Photos of Upgrades or Updates

philwsailz · Dec 17, 2012

Old Skool Neil said:
Here are some pictures of my cabin lighting. The channel is a custom fiberglass/wood sandwich lamination painted to match the headliner. The fixtures are ebay specials - @$5 - as pictured they have high consumption halogen lamps but about 6 months ago I changed the lamps to L.E.D. wafer style.

Neil-

Your photos have re-invigorated my desire to tackle one of the original task items on my punchlist for refit and refurb of my C27, specifically the lighting. Your solution is beautiful and does not detract from the interior in the slightest manner.

Two years into it I thnk I have found the inspiration to accomplish this,and ironically I have had the fixtures sitting around as they were the first things I purchased!

I hate seeing exposed wiring and the backs of instruments, hence the fabrication of the cabinet you will find just inside the companionway to port on my C27, L.L.atitudes II. Its primary purpose is to cover the knot meter and depth finder... I have held off doing any lighting work because I could not find an appropriate soluton that was cosmetically appealing. You showed me the way.

Nicely done, thanks for sharing!

Old Skool Neil · Dec 17, 2012

That's great Phil, glad you found my solution useful. Let me know if you want more details.

And thanks . . . .

jrowan · Dec 17, 2012

Old Skool Neil said:
I'm flattered Jeremy remembered my boat. Here are some interior pics of my 1977 #600

You should be proud of you boat & accomplishments on restoring her Neal. She's the cleanest C 30 of any year around. Plus you custom electrical panel with the light up breakers still blows me away. Absolutely a bad ass C 30 that defintely inspired me during my refit to know how good a Catalina can look with a lot of TLC. Cheers, Jeremy

Old Skool Neil · Dec 17, 2012

Thank you Jeremy, you're very kind.

One of the important things with such a refit is forget about getting your money out of it. You have to do it for love. I haven't spent wildly, most of what you see is sweat equity but after all is said and done I still have a 1977 Catalina 30 with an Atomic 4 (which I love, it's a great engine despite what the diesel snobs might say

).

The payback for me is the enjoyment now.

degreeoff · Dec 18, 2012

I had the atomic bomb in my 27, loved it! Very quiet next to 23hp of high comp diesel

windcat · Sep 22, 2013

Electrical Panel and cockpit instrumentation panel upgrade

Lew Love said:
Here are a few modifications I made to 87 Catalina 30. I used this forum to give me confidence to do a lot of the work!
18,000 btu hvac with three vents - 2 in settee area, 1 - in v-berth
New refrigerator compressor with plates and new insulation
Digital tv which can get 21 stations in open water -see Doppler weather channel
New electrical panel, new cockpit instrumentation panel including new wiring harness to and from engine
Bank of four golf cart batteries providing 440 amps of service
No shown but LEDs throughout boat
Full canvas redo
Bottom paint
New stuffing box and shaft
Cool picture from above

We also had a Catalina Rendezvous on Lake Murray, South Carolina in 2011... It was lots of fun - nine Catalina 30s on the lake!

I have before, during and after pictures if someone needs a picture of a process.

Lew Love

Lew Love

We just bought a new electrical panel from Catalina. It is the larger of the two that Catalina offers. We have hull # 959, December, 1978. The current location of the panel is over in the galley and my husband will be moving it over to the nav station. The current location of the batteries is by the engine, pretty dumb location. He is thinking of two under the nav table and one next to the fuel tank under the aft quarter berth. Any pics that you have would be very helpful and much appreciated. Thanks. Diane & Ed.

dan8152 · Oct 2, 2013

jrowan said:
Nice pics guys. Chris: Your custom salon table ROCKS! Let's see some more photos of upgrades. This should be a regular re-occurring post! Its inspiring to see what everyone else has done. Mine are on an album on my page. Capt. Ron, Ols School Neal, All U Get, & all the regulars need to post their upgrade pics too. Ron has virtually rebuilt & improved every system & component on his C 30. Cheers!

what fridge is that? the wife and I don't use the stove at all and have the icebox converted to a fride but would like a front opening one.

Lost Parent · Oct 6, 2013

Used a 2.5 cubic foot 12/110 volt fridge picked up five years ago for 400 and been running 24hrs a day since

longterm · Feb 8, 2014

I've added a few things to my Catalina 30, but my favorite are the Profurl furler and my new companionway doors.

These were custom-made for my boat's exact opening specs by Cruising Concepts (http://www.cruisingconcepts.com), who build doors to exactly fit your Catalina 30. The doors have tinted plexiglass panels that slide out from the top, to leave screens for ventilation on those nights when a breeze is desired. The fit is perfect, the hatch closes perfectly; the doors sit on pins, allowing them to be removed and stowed if desired.

Once I received the doors, I was able to install them in about an hour; what a great upgrade.

Elysium_Van_Isl said:
Hi all,
I know there are general forum threads out there for this topic, but didn't see anything specific to Catalinas. I'm currently on my way out of a '74 Catalina 27 and into an '82 Catalina 30. Anybody interested in posting pics of updates or upgrades to their boats that they are particularly proud of??

I'm keen on getting started on a few different projects, but am a stickler for doing my research. Some of the things I'll be working toward are counter top updates from the original wood-style laminate, engine compartment insulation, wheel pedestal console updates, and possibly some new storage cupboards along the sides of the cabin. Currently there are the original spindle rails and (personally) I feel these look really dated.

I'm a visual learner...(and as such might be MainSail's BIGGEST fan!!!) So hit me with those beautiful updated Catalina interiors folks!!
Cheers,
Mike

Coriolisbc · Feb 9, 2014

Cabin lighting, and mirrored sliders

Here are some pics of LED lighting, and mirrored sliders

Jeunesse27 · Feb 14, 2014

So this was done about 4 years ago but I never posted this. I tackled this job after completing the keel project which some of you might remember (jeunesse27.wordpress.com). The bilge in my catalina was like many others, compromised by the rotting plywood sandwiched in layers of fiberglass. I had to chisel it all out and build it back up with fiberglass. It's been 4 years and bolts are still torqued to 105 ft/lbs and the "catalina smile" never came back. Lots of work but I'd say it was worth it. I used west system epoxy and triaxial cloth between each layer of fiberglass panels I was able to get for free from a boat builder at the same dry dock I was at. It made it quicker to build up the material that I had removed back up to the original thickness.

Jeunesse27 · Feb 15, 2014

Newest project is building a navpod for my chartplotter and the P70 autopilot control I just ordered. Build the plug from polystyrene foam, only thing left is to carve out the recessed channels for the rails. I will start figerblassing it on monday, I'll post pics of the progress.

philwsailz · Feb 17, 2014

Jeunesse27 said:
Newest project is building a navpod for my chartplotter and the P70 autopilot control I just ordered. Build the plug from polystyrene foam, only thing left is to carve out the recessed channels for the rails. I will start figerblassing it on monday, I'll post pics of the progress.

I had to read it to understand you were working with foam. To my eye I saw a male plug from MDF for thermoforming. 'Figured you were going to do a small production run.

Old Skool Neil · Feb 17, 2014

Polystyrene foam? Are you using boat-lam (laminating resin) or epoxy as the binding agent in your fiberglassing? You might want to do a test spot on scrap pieces before committing to the plug.

I learned 40 years ago that laminating resin melts polystyrene foam. Maybe formulations have changed enough since then.

Jeunesse27 · Feb 17, 2014

I'm using west systems epoxy 105, it won't melt the foam. This method is used in model airplane construction which I have experience with. I like polystyrene because it's so easy to work with. Didn't get a chance to work on it today, I got sidetracked with re wiring my batteries...

Jeunesse27 · Mar 11, 2014

I've updated my blog with a bunch of pictures of the keel bolt replacement project we tackled a few years ago. Check it out at http://jeunesse27.wordpress.com

Jeunesse27 · Mar 18, 2014

Elysium_Van_Isl said:
Jeunesse,
All I can say is WOW!

That is absolutely amazing. I just went through your blog photos as well as the ones you have here. What an incredible amount of work.
I'm just out of the water now for a week long overhaul. My initial focus was on replacing the shaft coupler and adding a PSS, but as in all things boat, you start on one job and end up doing five.
Long story short, I am now waiting for a new shaft, as well as the coupler to be made. In my down time, I looked at the keel more closely....which I never should have done!
Things arent all that bad I suppose, but there is definitely water deep in there...and I'm an 82, so have the plywood core as well.
Once things are back together and I'm in the water again I'll post up the pics. Maybe not 'upgrades' as was my original intent with this thread, but in a way I suppose9ose they are!
Thanks for posting up your info. Glad you were able to bring the old girl back to glory!

Haha! don't I know it... We were originally just going to change the head, LOL!

jrowan · Mar 22, 2014

Jeunesse, I have to second that you really did some amazing work on your C-30.

Your bilge fiberglass work looks professional, & indeed better then a lot of
so called professionals work that I've seen. I have also never seen anyone else
drop their keel to replace their keel bolts. That must have been a murderous job.
I guess you must own a pre 1978 era C-30 that used mild steel keel bolts, for them
to rust so badly over the years? So what other improvements have you made, please post pics. Cheers, though to a job well done.

jimmcgee · Mar 25, 2014

I'll break this up into a couple of posts since we've done a LOT of work to our boat.

To put this in perspective our C30 is our summer home on Barnegat Bay so we've probably put more into making her comfortable than a lot of people would -- and yes I realize we won't get it all back -- and it doesn't really matter. We do the things that will make her more enjoyable for our sailing and living aboard. A boat isn't an investment, it's supposed to enrich your life.

I'll start with Mechanicals & Rigging

All the running rigging is new courtesy of a local West Marine that closed. It's a lot easier to replace running rigging at 10 cents on a dollar !
She got a new forestay last summer.
My wife has a sensitive nose so a dripless shaft seal keeps the bilge dry.
New Vetus motor mounts on our 25XP make a HUGE difference in how quiet she is and how smoothly she motors.
All the running lights have been replaced.
I pulled all new fresh water hoses and replaced the pump.
I added a quick disconnect to the transom for fresh water that comes in through a pressure regulator and filter system. This gives us filtered fresh water at the dock and we only fill the tanks with filtered water.
There's also a quick connect for cable TV that feeds the TV - more on that in a minute.
The engine got the usual treatment, all new hoses, filters, belts, a new exhaust hump hose, etc, etc...
I added a Webasto 10K reverse cycle air conditioner for those August days.
From day one we've had a Magma kettle grill. It now rests in a rod holder off the stern rail that makes it easy to take on and off.
Companionway doors are a must if you're spending a lot of time living aboard. The picture is of the old doors that I swapped to a friend. I've gone through a couple of ideas for doors that have screens and removable glass. I mock them up out of pine and live with them for a while. This spring I'll make the final versions.
The next big item will be a Doyle UPS on a top down furler and a bow sprit.

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