Replacing/repairing cracked stem fitting

[Skinny Dipper]

Help

I have just purchased a 1998 C36 MkII and am a new member of this forum. After the survey, I found that the original forestay stem fitting has a crack through it approx. 1/3 across it's width which makes me nervous. I found that Catalina Direct sells a newly designed replacement for it but the forestay mounting hole is in a different location, requiring the forestay to be re-tensioned or it's length redone.

I just had a professional stainless steel welder look at the stem fitting who stated that he could repair it to an as-strong or stronger than original condition, but that he would have to have it taken off the boat in order to do the best repair job at his shop.

I have taken down the roller furled jib in preparation to remove the forestay so that I can unbolt the stem fitting and remove it. Since I am a newbee and not a sailboat rigger, this is where I have some questions that hopefully some of you can help me out with.

In order to temporarily remove the forstay, I need to release the tension off of it so that I can remove the pin that attaches it the the stem fitting. The questions that I have are:

1) Do I have to remove the Shaffer roller furler to get to the turnbuckle that I assume is hiding inside the roller furler, so that I can loosen it?

2) I would assume so, but do I also need to loosen the back stays to take the tension of of them also? . The back stay turnbuckles are hidden within small cylindrical cover tubes that protect them from the weather but they don't want to slide up more than a half inch or so because the stainless fitting above them blocks them from doing so. How do I get to them? I can take a photo of them and attach it to this thread if it helps.

I know that I need to count the number of turns when I loosen the turnbuckles so that I can put them back to their previous tension positions when done.

Finally, do you suggest that I should hire a professional rigger to accomplish the repair of the stem fitting? This sounds expensive and doesn't excite me too much.

Thanks in advance for any who can help

 

[Calif. Ted]

This is common among a few Catalinas, however in some cases the crack is on a gusset plate of the stemhead, superficial, not under load and doesn't require repair. Not saying this is the case, just check the location carefully.
1. Probably not, you should be able to raise the furler on the forestay enough to access, it is a rather heavy beast.
2. Yes you must loosen backstay(s), the metal covers should slide up above the brass body beneath. You may end up needing to replace any that are stuck or break, they are made by Garhauer.

 

[Skinny Dipper]

This is common among a few Catalinas, however in some cases the crack is on a gusset plate of the stemhead, superficial, not under load and doesn't require repair. Not saying this is the case, just check the location carefully.
1. Probably not, you should be able to raise the furler on the forestay enough to access, it is a rather heavy beast.
2. Yes you must loosen backstay(s), the metal covers should slide up above the brass body beneath. You may end up needing to replace any that are stuck or break, they are made by Garhauer.

Thanks so much Ted!

Today I stopped by the boat and was able to raise the backstay turnbuckle covers above the turnbuckles by really twisting and pulling upwards. The top of the stainless tube covers looked like they were made of hard plastic but I now think that they may have been made of some type of rubber that has just hardened over the years.
And after looking at the roller furler, it looks like I may be able to remove some small allen bolts at the top of the larger diameter roller furler tube which only goes up maybe 3 or 4 ft. Also, there ere some machine screws at the very bottom right next to the drum. I'm thinking that if I remove these as well, then I can lift up the lower portion of the furler to access the forstay turnbuckle. I hope to try this tomorrow if the weather holds out. I'll let you know how it turns out. Again, thanks very much for responding

John Wells

 

[melvyn.trigg]

Stem Head crack

Hi There, I was interested in your specific problem, as I also have a Catalina 36 MK II 1997 - Ocean Grace, which is kept in the Ionian Greece. Which I shall be returning too in a few weeks time for the summer.

I assume that your mast is still stepped, as having helped a friend last year remove the forestay complete with the roller drum from the mast head, I would just add, that you obviously must support the mast using your halyards as temporary rigging. We also used one of the halyards, to tie around the top of the forestay top bearing, to allow it to be lowered once the top pin was removed.

This was a four person operation, including a man up the mast and one at the winches, as there is considerable weight in the assembly, which needs lowering over the pulpit.

Sorry if I'm stating the obvious!

Good luck, Mel