[C38] Cutlass Bearing Strut Faring

Mon Nov 15 13:36:38 EST 2010

Tom, 

I took a piece of ¼ stainless sheet had it cut to fit over the top of the stops and then epoxied and bolted it in place over the existing wood frame.   This after my rudder went hard right in reverse and cracked the original stops, chewed up my steering cable at the point that  it joins the chain.    

For the stiffening under the pedestal, I did not add anything as there is a plate under  the pedestal that the pulleys  are mounted to, it seemed secure enough that I didn't need to worry about it.   

From: listserve-bounces at catalina38.org [mailto:listserve-bounces at catalina38.org] On Behalf Of PAUL NOTTE
Sent: Monday, November 15, 2010 10:21 AM
To: tdtron at earthlink.net; Catalina 38 Listserve
Subject: Re: [C38] Cutlass Bearing Strut Faring

Tom is right again on this o e we made this mod to Impulse soon after we brought her home, we also noticed on the survey there was no E/tiller handle on the boat , which I may add could double as the manual bildge pump handle.   Thanx for the pics. Max

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom T." <tdtron at earthlink.net>
Date: Monday, November 15, 2010 4:41 am
Subject: Re: [C38] Cutlass Bearing Strut Faring
To: Catalina 38 Listserve <listserve at catalina38.org>

> Steve, 
> While you are bilge diving under the pedestal, you might as well 
> replace the wood steering stop with some pressure treated wood 
> or padded aluminum square tubing.
> 
> The wood Catalina used was not pressure treated and can fail 
> causing the steering quadrant to turn too far allowing the 
> cables to come off rendering the boat without steering until you 
> can remove the hanging loose cables and install the emergency tiller.
> 
> Don't worry, this steering failure calamity usually only happens 
> at night in rough weather in dangerous high traffic areas near 
> jetties and bridge abutments and you have seasick guests aboard.
> 
> Tom Troncalli
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: Max Soto 
> To: Catalina 38 Listserve
> Sent: 11/14/2010 11:06:16 PM 
> Subject: Re: [C38] Cutlass Bearing Strut Faring
> 
> 
> Steve,
> Now that you already took out the pedestal, have you seen a 
> reinforcement recommendation for the pedestal by Catalina on the 
> tech info on the C38 web? They said that we should install a 
> couple of aluminum plates right next to the pulleys in order to 
> stiffen a little bit more the pedestal.
> 
> 
> Max
> 
> 
> 2010/11/14 Steve Smolinske <SSmolinske at rainierrubber.com>
> 
> When we pulled Pergrine upon purchase, they slide some shims 
> down the shaft as well for the very reasons discussed 
> here.   In the spring we are putting on a new rudder 
> and I will be adressing this same issue at that time.  I 
> just finished rebuilding the pedestal and am planning on writing 
> an article about the entire steering system repair/rebuild after 
> we finish with the new rudder and post.  One thing I can 
> add at this point that I found out from Edson is that our boats 
> originally came with bronze pins for the 4" pulleys on the 
> crossed wire idler, they recommend replacing them with stainless 
> steel as they have seen substantial wear on the 
> bronze.   Mine did have enough wear to prevent the 
> pulley from sliding freely side to side outside of the small 
> groove that was worn in the pin. Edson has the stainless pins 
> available as a replacement part.  Pretty pricey about $40 
> bucks each.
> 
> Regarding the Catalina smile I recently had a discussion with 
> another sailor on a theory as to why the cracks might 
> appear.  We repaired ours last spring, grinding out the 
> crack to the hull, we thought we went deep enough and wide 
> enough to fix the problem, well the crack came back but not near 
> as severe as it had been, on the opposite side where we were not 
> as agressive it came back to the same extent before the 
> repair.  We feel we can go more aggressive on our repair 
> this spring and stop it maybe.   The conversation 
> regarding cause centered around the forces applied to the boat 
> when adjusting the back stay, As we are aware it possible to 
> crank the backstay enough to inhibit doors from closing properly 
> below he felt it didnt take much to move the bow thus the rest 
> of the boat it wouldnt take much to introduce a 
> crack.   I know others without backstays get the smile 
> too so Im sure there are a number of reasons that could all be 
> responsible.
> 
> Steve
> #312 Peregrine
> Seattle
> 
> 
> ________________________________
> 
> From: listserve-bounces at catalina38.org on behalf of Chuck Finn
> Sent: Sun 11/14/2010 9:54 AM
> 
> To: Catalina 38 Listserve
> Subject: Re: [C38] Cutlass Bearing Strut Faring
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Excellent discussion!  This is why our Association is so 
> important to
> all of us!  Thank you everyone for contributing!
> 
> Here is what I know from my research on this over the years.
> 
> 1.   I seriously looked into shortening my keel a few 
> years back as
> there is a set of locks leading the the St. Lawrence Seaway that allow
> drafts less than six feet.    Mars Metals out of 
> Canada has made
> "torpedo" bulbs for C38s and has the mold in storage.  
> Their calculation
> was I recall, that a five foot draft would require an additional 500
> pounds of lead.
> 
> 2. The Yankee 38s did not come in a shoal keel as far as I can tell.
> But, their fin keel design was different than Butler's, so we can
> probably surmise that Catalina experimented a bit with the keel 
> in the
> beginning.  I certainly would if I were them and kept 
> seeing the
> "Catalina Smile!"
> 
> 3. Until this discussion, I had not seen a shoal draft version 
> of our
> boats that had the keel faired the way Tom T. describes.  
> The ones I had
> seen looked pretty much like the 1981 model at this website:
> http://boats.iboats.com/1981-catalina-38/664532.html
> 
> 4.  When I was investigating a shoal draft 
> modification,  I had been
> told by someone at Catalina that the shoal keel bolt 
> configuration was
> the same as the deep draft keel.  About 10 or so years 
> back, I recall
> that Catalina even had some shoal drafts keels 
> available....  I have no
> way of verifying any of this other than my old and sometimes 
> faulty memory!
> 
> My best guess then is Catalina had two keel molds and could 
> choose which
> one to bolt on to their standard hull based upon the 
> order.  Fairing the
> keel to the hull is a labor intensive job, which probably 
> allowed the
> workers and designers some latitude to experiment.   
> And that is what
> they did.....   probably to see if they could reduce 
> the prop walk.   I
> don't think there is any structural aspect to this modification 
> as the
> two support points for the prop shaft are the motor/transmission mount
> and the cutlass bearing (packing gland is about keeping water 
> out and
> does not support).
> 
> Tom, how did you keep this long shaft tunnel clean?  Zebra 
> mussels up
> here would soon pack this tunnel over a summer.
> 
> Thanks again to everyone who contributes!
> Chuck Finn
> Commodore
> 
> 
> 
> On 11/14/2010 10:27 AM, Max Soto wrote:
> > What a Dilemma!!
> >
> > Dan, do you have a pic from Blonde Starnger's keel??? There 
> are only
> > 13 boat from Renata to Blonde Starnger, and both are 1981 models..
> >
> >
> >
> > Renata's keel with skeg is the most different one that I have
> > seen.I've been collecting pics from C38's for sale, because Estancia
> > was such in bad shape and modified when I bought it, that I needed
> > lots of pics in order to tell what was original and what 
> wasn't, and
> > of course to get tips from other  boats..
> >
> > Tom, I'm going to put a production change on the table for the
> > following reason:
> >
> > The  silhouette on the original brochure does shows a 
> slightly larger
> > keel trunk, and one of the most notable differences is the 
> back edge
> > of the keel (just forgot the technical name!) is perpendicular 
> to the
> > water line. Let's call it straight!!!!  The deep keel 
> version is
> > angled, even if the keel draft has been reduced, you'll be 
> able to
> > tell because of this, but if you look at the attached pic from Chute
> > the Breeze or the other one I sent a couple of days a go, it looks
> > just like the shoal keel on the brochure, straight down! 
> without an
> > angle, that's why I always tought that I had these pics from shoal
> > draft versions!
> >
> >
> > One more thing, Estancia is 1982, and came with the 1982 brochure
> > (which is older than the one on the C38 web), and shows 
> no  skeg either.
> >
> > My opinion, evidence shows two shoal draft versions, so who 
> will be
> > able to confirm a production change???????????
> > Just found another  shoal draft pic on 
> Calatlinaowners.com, has been
> > attached also..
> >
> > Tom, there is  a known cure for the loss of a C38, but it 
> requires> lot's of money in order to get a newer and bigger 
> boat!!!! Just make
> > sure that this boat is faster than a C38, other wise, not 
> worth it....LOL
> > Regards,
> > Max
> 
> 
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> 
> 
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> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Max Soto
> C38 #198 ESTANCIA
> Puntarenas, Costa Rica

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