2008, Customizations, Mainsheet, Repair/Replace/Maintain

Electric Head Upgrade for C380

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Electric Head Upgrade for C380
Steve Riddle
May, 2008
Hull #: C-380 (#194)

You know the drill. The pump on the old manual head starts working hard. So you pour in a little head lube and hope to get by for a few more weeks, months, or even years. Finally, the inevitable rebuild can not be put off any longer. Then you are off to the trusty marine store only to find the rebuild kit costs almost as much as a new head! I never did care for the manual head but it was ok for occasional use. We also had one for many years on our previous C-34, but the units are small and not intuitively obvious for your guests to operate. Plus the rotten egg smell from stagnant sea water after it sits idle for a summer week is awful.

The advantages of a nice, big, fresh-water electric

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2008, Mainsheet, Repair/Replace/Maintain

Eliminating Bilge Odor

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Eliminating Bilge Odor
Richard Herbst
February, 2008
Hull #: C380 #93

My Catalina 380 had excess water collecting in the aft bilge area which resulted in unpleasant odors. This bilge is adjacent to the galley counter and its door/trash bin, and includes one keel bolt. Removing the floorboard that wraps around the galley island is the only access to this area. [Ed note: this is the third bilge section; the first section is immediately aft of the compression post and contains the bilge pump and/or pick-up for the pump; a small hatch provides easy access. The second section is immediately aft of the first, and also has easy hatch access on boats newer than about 1998 (older boats have no access hatch)– Warren].

Adding a small a bilge pump in this section is possibly the easy way out but would not get rid of all water; due to the

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2008, Customizations, Sailing

“Noodles” Stop Wave Slapping

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“Noodles” Stop Wave Slapping
Bill Weaver
May, 2008
Hull #: C380 # 54

 My wife and I have sailed our C380 on Lake Michigan since it was delivered to us new in early 1997. Since I retired two years ago, we’ve logged about 1,000 miles over several weeks each of the two summers.

There are few things that annoy us about our C380, the main one being water slapping noise in the stern cabin. It seems that we too often end up with an aft wind, causing small ripplets or larger waves to slap against the hull. We’ve solved this problem by using swimming “noodles”. We string two noodles onto a line and secure it to the stern cleats or to the stern rail. One seems to work well if there are only small ripplets; otherwise two will usually do the trick. The photo shows our boat after a rough

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2008, Mainsheet, Mast, Repair/Replace/Maintain, Rig, Sailing, Stories

Eliminating Dismasting Possibility

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Eliminating Dismasting Possibility
Warren Elliott
August, 2008
Hull #: 44

Simple Repair Eliminates Dismasting Possibility

I don’t mean to worry our C380 captains–the chances are pretty remote for a dismasting–but one of our fleet did suffer this “fate”, so I thought some relevant info would be helpful to at least a few of our members.

The particular unhappy event took place with winds gusting to 30+ kts. Before departure, the rig appeared normal per the captain’s brief check. Early conditions had winds in the low 20’s, so the C380, which had a Z-Spar tall rig, was reefed accordingly. Just after coming about, the mast folded to port/aft about 10 feet above the deck. Luckily, no one was hurt.

Subsequent inspection revealed all stays, shrouds & chainplates to be intact, with no obvious fault. It was noted that a lower-spreader tip had been dislodged, and was “hanging” in the now-loose rigging.

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2008, Electronics, Mainsheet, Repair/Replace/Maintain, Reviews, Sailing

XM Satellite Marine Weather

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XM Satellite Marine Weather
Steve Dublin
May, 2008
Hull #: C380

The following article is from Steve Dublin famous for his 380’s ocean racing and Mainsheet front cover – Warren

About six months ago, I upgraded the GPS/Chartplotter on my Catalina C-380 “Caretta” to a Garmin model 3206. The new chartplotter was mounted in the cockpit on the pedestal guard. It was networked to Garmin’s GDL 30A XM satellite marine weather receiver, which I installed below deck by the distribution panel. The installation process was very straightforward once I learned how to splice an ethernet connection. The watertight ethernet connectors are too large to snake down a pedestal guard tube.

However, Garmin sells a separate connector kit. This allows you to cut off one connector, snake the wire through the tube, and remake a watertight connection. The weather receiver has its own mushroom-type antenna that I mounted on the hoop

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2007, Engine, Mainsheet, Repair/Replace/Maintain

Test Your Engine’s Health

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Test Your Engine’s Health
Warren Elliott

Feb, 2007 Hull #: 44

Although we are sailors at heart, and hopefully by practice, we do need to call on our auxiliary engines regularly. With some luck, it’s only off and on the dock, or in and out of the harbor, but sometimes our “iron genny” will be cranking away for hours at a time. Whatever the modes of operation, there sometimes appears a cloud of doubt: will she start ok?…or how long can the engine keep going like this?

To bring the sunshine–and dispel any clouds–there are at least two general approaches, [maybe three if you include Happy Hours]: maintenance and testing. Most of us are patently familiar with the former: change oil regularly [about 100 hours], keep cooling system in good shape [strainer, impeller, heat exchanger on the raw water side, antifreeze/rust inhibitor for the fresh water system [use the fairly

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2007, Mainsheet, Repair/Replace/Maintain, Rig

Baby Stay on Early C387’s

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Baby Stay on Early C387’s
Warren Elliott

Feb, 2007 Hull #: 44

 For C387 captains with the baby-stay configuration [hulls #1-60+], a few of you have reported, on our Sailnet email discussion group, a bit of damage to the baby-stay tie points in the forward cabin. These have been- or are in process of- repair. Please note that various conditions can put excessive strain along the baby stay, just as they can on any stay or shroud.

I suggest checking the at-rest rig tensions, especially on both the baby stay and forestay; over tensioning the former and under tensioning the latter can be problematic. A “Loos” gauge or equivalent may help you get the best set-up. The forestay should be moderately tight; some riggers suggest the tension be set as tight as 10% of breaking strength, which is about 1000 lbs. If a back-stay tensioner is installed, know your stay

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2007, Customizations, Drains

Drain for Swim Platform

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DRAIN FOR SWIM PLATFORM
Warren Elliott
Feb, 2007 Hull #: 44

Are you tired of that small pool of often dirty water that accumulates on the swim  platform of your otherwise beautiful boat?? Well, help is at hand!!
I was surprised– almost shocked– to recently learn, via our Sailnet email  discussion group, that many of our fleet do not have this simple, worthwhile device  which eliminates water accumulations on the swim platform!!. How can this be?? It’s  now taken at least two, maybe three happy hours for this info to sink into my brain and  for me to do something about it! So you know that the value/$ of this upgrade must be  high: at least semi-infinite!! In other words, this clearly worthwhile upgrade can be done  for almost nothing!!

Picture, if you will, a brass tube, maybe 3/8″ diameter and 2″ long, flared at one  end. What could be

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2007, Mainsheet, Repair/Replace/Maintain, Winches

Freedom 800 Windlass

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FREEDOM 800 WINDLASS 2
Richard Herbst

Date: Feb, 2007 Hull #: 93

Following is the second of two articles on this subject, this one by Richard Herbst, second owner of C380 #93, a late 1997 boat. The extra emphasis on the Freedom 800 is because of several serious relevant problems reported on our Sailnet email list and due to my desire to maximize your happy-hour time, at least for the captains of the 300 or so C380’s out there with this windlass. Other boats in the fleet have the VW800, either horizontally mounted [first approx 75 C380s] or, for late C380’s & C387s, vertically oriented.

Background & Repairs

I would like to amplify Warren’s article appearing in the previous issue regarding the Freedom 800 windlass. Warren was right on target when he advised owners to wash down that windlass frequently. A vertical main shaft only encourages water, salt,

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2007, Engine, Mainsheet, Repair/Replace/Maintain, Water

Siphon Breaks and Engine Failures

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Siphon Breaks and Engine Failures
Gordon Croudace

May, 2007 Hull #: , C380 #18

The head on my C380’s Westerbeke engine recently underwent a costly overhaul as a consequence of seawater entering the engine exhaust manifold. It was determined that the siphon break [aka “anti-siphon valve”] had seized shut, allowing seawater to flood the engine exhaust manifold after engine shut-down. Having discussed this with various marine engineers involved in engine overhauls, it is likely that the lack of attention to siphon-break maintenance, and sometimes the installation approach, is the cause of many failures of inboard marine engines, irrespective of manufacturer. It can affect any engine mounted below the water line, in both sail and power boats. This unfortunate experience [perhaps fortunate for our readers- Warren], has prompted me to write this article in the firm belief that all owners should understand the role of the siphon break and inspect

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