Double Bow Roller
Tom Lincoln
11/5/2002
Hull #: 205
We’ve been chatting on the Sailnet e-mail list on the desirability of a double-bow roller, particularly for extended cruising, for over a year.
Catalina has recently responded by providing this feature on new C380’s & 390’s. But what to do if your boat doesn’t have this? Following is the first of at least two articles on retrofitting your boat to gain the advantage of two bow rollers. This is from Tom Lincoln, # 205 “Ridge Runner”, who is on quite an extended cruise.
We prepared our C380, Ridge Runner, for cruising and living aboard. For the past year and a half we have cruised the Great Lakes, The East Coast from NY to Florida and next year: The Bahamas. We have done many things to make the boat a better and safer cruiser. One of the most important, and possibly one
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STEERING, BOOM HEIGHT, CLEATS, GPS
Wolfgang Doebel, Warren Elliott
2/1/2002 Hull #: 336
The following was emailed to me from a new 380 owner from Canada:
Hello Warren, Have you ever come across one of the following? Do you have any ideas to help?
The steering mechanism on my C380, at times seems, to get partially hung up, especially when moving through the neutral position. The problem is not severe but it takes out a lot of fun from steering. Also one must always expect some problems to happen if the cause of the concern is not fully understood. There is an Autopilot ST6000 plus connected to the rudder post, but it does not seem to be the cause, as the problem does not exist when traveling under power alone (no pressure on the rudder, not much tension on the cables). I have investigated the mechanical condition of the
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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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Shortly after taking delivery of “Sound of Silence” hull #257 in July 2000, we noticed some cracks and apparent corrosion around the circumference of the mast step [collar] that sits at the base of the mast and is attached to the cabin roof [and compression post below]. The mast fits into the collar and is held in place by a lip that goes all the way around. There is a drawing of the part on page 26 of the Catalina manual.
There are 8 stainless clevis pins that protrude upward through 10 holes [two holes unused]. These pins, which support halyard turning-blocks, are the source of the dissimilar-metal type corrosion that occurred on our boat and on at least 3 or 4 others I have heard of. The corrosion, in just a few months, caused our mast step to crack completely
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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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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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Our 380-390’s come with eight seacocks [aka: thru-hulls]; these are, of course, critical to the operation and safety of our boats. Mishandling or severe damage to any thru-hull could allow flooding which our bilge pump may not be able to handle – not a happy situation! While we could add more pump capacity [see Scott’s write-up in the previous issue], “an ounce of prevention….”. So this is an important topic; it is also very relevant, as at least two captains have had a “problem”, me being one of them! But I’ll get into that later.
The Forespar seacocks are made of Marelon, a particularly tough plastic which, in normal use, will probably outlast much of our equipment. Many of you are probably aware of the controversy over seacock material: bronze vs. plastic. I’m sure this discussion will go on well past my
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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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I have been considering an electric halyard winch ever since I had a ride on a Catalina 470 a year ago. Not only does it make sail handling much easier, but it can act as a valuable safety aid (if rigged properly) in being able to hoist crew out of the water! In the Bay’s cold waters, timing can be critical.
Gerry (ANTSY #13) was kind enough to share his experiences in installing the Harken equivalent winch on a couple of boats, so I thought I would offer my version with Lewmar. The #40 EST is a new, geared, winch that replaces the much less capable OP1 but now discontinued. As the #40 EST is horizontal mounted below decks, the installation is very similar to the Harken. I selected the Lewmar because it matched the other winches and has
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The drooping spreader problem appears to be occurring in several boats, so I passed this along to Gerry Douglas at Catalina, who designed the boat. He advises that the shrouds should be seized to the spreader tips with stainless steel wire, and this should have been done when the boat was commissioned, again if re-rigged. “Down angle is not correct and loads the spreader base excessively.” He further advises that trying to fix this with discontinuous rigging is “not the answer as it requires turnbuckles in all segments to compensate for stretch, unless done with rod.”
We would all be well advised to check that our spreaders are level, and that the shrouds have been well-fixed to the ends with wire. Gerry doesn’t say so directly, but “loads the spreader base excessively” reads to me like a threat of buckling
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