There’s been a good deal of discussion on this topic in many places, including our Sailnet email discussion group. I have my own opinions [these are not endorsed by Catalina], generated by many years working with antennas/electronics for military aircraft. However, as lightning protection is so uncertain — there are no guarantees — it’s a good idea to review some reference material, so you can make a so-called informed decision as to what, if anything, to do. This whole topic can be pretty controversial: I invite [as always] any comments, contrary or not.
The basic reference is the ABYC lightning protection standards [section E-4], which are included in your C380/390 manual [note that a 1998 change requires minimum grounding/bonding conductors to be #6]; it’s also available at www.abycinc.org. Another reference is Professor E. Thomson’s [U. Fla.] extensive website at www.thomson.ece.ufl/lightning/. On the
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Lazarette Shelves
Hal Breliant 3/20/2002
Hull #: 325
The storage lazarettes under the aft port and starboard seats aren’t extremely usable as each is a 5′ 6″ high vertical shaft. I wanted to add a shelf that was easy to open to allow access to each well. In the starboard well, I glassed 1-1/2″ treated lumber to the back of the well across the forward wall of the stern-platform locker at 1-1/2″ above the height of the lip on the cockpit /deck joint lip which is forward within the well.
Spanning the top of the joint lip and across the bottom of the glassed-in 1-1/2″, I ran two 1-1/2″ treated members to act as a front to back support for a forward transverse member. There are too many obstructions to use the lip surface as the forward transverse support. It helped me to run these past the glassed-in member one
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Several of our 380/390 captains on our Sailnet email discussion group have in-mast furling and have mentioned how they like the arrangement. Some of those without this feature, including me, have usually responded with some “buts”: but there are no battens [so less sailing efficiency], but there’s less sail area [46 sq. ft. less: about 13%], but they jam, but, etc. Some said that a better alternative is in-boom furlers, which have become a lot more reliable, and are much less expensive to retrofit. Of course, buying a new Catalina with either system installed is better than retrofitting; here, in-boom costs more than in-mast. [For the latest on in-boom furlers, see Practical Sailor, Oct. 1, 2001].
I had seen some 380’s with in-mast furling, but had not really dug deeper. Then Earle and Barbara Ellefsen [C380 # 271 “Valkyrie”],
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Genset Installation
Tom McMahon
8/1/2002
Hull #: 29
I recently had the Panda 4200 installed. It is in the starboard lazarette, as close to centerline as possible and oriented with the long axis of the genset fore and aft. This allows me (6′ 2″ and not the most limber person in the world) to sit alongside it, remove the covers and access all the user maintenance items. The genset is mounted on two engine-mount-like stringers, which are glassed into the hull (avoid any mount on top of a solid board – it makes the entire hull into a drum!). The optional Panda soft motor mounts are installed on the stringers, and the Panda case is then bolted to those mounts. I have the Raymarine 6000 autopilot, and the genset does not interfere with it.
The installer modified the case so that I can change the oil filter (strainer) without disconnecting
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