You are probably aware that Catalina started putting Yanmar 40hp model 3JH3BE diesels in later C380s. My hull is #255 and has this engine. After about 450 hours on the engine, I started getting big-time water leakage thru the seals on the pump. The local Yanmar dealer in Cocoa Florida (where I was when I finally started looking for replacement seals) informed me that:
(1) that pump shouldn’t leak with that few hours of wear and,
(2) that he had encountered several pumps on the 4jh and 3jh Yanmars that were assembled at the factory without a required mechanical seal. Bottom line for me was that the dealer removed the pump, confirmed the internal mechanical seal was not installed, rebuilt the pump and reinstalled it all under warranty.
The only fly in that ointment was that the dealer
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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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Catalina Stripe Fix
Hal Breliant 11/5/2002
Hull #: 325
Purchase a piece of weather striping with an angled seal. This consists of a roughly 1″ piece of extruded aluminum, with a 3/4″ vinyl insert. [This is sold for door thresholds and usually comes in 30″ and 36″ lengths -ed].
The exact dimensions aren’t critical. I used a section about 10″ long under each of the deck drains. Mount each piece at the underside of the rub rail, tight to the deck/topsides lip. Seal it with silicone. [I suggest cleaning first with a solvent- ed]. I used two small screws to hold it in place while the silicone dries. The water runs off the strip into the bay instead of running back under the rubrail onto the hull. It works!
The photos [see photos 6, 7] show views looking up at the underside of the rub rail.
I just bought an
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Food Storage
Ed and Sharyn Dahn
2/1/2002
Hull #: 111
The locker to the left of the microwave is a huge space that we believed to be quite unusable without a shelf. A wooden shelf was considered, however, it was felt that even if a ½ inch thick shelf were used it would require some kind of bracing. The thickness of the shelf and bracing would use up too much room. As a result we decided to make it out of 1/8 inch aluminum sheet metal. Careful measurements were made, and the local sheet metal shop sheared a piece for us. The shelf comes to within ¼ inch of the door so that items on the top shelf can not fall down. The shelf is supported on ½ inch aluminum angle stock that was installed along the sides and back. Photo below:
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Being a sailboat owner, I truly dislike having to run the engine during good sailing conditions. Bringing our boat home to Portland, OR from our summer cruising grounds in Washington’s San Juan Islands and the Canadian Gul f Islands usually offers such conditions, once we round Cape Flattery and head out into the Pacific and down the Washington coast. It’s a 30-hour broad reach in 17-knot northwesterlies followed by two days of spinnaker run up the Columbia River. We do it short handed – the autopilot is very necessary. Unfortunately, at about 65% of battery charge with the stock Exide 4D marine house battery bank (wired in parallel), the autopilot starts complaining like a series wound DC motor will when it’s getting more of its power from current than from voltage. With the refrigeration cycling at about 33% and the autopilot
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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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I have constructed shelves along sides of the cabin above and resting upon the two inch wide shelves that the factory installed. My shelves are about 5 feet long, 12” deep, and with vertical separators about 10” high spaced about one foot centers end to end. Thereby, We have five one cubic foot pigeonholes filling the space between the somewhat useless pre-existing shelf and the overhead. The end pieces of the new shelves are thru-bolted into the windlass compartment at the bow end of each shelf and thru-bolted into the existing lockers at the aft end. The vee berth has no loss of sleeping area. BTW, the shelves can be removed with the removal of about eight bolts. In fact, these shelves were originally built for and installed in the Vee berth of a Catalina 34. The shelves were removed for
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The newer C380’s have returned to vinyl hoses and have a much better arrangement for water tank management than my boat does. The new boats have the tank valves mounted on the bulkhead inside the below-sink door [as do the original 380’s, such as my #44-Ed]. All of my tank valves are mounted on the floor under the sink, along with the whale type plumbing.
Consequently I have built a second removable floor under the sink for pot and pan storage. The second floor has holes in it above each valve and an extension handle to turn those valves as needed without removing the floor and the paraphernalia. The floor is arranged on blocks and cleats to keep from loading the plumbing. The extension rods are 5/8” dowels cut to fit the water valves handles and protrude above the second floor.
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One open project before our first cruise was to work out storage above the nav station for both the TV, video player, and books. This did not get done, and in the excitement of sailing for the first time the TV hit the deck. I am embarrassed to report that this happened not once, but three times. I must say that GE makes an extremely rugged TV, it still works perfectly, however, the cabin sole received a few nasty gouges. A book/TV retainer was made with the 1 ½ inch oak ½ round as shown below. Everything behind the retainer is secure and can be removed by lifting the item up and over the top.
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I have added the following items to the anchor locker:
(1) A West Marine (SJPRO#960012 @ $26.95) line holder. I have also mounted one in the port lazarette holes line up exactly with ones in place for the seat latch no drilling.
(2) I have mounted a reel of Ankoralina line for deploying a lunch hook. Very handy and does not take much space. The reel has about 185 of polyester strap that has approximately the same strength and stretch as ½ nylon three-strand line. The Ankoralina does dual duty as a jackline.
I have mounted a 25# Danforth High Tensile on a piece of teak using the bracket that is typically used to hang a Danforth style anchor on a stanchion (West Marine #488353 @ $34.99). At the bottom of the teak board (that runs the full depth of the
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