Upgrading the Deck Fill Caps on our Catalina 34
The Plastic Deck Fill / Waste pump out caps on Eximius were replaced years ago 2015 - yes, we can say 'years ago' now that have owned the boat for 9 years - where did the time go? Well it was 2018. We replaced the Fuel Fill Cap and Neck when repairing our Fuel tank in 2018, the Plastic fill cap was replaced by a Stainless cap and is still as good as new.
So, time to replace the Plastic caps again but this time we'll go for the Stainless Steel type - should last longer than we'll own the boat.
Step 1 was to search the internet and it was not easy to find replacements that would fit and those that might fit, were outrageously expensive.
Finally I tried Catalina Direct, they normally have pretty well everything for our boat but, understandably, they are a bit more expensive.
Well, that's not the case for the Fill Caps.
CD's site does point out that the Water Fill caps may not fit our Fill points with the security chain installed but they do state that others have found that simply removing the security chain allows them to fit without issue.
The Three Caps came to $142.05 @$43.70 each plus shipping etc.
The Waste Pump Out Cap does not have a security chain, that is simply because the Cap has to be fully removed in order to screw in the Pump Out Adaptor into the fitting.
So replacement of these caps should simply be remove the old cracked plastic caps and screw in the replacement Stainless Steel Caps.
I have just finished refinishing the Non-Skid decking on the Port Side Deck, I only have to remove the Blue Masking tape to finish that job, then I can install the new Port Side Waste Water Pump out cap. It should look real pretty.
I'll be curious to find out if I have to use a winch handle to unscrew the new Stainless Cap rather than the current method of simply putting my foot on top of the plastic cap and doing a twirl.
It's so nice to have a decent bit of Boat Bling on the deck. Feels well made and fits perfectly.
Note. The 'Waste' cap does not have a Chain retainer secured to the undersdie, simply because the Pumpout adapter would not fit unless the cap is completely removed.
Excuse the bit of blue tape that have not yet been removed after refinishing the Port Side Non-Skid Deck. There's a few bits left over and it just takes time to scrape them off. They were in place for over a week and it rained nearly every day.
The issue is that the retainer chain is secured to a stud on the underside of the cap and that cap touches the inside of the water fill neck before the deck fill cap is fully down.
The solution is easy. Remove the stud from the underside.
I used my Dremel with a cut off wheel to completely remove the stud.
Now the caps screw down to seal the water fill neck with the rubber O ring on the underside of the cap.
I timed it from when I took the caps out of the package on the boat thru to when all three caps were in place, including grinding off the chain retainer studs. It only took 15 minutes.
Refinishing the deck is coming along. Today I cleaned up the deck around the chain plates on the Stbd side. Next dry day is expected on Tuesday next week. I'll go down on Monday if there is a break in the weather and start the deck sanding on the stbd side and turn the boat so that it's Port Side to the Dock - I don't want to get any paint spits on the dock!
For now, the Deck Fill Cap project is complete. I'll have to be careful anytime we're filling the water tanks or Pumping out the waste tanks as the new caps definitely will not float!
See you on the water.