New Catalina 30 Owner

Oct 29, 2012
346
Catalina 30 TRBS MkII Milwaukee
Congratulations.... It's certainly exciting! Welcome to the SBO community
 

DonRS

.
Oct 23, 2018
15
Catalina 30 Annapolis
All, thanks for the kind comments, welcome and suggestions. We are starting to work on things now.

A few weeks ago we motored our boat from Solomons Island Md to Annapolis. Started off great...crazy sunshine and warm. First problem...everything going great but I noticed that the engine temp was rising. Hmmm, thinking about it and the temp rising, thinking about it and the temp rising...then, OMG, forgot to open the engine cooling seacock. Ugh. Funny thing, give it water and the temp goes down.

Then we entered the bay, 20+ knot winds and where the the warmth go? We went from t-shirts and shorts to jeans, wool socks, sweatshirts and coats within 45 minutes. And for the next seven hours the cold wind literally shoved us north. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr the whole way.

The good news, the engine purred at 2800 RPM the whole way. Constant temp and surprisingly quiet for the diesel. The bad news, we had this stupid idea at the four our mark to put up our jib. This great increased our speed...GPS regularly seven to eight knots with several nine knots outlier readings. Our average GPS speed for the trip was 6.8knots. But up in Annapolis when the winds were really high our roller jammed and we had a heck of a time wrestling our boat to the little bay and creek where Whitehall Marina is. It was a nightmare.

Amazing how little fuel we used.

All in all, we got there "alive" but humbled and are now enjoying the boat, sailing and working on her.

These pictures are from the trip. The submarine was visiting the Naval Academy. Also, noticed the jib picture...it didn't unroll completely and I should have known that there was a problem with the roller. Ugh again.



IMG_0444 2.jpeg
IMG_0435.jpeg
IMG_0426.jpeg
 

Ward H

.
Nov 7, 2011
3,645
Catalina 30 Mk II Barnegat, NJ
@DonRS
Great report of your trip. Glad you're getting a good and early start with your C30.
I've found that the big genoa takes a lot of line on the spool when unfurling it. The trick is to keep tension on the furling line so it wraps and lays on the spool neatly. A neat wrap takes less room on the spool. A poor wrap bunches up and will jam the drum.
Another trick is to hang your engine key on the intake thru hull valve. Helps me to remember to open the thru hull.
Enjoy the season!
 

DonRS

.
Oct 23, 2018
15
Catalina 30 Annapolis
Ward,
Those are two great tips. We screwed up when unfurling the genoa, the line got tangled twice and I didn't have any tension on it so now I know what the problem was...self inflicted wound.

My key now has a new place to hang...I will put it on the thru hull. Seeing that temp go to 220 all of a sudden was quite a shock!
 

Ward H

.
Nov 7, 2011
3,645
Catalina 30 Mk II Barnegat, NJ
Seeing that temp go to 220 all of a sudden was quite a shock!
You might want to check the water pump impeller. Running it dry for a few minutes may cause it to wear out prematurely.

My key now has a new place to hang...I will put it on the thru hull.
I will admit that the only time (keep in mind I only have one season under my belt) I forgot to open the intake thru hull...I took the key off the thru hull valve and didn't open the valve!:oops:
 
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May 7, 2011
281
C - 30 # 3573 Lake NormanNC formerly Bflo NY
@ 220 your temp alarm **should** have been talking to you. Didn’t it? The high temp switch **should** close 190-200 give or take.
 

DonRS

.
Oct 23, 2018
15
Catalina 30 Annapolis
Now that you mentioned it I did not get a warning. I better put that on my list of things to do.

What is the high temp switch?
 

Ward H

.
Nov 7, 2011
3,645
Catalina 30 Mk II Barnegat, NJ
What is the high temp switch?
It is a switch in the thermostat housing that senses when the engine temp is too high and closes "to ground". This activates the temp alarm which is behind the engine panel in the cockpit. I believe you can test the alarm by jumping the wire at the switch to ground. That should activate the alarm. Catalinadirect.com has the switches, I'm sure other places have them also.
Here is a photo of the thermostat housing my M25XP. The temp switch is mounted on the right side of the housing just above the silver hose.
IMG_0863.jpeg
 
May 20, 2016
3,014
Catalina 36 MK1 94 Everett, WA
Catalina started putting the Temp Alarms in 1990-91 with a kludged up daughter board on the temp gauge. 1992 no alarms on temp. In 1993 they changed to a temp switch

So his being a 1989 it would not have had a temp alarm unless a PO added it. In which case you would have two sensors in the thermostat housing not one.

@Ward H i think that is a temp sensor not a switch (assuming you have a temp gauge).
 

Ward H

.
Nov 7, 2011
3,645
Catalina 30 Mk II Barnegat, NJ
@Ward H i think that is a temp sensor not a switch (assuming you have a temp gauge).
Your right Les, I do have a gauge. I also have a daughter board behind the panel that must be the oil pressure alarm? I thought it would alarm also for high temp, didn't know the temp sensor and temp switch were two different items. Thanks
 
May 7, 2011
281
C - 30 # 3573 Lake NormanNC formerly Bflo NY
Ward

The circuit board senses the sender resistance and triggers the alarm.
The switch goes in the port on your TStat cap that has the 1/8 npt pipe plug .
The CB will eventually fail and is N/L/A.

Caps that don’t have that port - you can just drill/tap a 1/8 npt hole.

I’ve search for 5 yrs for a suitable switch, no luck (other than the Westerbeke one.)
 
May 7, 2011
281
C - 30 # 3573 Lake NormanNC formerly Bflo NY
Your right Les, I do have a gauge. I also have a daughter board behind the panel that must be the oil pressure alarm? I thought it would alarm also for high temp, didn't know the temp sensor and temp switch were two different items. Thanks
Ward the CB is only for the temp alarm. The low oil pressure is a switch that closes to ground and completes the oil alarm circuit.
 
May 20, 2016
3,014
Catalina 36 MK1 94 Everett, WA
Your right Les, I do have a gauge. I also have a daughter board behind the panel that must be the oil pressure alarm? I thought it would alarm also for high temp, didn't know the temp sensor and temp switch were two different items. Thanks
Yes the daughter board provides alarms for both oil pressure and water temp. The Seaward docs are confusing so oil may be incorrect) According to what I’ve read not loud and not reliable.

A switch is just that - a digital signal hot or not hot. The sensor is analog so the temp is readable. Early (before 90) came with oil pressure switch and analog temp. After 93 you got two switches for both oil and water with a two tone loud alarm plus sensor(s)if you got gauge(s).

I added a switch/sender combo for oil and rely on the RS11 for too hot.
 
May 7, 2011
281
C - 30 # 3573 Lake NormanNC formerly Bflo NY
Just to be precise here. The oil is not a digital signal. It’s an analog circuit, simply completing a path to engine ground. It is open or closed, not variable resistance as is the gauge sender.
The CB, at some set resistance, triggers a switch to power the temp alarm circuit.
I found the overseas company who manufactured those CBs, but no more stock available.
 
May 20, 2016
3,014
Catalina 36 MK1 94 Everett, WA
Just to be precise here. The oil is not a digital signal. It’s an analog circuit, simply completing a path to engine ground..
Nope an analog circuit has a continuously variable output for a continuously variable input.

Digital circuits have discrete output.

The oil pressure gauge - sender to gauge is analog
The oil pressure display on my chart plotter is digital.

The switch is digital because it has two discrete outputs (on off) for a continuously variable temp range. You don’t need computers or digital readout to be a digital circuit.

A light dimmer could be digital or could be analog depending on how it dims the light. Even if both have a round knob you turn.
 
May 20, 2016
3,014
Catalina 36 MK1 94 Everett, WA
To get a bit more literal - you don’t measure resistance - you are measuring the voltage created by a variable resistance.
 
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