Catalina 27 Outboard - taking on water

[William C.]

I have a 1978 Catalina 27 with a through the transom Evenrude 9.9 long shaft. The engine performs fine but if I have 4 or more people on the boat and I motering downwind I take on water through the transom. Water is splashing in. I am forced to stop and allow the water to escape through the drain. The water will not drain out while motering. It seems like the stern is riding too low. If you have any advice, I would appreciate it.

 

[Richard McBride]

Hi There.We have a similar problem with exactly that boat. There are a couple of things to check, however the bottom line is that your situation occurs a lot.First of all, check to see if the motor mount is blocking the drain holes. They most likely are not blocked, but this is always a good thing to check.If your drain holes are clear, then what you have happening is what commonly happens. As the motor thrust increases, the stern gets driven down lower into the water. I know of only one way to fix this, and that is to ballast the bow to raise the stern.We are looking to cover the transom cutout and mount our motor on the cover plate. This seems like the best solution as far as I can see.Good luck.Richard

 

[J W Huhta]

Cat 27 1979 with inboard--same problem

Hi.....Our Cat 27 has an Atomic 4 Gas inboard engine and water comes in thru the transom when under power and doing around 4 knots. We solved the problem by putting a standard 1/1/2 " wash basin drain plug in to the transom drain hole. Get 'em at the local hardware store. We use it when underway, and remove it at the dock. We attach it to a string for easy removal and to keep track of it. Cheap and effective. I believe it is caused by water back pressure from the prop and the fact that the stern "squats" when under power, inboard or outboard.

 

[Walt]

Rudder OB interference

I think the problem is the motor interfering with the rudder forcing the motor to be tilted up situation. Because the stock rudder is so large a standard long shaft OB has to be tilted up so as not to interfere with the swing of the rubbed. This has the prop give a downward thrust, sinking the stern. The fixes are to get a new Booth (sp?) rudder, which is shaped differently than the original or cut a notch out of the old rudder allowing the OB to tilt all the way down. I have not implemented either fix yet. I am living with the motor compartment filling with water while I motor. It is mostly only ten or fifteen minutes until I get the sails up. Once the motor is turned off the lazerette empties. I have also mover the crew forward, tilting the stern back up. Even with the above fixes the OB opening is vulnerable to being pooped. That is one of the primary draw backs of the OB. I have only been severely pooped once, killing the motor; and that was because of my inexperience. I feel the advantages of an OB far out way this risk.

 

[Brian Stevenson]

Water in the well

I have a Honda O/B and have some water that enters under power. I have increased the drain size to about 1 1/4 in. so that it enters and leaves quickly. I placed a spacer under the O/B bracket (on the outside of the transom) to give more clearance to the rudder. This reduces the thrust angle and the boat sits flatter under power, so the amount of water is minimal.I have heard only good things about John Booth's rudder rebuild (in Victoria, B.C.) and he will bebuild a rudder from the original for about $400.00 cdn or supply a new rudder for about $600. I understand it allows for lots of clearance for the O/B leg, takes out a lot of weather helm and is great when reversing. I think it's my next modification for my boat (next winter)