Engine Mounts Replacements

Mar 8, 2011
36
Catalina 310 Oriental, NC
2004 Catalina 310
I am at the point I need to change engine mounts.
1000 hour on engine and noticing more vibration.
Do I use OEM mounts or are after market mounts available just as good if so, which ones?
Thanks
 

JRT

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Feb 14, 2017
2,037
Catalina 310 211 Lake Guntersville, AL
There are a lot of posts on this in the 310 forum, OEM are the overall recommendation and what I would do.
 
Jan 4, 2006
6,444
Hunter 310 West Vancouver, B.C.
1000 hour on engine and noticing more vibration.
At 1,000 hours your motor mounts are just getting comfortable, unless they're soaked in diesel.

I'd suggest an alignment first and check to see if the engine has dropped any. Check for vibration in neutral and the usual stuff.

I know it's hindsight, but it's a good idea to check and record the initial clearance of your mounts and use this as a reference over the years to see if the mounts are deteriorating. Let us know what you find.
 
Feb 2, 2006
464
Hunter Legend 35 Kingston
I just changed my mounts last year and it made a noticeable difference. But that was after 30 years on the boat!!! Much more than 1000 hours.

I think the back of the Seloc manual for my yanmar engine had some specs for when to replace the mounts. If the gap underneath gets smaller than somethings, then they should be replaced.

No question, new mounts will "settle" after a season. I started getting some knocking of the shaft in the log when rolling in big seas, and found that the new mounts had settled by a few 32'nds. Raised everything up a little, and all good.

Chris
 
Nov 18, 2010
2,441
Catalina 310 Hingham, MA
The engine bed on the 310 has a slight flaw. As a result the forward mounts are adjusted near the top of the studs. This hurts the alignment and leads to a shorter life of mounts. I replaced with OEM and put 1 inch spacers under the front mounts. That was around 1800 hours ago and no issues so far.
 
Feb 2, 2006
464
Hunter Legend 35 Kingston
The engine bed on the 310 has a slight flaw. As a result the forward mounts are adjusted near the top of the studs. This hurts the alignment and leads to a shorter life of mounts. I replaced with OEM and put 1 inch spacers under the front mounts. That was around 1800 hours ago and no issues so far.
Did almost the same on my Legend 35. Added a tapered aluminum wedge under my front mounts. Solved two problems: 1) made the height of the for and aft mount about equal, and 2) changed the angle of the front mount to co-planar to the the engine and thus relieving distortion in the front mount. (the aft mount still has some distortion, but it doesn't have room to add much underneath)
 
May 2, 2012
276
Catalina 310 Toronto, Ontario
JK_Boston ....... could you put up a picture when you have the time and chance. Is there a mount that you can mount and then screw the bolt into the mounts from above. I was looking at cutting the bolts one at a time.
Food for thought.
 
Feb 9, 2005
53
Catalina 310 City Island, New York City
The engine bed on the 310 has a slight flaw. As a result the forward mounts are adjusted near the top of the studs. This hurts the alignment and leads to a shorter life of mounts. I replaced with OEM and put 1 inch spacers under the front mounts. That was around 1800 hours ago and no issues so far.
Hi Jesse, do you know where these OEM mounts can be got besides Catalina Direct?
Thanks,
Mike
 
May 20, 2016
3,014
Catalina 36 MK1 94 Everett, WA
I wrote an article on mounts in one of last years MainSheet - It was for the 36 but should have good info for the 310. Not getting the MainSheet - then join your 310 IA - Masai sheet is part of your dues. If it’s anything like the 34 or 36 association it will more than pay for itself in cost saving info.

Les
 
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Nov 18, 2010
2,441
Catalina 310 Hingham, MA
Hi Jesse, do you know where these OEM mounts can be got besides Catalina Direct?
Thanks,
Mike
I'm not sure where you are located but Hansen Marine in Marblehead, Massachusetts has a lot of Westerbeke/Universal parts.

Good luck
 
Mar 6, 2008
1,078
Catalina 1999 C36 MKII #1787 Coyote Point Marina, CA.
I discovered that excessive engine vibration was caused by cracked alternator bracket on m35b universal.