I replaced the exhaust hose on my 1988 Catalina 30 MkII, and I'm posting my project notes here in case it's of interest to anyone. I read previous threads on this topic, so thanks to who of you who contributed.
1) Purchasing the hose.
I needed 1 5/8" ID hardwire marine exhaust hose. Based on some online research I decided I'd be safe if I bought 25' of it. I looked at the following:
2) Getting set up.
You don't need to cut any holes in your boat to complete this project. I had two patient friends helping me, and it took overall about a day. Thinking back on it though, the only times I can remember actually needing all three people were failed attempts at something. I'm pretty sure you could do it with two people.
The first thing I did was remove the 3-drawer cabinet. Six screws, easy. Then, I cleaned out the port lazarette and the aft cockpit locker. Next, I cleaned out the area under the sink. Basically, clear out all the areas where the hose runs.
3) Removing the old hose.
I removed the aft hose clamp in the aft cockpit locker, and was able to slide the hose off the nipple. Then, I cut it at the muffler connection since I was unable to slide it off after loosening the clamp. Three more cuts: one in the aft locker as close to the port side opening as possible. A second cut in the port lazarette as near to the forward opening as possible. A third cut under the sink, as close to its port opening as possible. Now I was able to pull out the aft section and the sink section.
Getting the middle piece out took some effort. First, I had to push the end of the hose through the opening in the port side of the under sink area. Not too tough. Getting it through the lazarette opening was the tricky part. After numerous attempts of one person in the lazarette and one under the reefer pushing and pulling, I joked that we could use a winch. After a bit more trying, we decided to take ourselves up on the joke. We tied a line around the hose in the reefer area and winched it using the mainsheet winch. Finally it popped and the end was down in the reefer area.
From there, with one person in the reefer area pushing the hose up with a long object, and another in the opening under the dinette seat pulling, we were able to pull it forward and out. The issue is that it gets wedged between the reefer and the hull if it sinks low.
4) Pulling the new hose.
This was not as difficult as I thought it would be. We started in the lazarette and fed it into the aft cockpit locker. From there we actually clamped it. Next, we fed it from the lazarette into the reefer area. I don't know what kind of magic my friend in the reefer area did, but she was able to keep it up high behind the reefer and stove while I fed it in from the lazarette, far enough that I could eventually see then grasp it from the dinette seat.
Once the forward end was near the sink area, we tried to bend it directly into the sink area, with no luck. We decided to pull it straight forward and out by the holding tank, then loop it back into the sink area. This worked with one person in the dinette access and one under the sink. We actually fed it into the sink area and down into the engine compartment (and out the dinette seat since it was too long) in one motion. I had to disconnect the sink drain hose and supply lines in order to have enough room to work under the sink.
From here it was a matter of cutting it the right length and clamping it off.
I started the engine and heard that familiar gurgling sound at the transom - music to my ears!
I ended up with 41" of hose left over and assuming the 25ft was accurate, that's a little over 21.5' of hose used.
HTH.
1) Purchasing the hose.
I needed 1 5/8" ID hardwire marine exhaust hose. Based on some online research I decided I'd be safe if I bought 25' of it. I looked at the following:
- Catalina Direct - $9.80/ft + shipping
- West Marine - $12.49/ft
- Defender - $12.99/ft + shipping
- Local industrial hose supply place - $10.00/ft
2) Getting set up.
You don't need to cut any holes in your boat to complete this project. I had two patient friends helping me, and it took overall about a day. Thinking back on it though, the only times I can remember actually needing all three people were failed attempts at something. I'm pretty sure you could do it with two people.
The first thing I did was remove the 3-drawer cabinet. Six screws, easy. Then, I cleaned out the port lazarette and the aft cockpit locker. Next, I cleaned out the area under the sink. Basically, clear out all the areas where the hose runs.
3) Removing the old hose.
I removed the aft hose clamp in the aft cockpit locker, and was able to slide the hose off the nipple. Then, I cut it at the muffler connection since I was unable to slide it off after loosening the clamp. Three more cuts: one in the aft locker as close to the port side opening as possible. A second cut in the port lazarette as near to the forward opening as possible. A third cut under the sink, as close to its port opening as possible. Now I was able to pull out the aft section and the sink section.
Getting the middle piece out took some effort. First, I had to push the end of the hose through the opening in the port side of the under sink area. Not too tough. Getting it through the lazarette opening was the tricky part. After numerous attempts of one person in the lazarette and one under the reefer pushing and pulling, I joked that we could use a winch. After a bit more trying, we decided to take ourselves up on the joke. We tied a line around the hose in the reefer area and winched it using the mainsheet winch. Finally it popped and the end was down in the reefer area.
From there, with one person in the reefer area pushing the hose up with a long object, and another in the opening under the dinette seat pulling, we were able to pull it forward and out. The issue is that it gets wedged between the reefer and the hull if it sinks low.
4) Pulling the new hose.
This was not as difficult as I thought it would be. We started in the lazarette and fed it into the aft cockpit locker. From there we actually clamped it. Next, we fed it from the lazarette into the reefer area. I don't know what kind of magic my friend in the reefer area did, but she was able to keep it up high behind the reefer and stove while I fed it in from the lazarette, far enough that I could eventually see then grasp it from the dinette seat.
Once the forward end was near the sink area, we tried to bend it directly into the sink area, with no luck. We decided to pull it straight forward and out by the holding tank, then loop it back into the sink area. This worked with one person in the dinette access and one under the sink. We actually fed it into the sink area and down into the engine compartment (and out the dinette seat since it was too long) in one motion. I had to disconnect the sink drain hose and supply lines in order to have enough room to work under the sink.
From here it was a matter of cutting it the right length and clamping it off.
I started the engine and heard that familiar gurgling sound at the transom - music to my ears!
I ended up with 41" of hose left over and assuming the 25ft was accurate, that's a little over 21.5' of hose used.
HTH.
