Upgrades

[Don Guillette]

Bouncing off of Oldcats idea concerning upgrades etc - I wasn't sure how to deal with the subject but, after giving it some thought, it came to me to use my own boat as an example.First some background on my boat. Having moved up from a Macgregor22 to a Catalina 25, I decided to move to a Catalina 30. Actually, how that came about was my wife said those magic words "perhaps we should look for a boat with a little bit more room than the C25". The next day I started my search for a C30!! I looked at at least 25 C30's between Ventura and San Diego. I was very specific with brokers I talked to as to what I wanted - a boat in fairly good condition (sails, hull, engine (25XP),rigging etc). In one case I traveled to Ventura, which is 100 miles one way from my home in Diamond Bar, Ca, to look at 2 C30's that would fit my bill. Both were dogs. The brokers should have cleaned them with a fire hose, they were so dirty and no where near what I wanted. Another C30 I looked at in Marina Del Ray, the young seller had painted the inside black - I guess it was gothic thing.In the meantime, I had noticed a 1981 C30 in Newport Beach,Ca that was advertised in a local sailing rag. The owner wanted $25,000. During my seach for other boats, I kept track of that boat and noticed it was coming down in price but I kept watching it until one rainy day in Dec 1992 I decided to take a look at it. It was everything I wanted - decent sails, 25XP, teak and holly floor and in fine condition. It wasn't Bristol but passed inspection. My wife, who is the worse person a seller could ever encounter offered the buyer $17,500!! I almost hit the roof as I thought her offer would queer the deal but to my surprise the buyer accepeted the offer. Now I was the owner of a C30. Unfortunately, I had a Macgregor22 stored at my exwifes house and she was threating to take a chain saw to it and I had the C25 in Long Beach. In short order, I got rid of the C25 and Macgregor but took a bath on both in the process. The C30 had some obvious rigging problems, which I had seen right off the bat. The engine had less than 200 hours on it. The main was OK and the 155 was almost new. Cosmetically, the hull and topside was in excellent condition and it had a winch to boot.In Jan, 2004 I sold the boat for $27,000 (sounds like a good deal but I'll bet I barely broke even) and in the next articles I'll explain what I did to the boat to bring it up to the standards I expect and must have in any boat I own.

 

[Don Guillette]

Upgrades to C30

Prior to making an offer on the C30 I had a pretty good idea as to what the boat would need to bring it up to Bristol standard. The following is what I replaced and the order in which I replaced it. I used Garhauer Marine stuff because I sold and installed their products. I feel their products are top grade or I would not be associated with them.Rigging: this was the first order of business. I had noticed cracks in the rigging. I had a rigger inspect the rig and what I could see was nothing compared to what he saw at the top of the mast. The usefull life of rigging in salt water is around 10 years. After that you should have it inspected on a regular basis. You ain't lived until you lose your rigging!!Mainsheet blocks: the boat had the old Seaway mainsheet blocks, which are loaded with friction. These blocks were so poor that I had to physically pull in and push out the boom. The Garhauer mainsheet conversion kit solved that problem.Traveler: the boat had a curved track traveler, which takes two men and a boy to deal with when under load. It is a poor design in my opinion. First I had Garhauer Marine upgrade and add blocks to the curved track system. I was trying to make a silk purse out of a sows ear and it turned out to be a mistake. The first time I tried it I did not like it and I bought the Garhauer straight track traveler, which I should have bought in the first place. I sold the curved track to a guy on the Catalina list and he loves it.Adjustable fairleads: fairleads are very important and the pin type are a bear to operate under load. As a result, most sailors just set and forget them. That is a shame because the engine of a masthead rig is the jib. The Garhauer adjustable fairlead system solved my fairlead problem.The rest of the sail trim controls that I added will follow shortly. In addition, I added a dodger, davits, upgraded the 3 bank battery system from parallel to stand alone plus a bunch of other stuff I can't remember.

 

[David W]

Looking forward to the rest of this Don!

nm

 

[Alan]

My most important upgrade....a new keel. WOW what a difference compared to the 'wing thing' the boat came with. A dramatic improvement in pointing, and boat speed with a corresponding decrease in leeway.

 

[Don Guillette]

More hardware upgrades

The upgrades I previously mentioned were the most important. If you want to get 100% efficiency from your sails, obviously the controls have to function easily. The ones I had had outlived their usefull life.Rigid boom vang: A soft vang does the job but a rigid one does the job better. The main advantage is the boom is held rigid - there is no bounce. Additionally, you can elimiinate the topping lift. Garhauer Marine sells an excellent rigid vang. I upgraded the springs to their highest grade.Cunnigham: Not wanting to waste anything, I converted the the soft vang to a Cunningham. Personally, I don't like messing with the halyards. You can get a more precise adjustment with a cunningham.Jib Cunningham: While working the Long Beach Boat Show with Garhauer, I noticed their smallest soft vang. I immediately saw a use for it as a jib cunningham. The jib cunningham allows you to get a very precise jib adjustment.Garhauer Snatch Blocks: Garhauer sells a unique snatch block - you can work it with one hand. My plan was to use them in conjunction with my cabin top tracks. That way I would have inboard and outboard tracks. Unfortunately, I could not figure a way to get around the safety lines. I did spend many an hour sitting on the deck trying to figure out a solution and flipping the blocks open and shut as I messed with the problem.Clutches: I replaced all the clutches with Garhauer.Sheets and lines: I extended all lines back to the helm. That made single handing very easy. That is the extent of my sail trim controls mods. The total cost would be a shade under $1000. If a mate was to make these mods the next thing he should do is learn how to work them.

 

[OldCat]

Pictures?

Don: Did you take any pictures of the adjustable genoa car installation? Can you post them? I'd be interested in how you ran the lines so as to avoid clutter and confusion.

 

[Don Guillette]

Pictures

Oldcat: I have them on my web site. Drop me a note (yankee3223@juno.com)with your Email address and I'll provide you the web address. There is no clutter with the Garhauer set up. It is only one line controlling the devise. They sell an add on, which is a swivel jamb cleat. It is an expensive little bugger but worth the extra bucks otherwise you have to add a cleat or something to belay the line. In addition, I added a second line so I could move the car aft but even that turned out to be neat and sanitary looking.