004
Hull #: 29

Many C-380 owners have complained about the single line reefing systems installed on our boats. I am no exception. The reefing system installed on many modern Catalina models, like those on most other production boats, is difficult to use and results in less than satisfactory reefed sail shape. Rigging the boat so reefing can be done from the cockpit is a great safety goal, but the implementation leaves a lot of room for improvement.

Tom McMahan clew block side

The friction created by the reefing line twice passing through the reef cringles, and that in all the blocks used to turn the line back to the cockpit, make taking a reef a real chore. Perhaps even worse, the same friction points make shaking out the reef nearly impossible without help from the halyard winch. [Note: any reef

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2004, Customizations, Mainsheet, Repair/Replace/Maintain, Rig

More on Spinnaker & Jib Poles

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More on Spinnaker & Jib Poles
Warren Elliott
5/1/2004
Hull #:      44 

As a follow-up to Steve’s article, I did some further enquiries on spinnaker/jib poles and cars. For the older C380’s with Z-Spar masts, Julian Crisp at US Spars [was Z-Spar, tel: 386 462-3760] indicates that, for the standard [non-furling] mast, the cost is about $250 for a car and short section of track. They also sell the same track in a long version [4 meters], for those who want to store their boat’s pole on the mast. US Spars’ furling mast uses a simpler approach in which the car can be added directly to the mast groove, and is about $170; installing this car does not require stepping the mast. They also sell complete poles with fittings, at better prices than the big catalog stores, per Julian. [But remember that shipping long items means that a trucking company

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2004, Customizations, Mainsheet, Rig, Sailing

Basic “Go-Fasts” For The C380

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Basic “Go-Fasts” For The C380
Steve Dublin
5/1/2004
Hull #: 84

We’ve found our C-380, “Caretta” (hull # 84), to be a very able club racer, particularly in offshore events. When her skipper and crew are reasonably attentive, she can sail to her 120 PHRF rating.

The stock Catalina 380 comes well fitted out with sail handling gear. However, there are some basic “go fasts” (racing equipment), which can be easily added, to help the boat sail her to her full potential. I’ve described a few of these “go fasts” below along with some installation tips learned the hard way:

Adjustable Backstay 

The C-380 does not have a “bendy” rig. However, a pincer block assembly (Photo 3), connected to a 4 to 1 block & tackle, will allow you to tighten the forestay and point a little higher in moderate sea conditions. You don’t have to drill any holes for

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