A few questions

JK_Boston_Catalina310 · Jun 24, 2015

Congrats on the boat!

You should check out the Catalina 30 International Owners Association. They have a ton of stuff that will be useful to you. Plus if you join you can get Mainsheet Magazine.

I will try to answer some of your questions below.

De_gevleugelde_cat said:
But last weekend we came aboard and found one battery empty. While it was on shore-power. So we decided to replace the two 72 Ah for two 105 Ah. Everything OK. But when we started the engine (Universal m25 XP), the beeping outside by the starting panel doesn't stop when started. And we can't figure out why. Because it isn't so loud and we couldn't find anything, we even continued using the engine for several ours. We checked for: Temperature: is normal like always. We assume oil pressure is still ok. We checked oil-level. Still full. And we do not have any lights on the starting panel (never had, btw. Also not when starting normally).

This sounds like a bad oil pressure switch. The unit itself could be bad or the wires could have broken off. I attached a section of the manual from my engine. It's slightly different but at least you can see what the unit looks like. You can take the old one to any parts store and get a replacement.

1. Does anyone have a suggestion? Could it be the alternator gives of a signal because we now have new, larger batteries?

No, it would be the alternator or the addition of larger batteries. But on those subjects, here are a few things you should read:

The 1/Both/2/Off Switch

Battery Fuse Sizing - How?

Universal Diesel M-25 Alternator Upgrade

Universal M-18 & M-25 Alternator Bracket Upgrade

Universal Diesel Wiring Harness Upgrade

What Is a "Deep Cycle" Battery?

2. I've included a two pictures of the engine. We can't find what the use is of the lever with the hook attached to it. Does anyone know?

That looks to be the oil drain. Follow it down and if it's attached to the oil pan on the bottom of the engine that's it. They install this so you can drain the oil. Most of us use some sort of a pump to get the oil out. I use my pump on this hose and by going through the dipstick opening.

3. Shouldn't there be a tube or something like that attached to the little pipe in the middle? Because we think it's there to overflow oil???

That is the crankcase breather hose attachment and yes there is typically a hose there that is run to the air filter.

Here is an upgrade to that system that is worth considering since you need a new hose anyways: M-25 Air Filter & PCV Valve Upgrade.

And for the last questions: When we came aboard last Saturday, we used the faucet and a terrible rotten egg smell almost overwhelmed us. So we pumped al the "fresh" water out and used Puraclean. We've looked inside the tanks and at least the one on the starboard site is dirty, very dirty on the inside. But there isn't a very big manhole, so cleaning by hand is not possible.
4. How is the foreward freshwatertank connected to the backward?
5. We bought more Cleaner and filled the tanks and used the cleaner. It must stay in for a least 24h, so now we wait. We are planning on tapping it next time and fully rinse the system 2 times at least. Do you think that should do the trick, or should I really remove the tanks and clean them by shaking etc and replace the hoses?

Buy the book "Get Rid of Boat Odors" by Peggie Hall. Peggie posts on here often, although a little less lately. This odor is covered in the book.

Essentially you have bacteria in your system that you need to kill. The first step is to shock the whole system with chlorine. You do this by adding bleach (typically 5% chlorine) and letting the system sit overnight. I use the Oregon Health Authority sheet to determine the amount of bleach. IIRC, the C30 has around 48 gallons of fresh water in two tanks plus the water heater. For that I would use about a cup of bleach. Empty the tanks most of the way down (not all the way because you may get your pump air bound). Add the bleach, top off the tanks and run water through all of the faucets (hot and cold) until the tanks are about half empty. Let it sit overnight. The next day empty the tanks, refill with fresh water and flush through all of the faucets again. Do this 3 or 4 times. You will need to check your screens on the faucets and the filter before the pump a couple of times as debris will get caught in them.

Lastly, you have a M-25 and that engine was in several makes of Catalinas. Particularly the C34. The C34 International Association has a great website maintained by Stu Jackson who you will see post here a lot. Here is a link to their "Topics" page. Pay attention to the CRITICAL UPGRADES link. You should do almost all of these upgrades listed if they haven't already been done.

Good luck and fair winds,

Jesse
s/v Smitty

Capt jgw · Jun 24, 2015

The lever with the hook is the compression release. Allows the engine to spin freely with no compression. Handy for starting the engine when the batteries are too low to turn it over normally, and for bleeding the fuel system if you have a mechanical fuel pump. I think you're is electric though, so you don't need it for that.

The hot water side of the plumbing is more likely to cause the rotten egg odor. Heating water removes all the dissolved oxygen, which causes anaerobic bacteria to grow, which causes the stink. If you always use the hot water tap to get water, even when there is no hot water, that will help keep the hot side flushed out and reduce the odor. I think Peggy covered that in her book.

A few questions

De_gevleugelde_cat

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