[C38] Catalina 38 Questions

Sat Dec 11 14:46:29 EST 2010

Thanks everyone for your comments.  I can always count on Catalina owners to provide good feedback.  Let me process this and I will be back for more.

Rob Webb
Flying Cloud Yachts
6400 Marina Drive (at the Marina Shipyard)
Long Beach, CA 90803
Cell: (562) 786-1872
Office: (562) 594-9716
FAX: (562) 594-0710
Rob at robwebbyachts.com 
www.flyingcloudyachts.com 

From: mstewart at sounddsl.com
Date: Sat, 11 Dec 2010 10:18:50 -0800
To: listserve at catalina38.org
Subject: Re: [C38] Catalina 38 Questions

Rob,Palancar, #26, resides at Liberty Bay Yacht Club, Poulsbo (we're on Bainbridge Island).  From your list:- our propane storage can handle 2 5-gallon bottles that sit in a drop-in locker athwart and forward of the transom.  This also serves as a helmsman seat.  The locker/box was built into the boat and a piano-hinge-mounted lid covers the large space that include the locker (w/ built-in scuppers).
- keel bolts:  save the the forward-most which is unaccessible now as a result of a permanent deck built over it by the previous owner, the remainder are clean.  I had them tightened a few years ago, and they were then pretty snug.  Also had several small pilot holes drilled to look into the wet plywood problem, and ... found it in the form of seepage from a few of the holes.   Solution: for now, ostrich trick.  I get the smile - not huge - when I haul.  Palancar is out for a long term at the moment, so I'll see what's left of the smile come the first week in January.  Hasn't been a problem.
- reason for haul-out:  list-serve may recall that I recently reported a problem with a non-standard faring over the propeller strut that generated some bad pitting discovered when we hauled the boat 11/11.   Catalina wasn't as concerned about the strut as the boat yard was (I'm probably not going to use them again) but the cutlass bearing was worn out as well.  To replace the cutlass bearing either required pulling the strut w/ shaft or the rudder.  The rudder on a 38 (as noted by Don Strong) is a pain of highest order to deal with properly.  So I bit off the strut replacement to also address the cutlass bearing problem.  Reliable technical advice suggests these bearings last about 10 years on a sail boat - which is why I opted not to just put the boat back in the water.  Anyway, most 38's don't have this extraneous extra faring along the keel that envelopes the strut.  I'm paying ridiculous $$ (which I'm contesting) to have the remainder of this faring removed and the bottom/keel from propeller shaft hole to the strut restored to normal conditions.  I will have the yard put a small zinc on the propeller strut; non-standard, but there's no spec-based corrosion protection on this component.
-  windlass - no gots, but I'm starting to think I'd like one.
- chainplates:  same story as Don's
- rudder:  see ostrich trick above; actually, I use a grease gun now and then applied through a zirc accessible through the quadrature 
- baby stay/track:  no gots
- windows:  mine leak a titch on one side - probably sun-heating/cooling related.  Not enough that a towel can't deal with most of the time. 
- toe rail:   I have some nasty pitting corrosion attacking the lower outer edge outboard the aft stbd pulpit stantion.   The cause mystifies as there's no difference between that location and any other where a stantion is in proximity to the anodized aluminum toe rail.  Perhaps it's an example of anodization going away, but it's surely gone elsewhere, and I'm not seeing that problem anywhere else.
- holding tank, fresh water tank, fuel tank, etc:  Palancar is coastal, i.e., I don't have  large enough tankage for long-haul trips.  Water ~35 gal; holding ~21 (stock C38 tank); fuel 12 gal 
- engine/propulsion: Palancar was repowered in ~2005 w/ a nice 36HP Yanmar + maxi-prop.
Marc Stewart

 "We need to learn, in these challenging days, that to every right there is attached a duty and to every privilege an obligation.  May we all learn the lesson that it is not the right to do as we please, but the opportunity to please to do what is right."  The Reverend Peter Marshall, chaplain of the U.S. Senate 1947-1949Marc Stewartmstewart at sounddsl.com 
On Dec 10, 2010, at 6:40 PM, Rob Webb wrote: Hello Catalina 38 owners,

I am a yacht broker in Long Beach, CA and a Catalina 30 owner and regular contributor to the Catalina 30 yahoo group.  I have a client that wants to know all things to consider before he purchases a C38 (not 380) for blue water cruising.  Some of his questions include: 

Propane tanks, location, options
Keel bolts, bilge plywood sole repairs
Windlass - where/how best to install.
Crack/leaks at chainplates
Worn rudder tube (check if cap moves 1/8" or more)
Baby stay/track

I am fairly knowledgeable about the boats but wanted to get input from the experts on these and other items he should consider.  I am also curious about C38 vs. 380 sailing characteristics from those who have sailed both. 

Thanks for your input.

   Rob Webb
Flying Cloud Yachts
6400 Marina Drive (at the Marina Shipyard)
Long Beach, CA 90803
Cell: (562) 786-1872
Office: (562) 594-9716
FAX: (562) 594-0710
Rob at robwebbyachts.com 
www.flyingcloudyachts.com 

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