I just bought a C30 yesterday!!

Aug 22, 2021
31
Catalina Yachts 30 Lake Huron
Hello All!

I just joined the forum today as a guy new to the sailing world. I caught the bug 1-2 years ago due to stumbling upon a YouTube video of Sam Holmes doing a solo trip from LA to HI on his 23 footer, and then watching a butt load of other sailing VLOGs since that time. After doing quite a bit of research, I decided that I would buy a sailboat on the Great Lakes (near where I grew up and still visit with some frequency) and try to fly out there for a weekend about once a month to try to get both myself and the boat squared away to do some cruising around the lakes. Eventually I think I'll take her down to explore the islands and maybe both coasts of the US; but initially I'm going to focus on learning my vessel really well and building some skill on how to use her well. By the way, she is a 1986 model called "R Sanctuary" and she is located down in the Gibraltar, MI area. I live in Colorado Springs, and I'm going back to MI next weekend to work/play on her if I don't die of anticipation waiting for Saturday to get here.

I have a question for any experts on the topic: How concerned should I be of several inches of water that have accumulated in the bilge while she has been setting on the hard for approx two years? I know that I'll need to track down how it got in and deal with doing some re-sealing, but I'm asking more about if it's been pooled in the bilge for months or even over a year, is it likely to have caused any issues from being pooled there? The previous owner had a stroke and isn't really able to speak any more, and his son wasn't knowledgeable enough to make sure that the pump was on auto and functioning.

Maybe one or two more questions: My main goal for next weekend is going to be to get the diesel fired up. I'm thinking the best plan will probably be to siphon out any existing fuel and replace it with fresh, then to replace the filters and bleed all the air out to the injection pump and then to crack the injection lines at the injectors and hope to get fresh fuel there and cross my fingers that when I tighten them that she finds life. Sound right?

If everything goes really well next weekend, I'll have her taken off the cradle and try to motor her up to a slip near the north end of Lake St Clair. If there are any folks local to that area, how long would you expect it to take to go against the current for that distance? It seems like one long day might be enough, right?

Thanks,
Robert
 
Oct 22, 2014
20,992
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
Welcome to SBO Forums and congrats on your new boat. Exciting times ahead.

Regarding the bilge water. Had you said the boats in Arizona and a couple of inches probably no concern. Michigan gets very cold in the winter. Water there tends to freeze. Frozen water can be hell on boat wood, fiberglass, parts etc. You will need to:
  1. get the water out.
  2. Look for damage (ie. Cracking. Swelling) and assess if the issue is superficial or more extensive
  3. Look underneath all plastic layers. Some boats of a certain age have a hull and an inner molded pan. Water between the layers can hide damage
  4. Inspect the hull and keel for damage
Hopefully you find nothing. When in doubt take pictures and post them here. The other Catalina 30 owners will be able to help with ideas. If you find serious issues would be advised to get a marine survey to understand the extent of damage and ways to repair.

Good luck. Hope you will take a picture of your new boat and share it here.
 
Aug 22, 2021
31
Catalina Yachts 30 Lake Huron
Thanks for the reply JS! That makes sense, when I get the water out on Saturday I'll look for any signs of swelling or cracking in the bilge and points below. A quick visual check of the exterior hull and keel area all looked really good yesterday when I went to inspect and buy her. I would love to have spent more time with her yesterday but unfortunately I spent several hour driving to and looking at another boat that was misrepresented to me and looked like a money pit with tons of issues, so that left me with minimal time available to spend with "R Sancuary." The good thing is, that this boat gave many impressions that the previous owners didn't defer maintenance and neglect her, but instead had some pride of ownership (the opposite of the one I passed on).

I've got a couple pictures on my phone that I'll try to post. I'll take a million or so more next weekend and then I'll post a bunch.

Thanks again!
 
Feb 26, 2004
22,759
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
Welcome, Robert.

What engine? In an '86, you mgiht have an M25, like mine.

Here are some links to help you:

Engines 101 - The BIGGEST & BEST collection of M25 Series Universal Engine Information on the Internet, plus some M35, too :)

Diesel Engine - c34.org


Catalina 30 Groups Link
Subscribe at the web forum:
Catalina30 groups.io Group
*All things Catalina 30 and 309! Sponsored by the International Catalina 30 Assn IC30A. FAQs, Q&A, comments, and experiences especially fixes and modifications invited. Share with over 2200 other owners. Website catalina30.com* *Please join the International Catalina 30 Association.
or by sending an email to:
Catalina30+subscribe@groups.io
This comes from this sbo thread by weekendrken:
1992 Catalina 30

101 Topics from C34 Forum
 
Aug 22, 2021
31
Catalina Yachts 30 Lake Huron
Welcome, Robert.

What engine? In an '86, you mgiht have an M25, like mine.

Here are some links to help you:

Engines 101 - The BIGGEST & BEST collection of M25 Series Universal Engine Information on the Internet, plus some M35, too :)

Diesel Engine - c34.org


Catalina 30 Groups Link
Subscribe at the web forum:
Catalina30 groups.io Group
*All things Catalina 30 and 309! Sponsored by the International Catalina 30 Assn IC30A. FAQs, Q&A, comments, and experiences especially fixes and modifications invited. Share with over 2200 other owners. Website catalina30.com* *Please join the International Catalina 30 Association.
or by sending an email to:
Catalina30+subscribe@groups.io
This comes from this sbo thread by weekendrken:
1992 Catalina 30

101 Topics from C34 Forum
Hello Stu,

Thanks! I'm hoping it's the M25, since I think the extra HP will be helpful when battling river currents. This is the only photo of the engine I have at the moment, can anything be discerned from it?
 

Attachments

Aug 22, 2021
31
Catalina Yachts 30 Lake Huron
Congrats, great boat - you're going to want to join the c30 organization, lots of specific info:
Thanks dmax! I clicked on the link some of the website didn't seem to pop up correctly on my computer, but it was interesting reading what I could open.
 

Ward H

.
Nov 7, 2011
3,645
Catalina 30 Mk II Barnegat, NJ
Welcome and Congratulations !

The bilge on the C30 is relatively shallow, compared to some boats, so freezing of water in the bilge shouldn't be a cause for alarm by itself. When I bought my boat it had been on the hard through at least RI winter and I know of others that sat with water in the bilge through the winter.
Early C30s had plywood used in the construction of the keel stub, below the bilge. Water would seep through next to the keel boats and cause the plywood to rot. This caused the keel to drop a bit creating the infamous Catalina Smile. If this occurred on your boat, freezing of that water could cause damage.
Catalina published a fix for this and corrected the problem, I think in 88 or 89. If your keel didn't show the Catalina smile that is good news.

The Catalina 30 Association website is lacking a bit but I understand it is undergoing an overhaul. The site to go to is [email]Catalina30@groups.io[/email] | Topics.
That site is a forum with tons of info on our C30s and a pretty Wikki page.
And don't disregard this site. A lot of issues brought up on these forums are common issues among other boats.

And now I see @Stu Jackson already posted links to the groups site and his Engines 101 is a fabulous collection for info on the M25 series.
 
Feb 26, 2004
22,759
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
Robert, that photo doesn't help, too dark to tell. Please do not crack any injectors on a Universal engine. Until you know what engine you actually do have. It may not never ever be necessary. Don't break it to try to fix it. Please.
Also no need to drain the fuel. Change the primary filter. But wait on the secondary until you learn more and know what you are doing.
You have a lot of research and homework to do, so take some time and read up first.
I put off getting an inboard engine for years. When we got this boat, I spent the first month reading! :)
All the best.
 
Aug 22, 2021
31
Catalina Yachts 30 Lake Huron
Welcome and Congratulations !

The bilge on the C30 is relatively shallow, compared to some boats, so freezing of water in the bilge shouldn't be a cause for alarm by itself. When I bought my boat it had been on the hard through at least RI winter and I know of others that sat with water in the bilge through the winter.
Early C30s had plywood used in the construction of the keel stub, below the bilge. Water would seep through next to the keel boats and cause the plywood to rot. This caused the keel to drop a bit creating the infamous Catalina Smile. If this occurred on your boat, freezing of that water could cause damage.
Catalina published a fix for this and corrected the problem, I think in 88 or 89. If your keel didn't show the Catalina smile that is good news.

The Catalina 30 Association website is lacking a bit but I understand it is undergoing an overhaul. The site to go to is [email]Catalina30@groups.io[/email] | Topics.
That site is a forum with tons of info on our C30s and a pretty Wikki page.
And don't disregard this site. A lot of issues brought up on these forums are common issues among other boats.

And now I see @Stu Jackson already posted links to the groups site and his Engines 101 is a fabulous collection for info on the M25 series.
Hello Ward,
Thanks for the response! That makes sense, regarding the shallowness of the bilge. Thankfully, there wasn't any sign of a "Catalina smile" at all, that was one of the things that I liked seeing.

Regarding trying to ID my engine while I'm in Colorado with one crappy photo of it, and the boat's in Michigan: I watched a video on YouTube of a girl replacing both fuel filters on an M25XP (
) and noticed that the valve cover and injector lines etc look identical to the photo I have of my engine. Are the other diesel engine models all identical to the M25 family when looking at a top view? Do all of the three cylinder diesels use the same fuel and oil filters by chance? I would like to buy the filters now so that when I fly there on Saturday night I'm less likely to have to run around looking for parts.

Thanks,
Robert
 
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Aug 22, 2021
31
Catalina Yachts 30 Lake Huron
Robert, that photo doesn't help, too dark to tell. Please do not crack any injectors on a Universal engine. Until you know what engine you actually do have. It may not never ever be necessary. Don't break it to try to fix it. Please.
Also no need to drain the fuel. Change the primary filter. But wait on the secondary until you learn more and know what you are doing.
You have a lot of research and homework to do, so take some time and read up first.
I put off getting an inboard engine for years. When we got this boat, I spent the first month reading! :)
All the best.
Hi Stu,
After starting this thread, I read a bunch of stuff saying not to crack the injector lines, so I wasn't surprised to see this advise. I wish I would have thought to just take a few seconds of video or snap some photos yesterday when I was at the boat, but I was really rushed and didn't think to.
Thanks,
Robert
 
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Oct 22, 2014
20,992
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
Nice video Robert. It really can be that easy. The first time the task can seem a bit daunting, but it gets much easier as you do it a couple of times. I started with a bad batch of fuel (about 100 gallons). Rather than discarding all that fuel I added some fuel cleaning products, and bought a bunch of filters, and burned through the fuel over the first couple of years.

My best time for a filter change while at sea is 7 minutes.

I watched my sailing buddy @LeslieTroyer do a fuel filter swap in less than 2 minutes last week. He kind a cheated. He has installed a duel filter system and he just goes below, accesses the filters under the Table seat and flips a couple of valves.

You need some time on the boat to become familiar with the systems you have. Then it is just like riding a bike.
 
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Feb 26, 2004
22,759
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
I found this parts list for M25 M25XP engines. It might help to identify the differences or more important for you, what parts are the same on the engines.
@Mooseman,

Ward's reference material is very good. However, the "short story" is simply this: the differences between an M25 and an M25XP are:
--- XP has two more HP with slightly different bores & strokes, essentially immaterial
--- XP has a 3 inch HX, the M25 had a 2 inch HX; many of us with M25s simply installed 3 inch HXs, a simple task
--- XP has the improved alternator bracket, a NECESSARY upgrade, which is discussed in the C34 tech wiki Engine link I provided. It is essential to do this. Mandatory for the M25 if you want your engine to NOT BE IRRETRIEVABLY BROKEN when the old alternator mount disintegrates.
ENGINEm25engineimage-torresen.jpg
 
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Apr 6, 2016
24
Catalina 30 Gulfport
Congrats ...and Happy Sailing. I just sold my 3rd Catalina a few months ago as we bought a house on the water and while it would have fit behind my house it was too much keel to get her here so one we get our walkaround situated we are looking at another one with a wing keel.
 
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Aug 22, 2021
31
Catalina Yachts 30 Lake Huron
Congrats ...and Happy Sailing. I just sold my 3rd Catalina a few months ago as we bought a house on the water and while it would have fit behind my house it was too much keel to get her here so one we get our walkaround situated we are looking at another one with a wing keel.
Good plan, I like the way you do business!! Those wing keels look pretty cool, and are Bahama friendly too!
 

shank

.
Apr 20, 2016
124
Catalina 27 5231 Lake Champlain
Congratulations on the new boat. I have a Catalina 27 and really like it. We just finished a long day of sailing today.

I've become a fan of Sam Holmes too.
 
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Oct 29, 2012
346
Catalina 30 TRBS MkII Milwaukee
Congratulations on the boat
You didn't mention what year the boat was built. There was a service bulletin regarding the keel stub you may find interesting. Regarding glassing over the wooden keel stub.
1629823541972.png
1629823541972.png
 
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