Transmision replacememt

jrowan

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Mar 5, 2011
1,294
O'Day 35 Severn River, Mobjack Bay, Va.
The misinformation going around the sailing community is apparently coming from you Mortyd. The Hurth manual is 30 year old information, & is in my 30 year old Hurth manual. Read up before giving advice next time.
 

mortyd

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Dec 11, 2004
952
Catalina 30 easy living
read my posts before you talk, ok? my advice was first to call the manufacturer, which i will always stand behind. that i got wrong info from said manufacturer because i had no manual supplied with the boat is hardly my doing. i further guess that all the manuals you have and read are carved in stone and mistake proof.
 

jrowan

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Mar 5, 2011
1,294
O'Day 35 Severn River, Mobjack Bay, Va.
Everyone makes mistakes, myself included of course. But I think there's more to giving advice then just "call the manufacture." As far as Hurth they are no longer in business, & ZF is in the business of selling you a new transmission, not servicing the old one. I frankly don't expect every manufacture to be obligated to help me with products of a boat that are over 30 years old. While Catalina itself is obviously still in business, their business is to sell new boats, not just service the old ones, or else they would go out of business. Unfortunate for them that our boats are just so damn durable, as classic plastic seams to last forever. But a lot of folks have already tried calling the manufacture, & other then Catalina, many have gone out of business, as boat building is a fickle business that is of course, affected by the economy. If they can't get an answer from the manufacture, that is probably why there are asking advice from fellow sailors, that have hopefully already been through their predicament, & can offer constructive advice, based on direct experience. I have had many boats over my sailing life such as O'Day and S 2, that while are good boats, are no longer manufactured, & when it comes to repairing can be daunting to repair, when you can't call Catalina.
 

mortyd

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Dec 11, 2004
952
Catalina 30 easy living
not to drag this out, and maybe i'm just a lucky guy, but i've great satisfaction dealing with manufacturers, and will aways rely on them before i take advice from anonymous sources. of course makers are in the business of selling new boats, but because of the way i have been treated i will always consider firms like catalina, garhauer, seaward, nicro, garmin, standard horizon first and send others to them, and smart manufacturers know this. i've never had one of these say 'that's an old unit, buy a new one.'
 
Oct 5, 2010
322
Catalina 30 mkII St. Augustine
With the Internet one can get most owner handbooks on line with relative ease. I make it a point to read and understand them as best as I can. I like to download them to Kindle on my iPad so I have them at hand always. It is remarkable how many "telephone" representatives are unfamiliar with their company's literature.
 

mortyd

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Dec 11, 2004
952
Catalina 30 easy living
agreed, but when you're talking to small companies like catalina, garhauer, seaward, etc. you can almost always get through to someone who knows what's what.
 
Oct 5, 2010
322
Catalina 30 mkII St. Augustine
Transmission in. Only real problem was repositioning the transmission shift cable. The one additional inch in length of the ZF 10 M did not allow the control cable to fit in the engine room. Solution was to attach the aft end of the control cable under the cabin sole.
 

Attachments

Feb 6, 1998
11,665
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
NO, absolutely not in neutral. in neutral the faces spin against each other and will eventually polish themselves into uselessness. i got this directly from hurth. SAIL IN REVERSE if you have a hurth transmission.
Neutral OR Reverse but never Forward. This placard directly from Carl Hurth Marine Transmissions (now ZF) sums it up well..



 
Jun 29, 2011
142
Catalina 30 Mk II Gibsons
Just finished installing the ZF10, it is 1.5 inches longer, requires pushing shaft back and re alignment, lifting engine on all motor mounts. Big job, not for the faint of heart
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Apr 22, 2018
1
Columbia 36 Cedar Mills Marina & Resort
Coriolisbc,I have a Columbia 36 with a Universal M25 followed with a ZF5 gearbox.
Gearbox is slipping, I am thinking of upgrading to the ZF12, and I saw your post and wondering how things are still working for you??? I too will be adding 1.5 inches. Is the ZF10 still kicking???
 
Apr 26, 2018
137
Catalina Catalina 30 Bayview
Im doing some study for the 1982 C30 I am a new caretaker for in a boat sharing coop. Transmission is HBW50 Hurth that is about 10 years old maybe. Engages reverse, engages forward at idle, then slips as power applied, then will be reliable once warmed up. First let me say I curse the Catalina company for how awful it is to access engine with 1 hour deconstruct of galley furniture. Can I get an "Amen"? Ill be working on that.

Can we get an update on ZF10?
 
Jan 18, 2016
782
Catalina 387 Dana Point
Being able to get to every part of the engine with only an hour of disassembly is one of the C-30's features - it's not a bug. Beats so many boats (like a C-27 with an inboard) where you'd need to pull the engine to get to the transmission. or disassemble the companionway, the rear cabin, etc... Even with the galley counter there, access is pretty dang good, imho.
 
Apr 26, 2018
137
Catalina Catalina 30 Bayview
I guess its a matter of persepctive. I come from a commercial background where access is important to the safe operation of a vessel. If something needed to be observed or accessed, I am unwilling to accept over an hour to access engine. My plan is to do fastenings in a different set up so that it would take less then 10 min to access engine. This is still not awesome, but better for sure.
 
May 20, 2016
3,014
Catalina 36 MK1 94 Everett, WA
Have you looked at the PRM 60?? Suppose to be direct bolt in for Hurth 50. Same length so no major changes that are/may be required for the ZF


Les
 
Apr 26, 2018
137
Catalina Catalina 30 Bayview
Dear Les, just got off phone with transmission guru , he recommended PRM 60. Closest in size , better durability then hurth rebuild, but needs mount for left side shift braket. Costs less, was quoted $920. Rebuild costs more. Looks like I’m gonna tackle it too. It could be as long as a month to get marina mechanics to do it. Plus lots of labor $$


Edit, see post for hbw50 replacement.
https://forums.sailboatowners.com/index.php?threads/hurth-hbw50-replacement.191384/
 
Last edited:
Jun 29, 2011
142
Catalina 30 Mk II Gibsons
Hello Captain, sorry for the late reply but I have been enjoying the boat, the Z10 is crisper and smoother than the original Hurth.
 
Jun 19, 2004
365
Island Packet IP 32 99 Forked River, NJ
FWIW we rebuilt our Hbw50 2 years ago. Parts had to be ordered from ZF but arrived within 30 days ( winter project). With the Morgan 28 OI I had to remove the fuel tank and squash myself under the cockpit floor to gain access. Not so hard climbing in but h**l getting back out again!
Full disclosure... I probably caused the slipping by numerous soft groundings (ungroudings?) and a having jib sheets wrapped up in the prop a few times over the years (I did see allot of metal in the oil when I serviced the unit in 2015)
Anyway so far so good! The old HBW50 is working well... I'm just being more careful now.