Replacing Catalina 34 Diesel Fuel Tank. part 2

Replacement Tank for our Catalina 34

I was suffering from sticker shock on the price of the new off the shelf tank and wondered if I could find a manufacturer that could make one that fit for less than the sticker shock of the OEM tank.

None of the other custom tank companies replied to my email request for a quote until I reached out to Carr Enterprises in St. Pete Florida. Roland replied the next morning ( before my coffee ) and the initial cost was $750 with an option to have a black epoxy covering on the outside of the tank to reduce the risk of corrosion.

Searching for negative reviews of the company I could not find one! But dozens of positive reviews and one of them was for a Catalina 36 ( which has a very similar tank design ), so I dug a bit deeper. Roland had noted a discrepancy in the dimensions I had supplied, that's a good sign, it shows he actually looked at the drawing in detail. 

I ordered the tank on Thursday Nov 13th from Carr Enterprises in St Petersburg Florida. Roland was very helpful walking me through the details. He will install the Ground Tab closer to the aft end of the top of the tank and the fill tube will turn down towards the bottom of the tank to reduce aeration of the fuel, although not likely to be an issue as we always fill the tank using external diesel cans and a jiggly siphon, very low flow rate. 

They have an optional coating on the exterior of the tank, a black epoxy, which should reduce the chance of corrosion.

The Fwd end of the tank is secured with a Tab at the bottom edge of the tank there is no securing device on the aft end of the tank, our existing tank is held in place by the fuel fill tube. So I'm going to add a strap from the shelf over the back of the tank and down the stbd side of the tank with an attachment back on the shelf. Belt and braces.

Roland said it should be ready in about 14 days, that would be Nov 27th. We plan to drive over to St. Pete to pickup the tank. It's a 5 hour trip there so we'll stay overnight most likely December 1st after the Thanksgiving weekend. Carr Enterprises do not open on Fridays.

Ok, back on hold but can get the clean up done and order the new hoses.

Update 12/2/2025.

Making progress: Roland from Carrs Enterprises called, the tank should be ready for pickup on Wednesday morning. We have booked a hotel for Wednesday night. The plan is to leave here 8ish Wednesday, head down to I75 via the Sawgrass Expressway, cross over alligator ally then head North to Pensacola.  We should be there by 1pm, pickup the tank, take a break then go and visit Park Bay (??). A mid-day start home on Thursday, back here for our sailing club's board meeting ( Peggy is a Director ) at 7pm.  I'll take a slew of pics of their facility just for interest.

More later.

Paul

Boat things Break - Propane Hose too!

Replacing our Propane Supply Hose

Our dock-lord texted that one of our lines had chaffed, so we headed down to the boat but guessed it was the line from the dock to the pylon at the front of the boat. So we stopped at WM and puchased 2 x 30' 5/8" 3 Strand Nylon dock line. I asked the WM Rep to not sear the ends as I was going to splice loops into the ends of the lines.

Down at the boat my guess was correct, but the line had not chaffed, the short piece of Dyneema that I had secured to the line had not held very well - it came off! My bad. There was some chaffe in the nylon braided dock line - should not really have been labeled as a 'Dock Line' So I swapped it out anyway.  Not having a piece of Dyneema on the boat to make a bridle to attach to the new dock line, I used 12' of the old braided line and will replace that this week.

Normally we have a fore and aft spring line, a bow line ( the one that caused todays revisit ) and an aft line, fore line and a midships line which we use to keep  the boat close to the dock when we're at the dock rather than have the boat move away from the dock till all of the lines even things out.

So my solution to the Bridle line is to make a strop with loops in each end, then secure that bridle to the line from the dock to the pylon with a prussic knot and then pass the loops over the cleats at the bow.  I'll use some 5/8" 3 Strand Nylon Dock line for the Bridle.

So, why did I mention that things break - Propane hose too? Because while we where working on the dock lines, the Starboard aft corner of the Transom moved close the dock post - close enough that the hose from the Propane tank to the regulator & solenoid bumped the post and broke by the regulator.

That hose has to be at least 10 years old but I'm guessing probably nearer to 20 years old - it was time to replace - should probably replace all of the propane hoses while at it.  AND while I'm at it I should refinish the propane tank holders.

But this brings up the next issue: I'm hoping to remove the Propane system completely but have a few things to get done of higher priority, like replacing the Standing Rigging.

We've been planning on removing the Propane system since the middle of 2024 and switching over to an Induction Cooktop and a Combo oven/Toaster/Air Fryer. Now that we have 500Ah of LiFePo4 batteries, that's a reality but not at the top of that list yet. So we'll replace the Propane hoses and Refinish the tanks.

Guess what I'm working on tomorrow at the boat while Peggy plugs into the Nav electronics to learn how to use the Radar - She will do that using a Tablet running Garmin Helm and WiFi connected to that boat. Should be a good day and hoping that our new Diesel Tank is ready this week.

Stay tuned.

See you on the water.

Tipsey Turtle Race 2025

 Tipsy Turtle Race 2025

Is it becoming a habit? We took part in the Tipsy Turtle Race this Sunday, it's the inaugural race having replaced the Mary Wells race named in honor or our sailing club's most appreciated social leader.

Anyway, about the day.

Awesome with a bit of OS at the end of the day.

We planned on an 07:55am dock departure, the crew arrived on time ( they're really good about that ) but while I was fiddling about trying to put the Virtual mark for the race into the chart plotter, we missed our 07:55 departure time, it was 08:05! But we made it easily to the first bridge so no harm done, in fact I can reduce the time to the bridge by another 5 mins and we should be good.

While motoring to that bridge ( Atlantic Blvd Bridge - opens on the hour and half hour ) myself and the crew were on deck doing our best to roll down the sail Cradle Cover ( that's Doyle's equivalent to 'Stack Pack' ) it was ok, but not as neat as I had hoped, turns out it was not so bad.

We got to the inland side of the Hillsboro Inlet bridge and waited for a few minutes with some of the other club boats, there was an incoming current of 3.9knots in the middle of the channel at the bridge, we had to push the engine to make way but not an issue, we just have to mindful that the current can push us towards one side of the bridge fenders depending on the state of the tide.

Once past the bridge, we continued to motor all the way out onto the Ocean to HI buoy. Peggy took the wheel and turned the boat into wind so we could raise the Mainsail. New practice for our crew, Carol & Gail ( again, so the ride a few weeks ago in the storm did not deter them :) ) There was almost no wind but we were able to line up the boat for the start and then, just when we were to turn towards the line, the wind died. Our chart plotter was effectively a piece of electronic art work - middle of the screen was the compass rose and both the TWD ( True Wind Direction) and the AWA ( Apparent Wind Angle ) markers were dancing around in conflict every few seconds. Wind Speed 1.0 knots, Speed through the water 0.0000knots. We were going nowhere!

Spruce Goose was pointing at us at one point but they were moving, may have gotten within 100 feet and they turned, we were on a Stbd Tack, so we were the stand on vessel - of course, it was arguable that with the wind so low then were we on a Stbd tack? Well, that was the state when our sails were on the Port side of the boat.  Anyway, Spruce Goose was able to Gybe and turn away. We finally got a bit of wind and could see a trail behind our boat - we're moving! 

The start was at 10:00 but we didn't cross the line until 10:39, so, what do you do when you cross the start line 39 minutes late - you Celebrate! We did.

Fellin Nauti was ahead of us. I went out of the cockpit and on deck, our sails were looking good, I eased the Main outhaul a couple of inches and we started to see better progress, we soon passed Fellin Nauti, wow! We're sailing. We passed them to windward, sorry guys, we stole what little wind you had 😉

We made our way to the Virtual mark and zoomed in on the chart plotter as we neared the mark and approached it quickly, we turned Eastward then North heading back to the finish line.

Sailing was easy, we made pretty decent speed despite the light winds but we did get a VHF call from Feelin Nauti asking if we had received the latest position of the Virtual mark that had been published at 03:00am --- What! Well, it's too late now as we have already rounded 'our mark' so carry on.

Now, why did this happen?

Astrid, our Racing Chair, had published the coordinates of the Virtual Mark days ago and I had put it into my Tablet running Aqua Maps. A.M. has two formats for waypoint input, our chart plotter had a 3rd option, between them all, I had been able to screw up the input and it seems that our mark was about 1,000 feet North of the mark that everyone else had.   Come on guys - it's a fun race.

Once turned to the North, it was an easy Reach back to the finish mark. Carol took a pic as we crossed the line, we turned into wind to bring in the Genoa and to drop the main. Done for the day .... hmmm.

Back at the dock, we all work at stowing everything and getting the girls off the boat so that Peggy & I could pack our stuff and put the boat to bed for the night.  Last part was to make sure all of the thru-hulls were closed. That's when I realized we had a problem. 

We keep a puppy pad on the inside of the hull below where the tank shelf is located and we normally check that to ensure the Diesel tank is not leaking ( we repaired the tank in j2017 ). I also commented to Peggy that I smelt diesel. This was not really surprising as I had changed the water separator / fuel filter the other day and there could be some smell left over from that job. 

Turns out we had a leak from our Aluminum fuel tank ( read more about it here. )

Despite the tank woes, it was a great day out on the boat and the crew are getting even more involved in the running of the boat, the future looks good. We may even get some 'Eximius Crew' shirts

The After race party is tonight, we'll find out how we did, and we'll all share our stories of the Inaugural Tipsy Turtle Race.

See you on the water soon.

Paul 

Update 11/12/2025

We came 3rd in our group, 

2025 Tipsy Turtle 3rd Place Trophy 

Earned this cute wooden Turtle. Perfect Trophy for a perfect day on the water.

Here's a link to the race results: CLICK HERE 

We'll be back on the water in a couple of weeks. till then we'll get the Tank Fixed and fix the weeping Rudder post packing.

But we will see you on the water.

Paul

Replacing Catalina 34 Diesel Fuel Tank

Replacing our Diesel Fuel Tank

I repaired our fuel tank in 2017 using JB Weld Marine putty to cure a leak from the welded outboard lower edge of the tank, it has held to this day - Nov. 11th 2025 

This weekend after a day of light sailing, I found fuel on the Puppy Pad that we keep on the inside of the hull below the tank. Dang!

Looking deeper, there was fuel residue all down the inside of the hull and into the aft most bilge. Luckily it had not reached the level of the limber hole between the aft and middle bilge - so there was nothing to pump overboard .. Phew!

The tank is OEM from 1987, time to replace it.

Step 1: Drain the tank. I disconnected the fuel pipe from the output of the Facet Fuel pump and replaced it with a 24" piece of 3/8" hose the other end in a 5 gallon Jerry can ( I only had Gas Cans empty, so I tied a piece of string to the can handle to highlight that it was not Gasoline !! )

With the 'ignition' key on, I could turn the fuel pump on and off from inside the cabin by using the master engine control key on the cabin control panel.

It took about 20 minutes to empty the rest of the fuel from the tank. I filled the 1st 5 gallon tank, turned the pump off, swapped to the next 5 gallon tank and turned the pump back on. Total of about 6 gallons drained.

The tank is located at the foot of the aft berth behind the plywood bulkhead on the Port side. After pulling everything out of the garage ( our nickname for the aft berth ) it took only a few minutes to remove the dozen or so screws and pull out the bulkhead. Then disconnect the Fuel Fill hose, Fuel Vent hose, Fuel Supply hose ( had to cut that, just could not get the hose off of the connection ) , the Fuel Return hose and the Electrical connection for the Tank Sensor ( had to cut those too. Luckily I had anticipated that I might have to remove the tank in the future and had left some slack in the tank sensor wiring). Finally remove the two ground wires attached to the top ground strap. 

To remove the tank, there are 6 screws on the forward end of the tank that secure it to the shelf on which the tank sits.

With all that done, it's just a case of sliding the tank to starboard and into the aft berth. Once it's in the berth, then, standing at the entrance to the berth, the tank can be manhandled and placed on the galley counter ( over the sinks ), from there, it's just a case of moving it to the cabin steps and managing it onto the cockpit deck. The tank is not particularly heavy, but it is awkward.

With the tank at home, I got my tape measure out and verified the dimensions.

This drawing is an edit of the one provided by Catalina Direct. Note their drawing is not 'complete' I guess they don't want to provide all of the dimensions for sales reasons.

Catalina Direct have been a great resource for getting stuff done on Eximius, and they are always very helpful. That's particularly important with the recent loss of the Catalina Factory - at least, it looks like the factory is going away unless they can find someone to take it over - PLEASE - but note! Catalina Direct is not any part of Catalina Yachts. 

The option for buying the tank are challenging. The one from CD are a known replacement. It's very slightly smaller than our original tank. I have asked a couple of companies for a quote on making a replacement, waiting on a reply most likely tomorrow.

Meanwhile: With the tank out and the aft berth empty, I can do a few things.

• Clean up the tank support shelf
• Clean up the inside of the hull from the shelf area all the way down to the aft bilge. 
• Both of these require plenty of cleaning, degreasing, I may even get the bilge paint out, not necessary but would be nice.
• Clean up the inside of the under sink cupboard in the head.

The tank has certainly got a healthy growth of Diesel Bug, the new tank will be virgin clean but the supply hose is probably infected, so a new hose is in my future.

The Forward end of the old tank has a tab for screwing down to the support shelf but there is no tab on the aft end of the tank ( narrow end ) but the fuel fill hose is very rigid and should prevent the tank moving but I think I'll add a hold down strap all the same.

While at it, I'll do some general cleaning hopefully to reduce the diesel smell in the cabin.

Stay tuned.

See you on the water - when the new tank is installed.

Paul

Crew training

Crew training aboard Eximius

After owning Eximius for 10 years, we finally got to have crew aboard for a local Ocean race and what a difference! 

We have had crew aboard for a 40nm trip, but it was literally a straight line cruise from Hillsboro Inlet to Lake Worth Inlet, so just the three of us: Myself, Peggy and one crew.

On our last race, we had two crew and what a difference that made. The day was Stormy, Wet and wild but the two 'girls' were still smiling when we got back to the dock despite not finishing the race. 

Luckily, they both wanted to come out with us again, that's a good sign, and they are this weekend. But also, our sailing club has a lot of potential crew to call upon. I happen to manage the club's website ( https://www.hisc.org ) and have put a 'Crew Pool' system in place where club members can volunteer to be crew on the boats that skippers own.

However, the question often arises is 'But what experience do they have' and that is a good question. I'm looking to see how we can establish that criteria for each wanna-be crew, it's a challenge. 

So, one thing I'm considering:- What are the benefits of training regular Crew. 

We seem to be a decent skipper and admiral, my 60years of sailing experience and quite a bit of education ( Navy as well as ASA 101 ) so I believe that we could offer crew some useful sailing education.

Just like 'I'm not a Bank', I'm also not a 'Free Sailing Classes provider' but would not want to charge crew for 'training'.  However, having better educated crew is a benefit to all onboard.

Ok, having convinced myself that it would be worth my time to offer some sailing education, now I need to figure out what to offer.

Let me say from the outset - I would / will suggest the ASA courses but many of our club members have done at least the ASA 101, some a lot more, obviously, this subject is not aimed at those 'crew' that do have experience - in their case, it's not so much training but in education about how we run our ship.  A frequent phrase we used in the Royal Navy was 'Different Ships - Different Cap Tallies - that refers to the ships name tally that junior sailors have on their caps, those Tallies change when you change ships - so to do the ships procedures.

For the less experienced crew, there are some basics. A good friend of mine told me that when you get a new crew, educate them on one job and help them get good at that job. I like that idea.

BUT - that's a long slow process, and going out  for a sail with the simple goal of practicing a particular process, such as 'Putting in a Reef' can get crew up to speed much more quickly.

I did have the opportunity to educate a bunch of our club members on correct Radio Procedure ( My Ship ) and have the documentation that I used. It would be easy for me to type up some other processes ( such as Reefing ) and take the crew out for practice ( Crew Training ) 

You may have ideas on this and I sure would like to hear about them, so go ahead and comment on this subject - I'll toss out any crazy comments, no offense, but so far my blog has had over 500,000 views and I delete junk comments. I really do look forward to your input.

See you on the water - hopefully with crew.

Paul

Time to leave the dock

 When is the time to leave the dock?

Our new dock is awesome, just 20+ minutes from home, an extremely nice location and a great dock-lord. And it's only 55 mins from the Ocean and 3 bridges ( Compared to our original dock which was about 90 mins from the ocean five bridges, one of them the main line railroad bridge for the Brightline train system).

Now we can participate in a lot more of our sailing club events, we have been in more club regattas and cruises in the past 12 months than we had for several years at the old dock. This is a big deal and we're very grateful to the home owner.

We have to calculate the time to leave the dock in order to get to the club races start line. Leaving the dock at the wrong time can cause us to wait an additional 30 minutes in order to get into sync with the bridge opening times.  If we have crew onboard, and yes we have finally managed that, then we have to inform them of the dock departure time.

So.... I created a simple spreadsheet to show what times we need to leave the dock in order to get to the Ocean side Start line. It's simple: Just determine what time to arrive at the start line and then look for the dock departure time.

Thanks Carol for pointing out my early morning error - just a reminder to don't make decisions before my morning Coffee.

Mainsail Reefing line markings

Marking the Mainsail Reefing Lines

We had crew aboard last weekend, so I was not doing all of the work when we needed to reef, that was when I realized that we need to improve the reefing process on Eximius.

Just to recap, here's the process of adding a reef to the Mainsail.

• Head up to close hauled
• Haul in on the Topping lift to prevent the boom dropping when...
• Lower the main halyard to bring the head of the sail down just below the next reefing point
• Haul in the next reefing point downhaul to tighten the luff
• Haul in on the Main halyard to tension the luff, now the main is currently raised to that reef.
• Haul in on the next reefing point outhaul to set the Clew of the sail
• Ease the Topping lift to set the leach of the mainsail
• Reef the Jib/Genoa as needed to balance the boat.
• Head back onto course

That's how we should add a reef to the mainsail.

The problem arises when having to check the position of the main halyard and the two sets of reefing lines. Glancing up from the cockpit in nasty weather is awkward. Hence the need to mark the lines for each reefing point.

My plan is to mark the Main Halyard, the #1 Reef downhaul & the #1 Outhaul as well as the #2 Reef Downhaul & the #2 Reef Outhaul

I want the markings to be easily seen from the cockpit and obvious.

Here's my plan. I'll mark the 5 lines in each position "Full Main", "1st Reef", "2nd Reef" using Red whipping line.

Each marking will comprise of 2 or 3 bands.

For the Full main, the bands will be 1" wide whippings

For the 1st Reef, the bands will be one narrow band and the second band will be 1" wide whippings

For the 2nd Reef, the bands will be two narrow bands and the second band will be 1" wide whippings

With these markings in place, it should be easy to tell when the lines are in the correct position both when adding a reef or taking a reef out.

We'll see how that works out.

Any comments? Do you mark your reefing lines and if so, what method do you use?

See you on the water, reefed or not.

Paul

Commodores Cup 2025

 That sail was a Blast

Champagne Sailing at it's best, 5-8' seas, Ongoing Storm, Boat failures - but we had a blast!

Let's get the Boat failures out of the way.

When putting in the 2nd reef, I screwed up. When I loosened the lazy jacks with the intent of tidying up the sail shape after dropping the mainsail for the 2nd reef, I did not secure the bitter end of the port side Lazy Jack halyard. Later it ran out of the mast block and wrapped itself around the port Gib sheet, a big bundle of Dhoby hitches. The Genoa furling line jambed in the drum. That was probably due to the furling line not being taught enough to force the line to lay neatly inside the furler. I need to replace the furling line as it should be about 10' longer so that it's easier to manage when furling and unfurling the genoa.

Ok, that's it, considering the weather, easily solved issues:

• Secure the ends of the Lazy Jack halyards
• Keep the tension on the furling line when unfurling the Genoa
• Mark the reefing points on the Main Halyard and all 4 Reefing lines.

Thursday morning, a fellow member of the HISC assisted me climbing the mast to re-thread the Lazy Jack line, I plan to assist him when he has to scale his mast for the first time next week. Thanks Jim.

Friday morning I fixed the Lazy Jack lines, with stopper knots that prevent the line leaving the cleats. I hoisted the sail bag so that water drains out. All of the running rigging looks good, I inspected the shrouds and the attachments at the mast, all look good, however, my plan it to replace the standing rigging this winter. 

I also measured the Genoa Furling line and purchased 80' of StaSetX 1/4" Red & White line from the local marine store ( WM ) ready to install next week. The new line should have a significant tail on it so that it's easier to handle at the cockpit end.

Now for the fun part.

Our first crew for a race arrived early at the boat so were were able to leave at 8:55am to make the 9am Atlantic Bridge opening. Carol & Gail brought their own lifejackets, we had lunch, snacks and water/juice drinks in the cooler. Peggy & I had stopped by Publix on the way to the boat to pick up some Sandwiches and Fruit & Crackers, we would not starve.

The wind was expected to pipe up around noon. NOAA had forecast 10-14 knots of wind, so we set the 1st reef in the mainsail. Motoring up towards the start line we pinged the Port & Stbd pins of the line. The outer mark was a committee boat and the inner mark was a swim buoy. Our Starting line program was running on our Garmin Chart Plotter. 

Our start was the last of 3, first warning was at 10:55 for an 11:00 start, second warning was at 11:00 for an 11:05 start and our warning was at 11:05 for the 11:10 start. We nailed it, crossing line within 20 seconds of the gun. It was an eventful start for the other fleets but I'll leave them to write up their story, it was definitely eventful.

Even with the 1st reef, we flew down towards the first mark which was to be somewhere East of the Commercial Peer. The race committee said "The last known position of the South Mark was Somewhere East of the Commercial Peer", probably because we have had to chase that mark in some pervious races due to it not holding it's anchored position so well. Oh Well.

The night before, Peggy & I had reviewed the potential race courses and had figured that if it was a Southerly marked course, then the mark would probably be in the first deep water East of the Peer. We nailed that too!

Ok, back to the sailing. So we were flying down and holding our own, but the leading boats seemed to be heading quite close to shore compared to us. I should have held to my plan, instead I doubted my own plan and we gybed to head closer to shore and had to head back SE to where the mark was, pretty close to where we had put the mark in our plotter.

As expected, the wind was piping up, we were seeing steady 14knots of wind, gusting to 17 and heading up the scale. So we decided to put in a second reef once we had rounded the South Mark, which we did nicely. The wind had backed so we rounded the mark and then turned to 80ºm and worked at putting in the 2nd reef.

Carol, soaked but smiling.

The new crew had been great, Wet! Worked but still smiling. We plowed along nicely but then I screwed up. 

The process of putting in a reef on Eximius is:-

• Tighten the Topping Lift to stop the Boom from falling
• Lower the Mainsail to just below the next reef point
• Tighten the next Downhaul reef line
• Tighten the next Outhaul Reef line
• Raise the Main to the next reef point
• Ease the topping lift to improve the sail shape.

Easy! Unless someone ( me ) had screwed up  earlier. I had not secured the ends of the Lazy Jack lines and the Port side line had exited the mast block above the spreaders and then had tangled around the stbd lazy jack lines and the port side genoa sheet. Concerned about that, I had followed the reefing process but unable to get the sail down to the 2nd reefing point and unable to raise the sail back up. Now we had a wind bag instead of a sail! And the wind was now exceeding 22knots. Oh! When I tried to reef in the Genoa, the furling line became locked around the drum and so we could not reef the genoa.

At this point we basically had a wind bag for a mainsail and the genoa was fully deployed, this made controlling the boat a lot of fun.

The crew were still smiling.

Three times I went forward to try and release the lock in the furling drum but  the wind was just too strong. I made the decision that we should alert the race committee that we were starting our engine and bowing out of the race. Then we turned for the inlet.

For the next half hour, we fought the weather, waves and the squally conditions and did not make progress North, our intent was to anchor of the Hillsboro Beach till the weather dropped and then motor into the inlet, however, the timing was not good, Low tide was at 2:30pm, the waves were over 5' and the depths in the inlet were less than 6' in places and were were having sail issues that meant going in the inlet was risky. So I decided we should head south to Port Everglades and take the ICW north to our dock.

During all of this, we broke out the Lunch sandwiches and multiple rounds of hydration, we started to dry off too.  

It was about a 2 hour motor to PE, but enroute I was able to calm the mainsail and tide the sail into the lazy jack bag ( Cradle Cover ) and I was able to untangle the Genoa furler and get it fully furled.

It was lumpy and bumpy all the way until we were inside of the breakers of the Port Everglades Inlet. Of course, a giant Cruise Ship was heading out as we came in, but timing worked out and we had no issues. 

In very familiar waters for Peggy & I, we turned North on the ICW, we navigated under the 17th Street Causeway bridge, around the East bend and then North again up to Los Olas Blvd Bridge, we had to wait 25minutes but plenty of room, very little traffic. Up throttle and head to Sunrise Bridge, Oakland Park Blvd Bridge and finally Commercial Blvd Bridge. 

All of us were pretty tired but we got to the dock even if we did have to try it twice. 

I suggested to Carol & Gail that they didn't need to hang around, we were planning on securing the boat and heading home before it got dark. I think we got home around 6:15pm  Left over sandwiches for dinner and then an early night.

This was the most fun I had on the boat in a long while, self inflicted issues but we overcame them, everyone was smiling and the crew both said they would do it again. I hope they do. It was a great day.

See you on the water.

Paul

Intermittent Anchor Light

Fixing our Intermittent Anchor Light

On a recent 160nm trip with four nights at anchor, we noticed our anchor light was out. It's not a complex system. On/Off Switch (Circuit Breaker ) on the Electrical Panel, Wires inside the Mast and LED Anchor light mounted on a bracket at the Mast head.

Testing:

Using a digital AVO I checked the power at the Breaker - It was good and solid, no wiggly switch!

While Peggy watched the Mast head, I 'wiggled' the wire joint at the base of the mast - Yep! On and Off while wiggling ( the wires, not me or Peggy ) So I need to rework the joints of the wires at the base of the mast.

According to the Catalina's Owner's Manual ( Pg. 30 ) There is a 4 wire cable for the Mast Ground, Anchor Light, Deck Light and Steaming Light.

In practice there is also a Coaxial Wire ( Masthead VHF Antenna) and a NEMA 2000 Drop wire ( Masthead Wind Transducer )

At present, that 4 wire cable is a mess of electrical tape and probably soldered butt joints - I'll cut them open and rewire them as follows.

In practice, that will look something like this.

Sketch of Bilge area just in front of the mast.

I'm planning on mounting the Terminal block with Thickened Epoxy in a position that the screws are accessible from the top. Might have to put it on the Port side if the existing cable is not long enough.

Plan is to do this on Monday, same day that we'll work on removing the old head toilet and install a new one.

Well, it's done, working but didn't work out as expected.

My sketch shows the terminal block neatly affixed to the side of the bilge, turned out that's almost impossible! The access to that bilge area is very small and getting to the block if it is installed there is equally nearly impossible.  Also, the wire from the block to the electrical control panel is too short to reach down to that point.

The other issue ( non issue ) is that the wires from the mast are a 2 pair and 3 pair . The black wire in both are 'common'.

This is what I started with. those joints are soldered twisted wires covered with Liquid rubber and then two layers of electrical tape.

You can see the 4 wire brown sheathed cable in the lower right hand ( Port side ) of the picture.

With some careful pulling, I was able to extend the brown sheathed cable out another 1.5" but still not enough to be able to connect to the terminal block if it was secured to the side of the bilge and there would be no reasonably easy way to get a screwdriver in there to secure the wire terminals.

I elected to have the terminal float and secured by a zip tie.

First task was to document the wire connections.

4 Wire: 

Red - White stripe to Red Two Wire

Red - Green Stripe to Black Common two and three wire

Red - Black Strip to White Three Wire

Red - Solid to Green Three wire

Using a knife I peeled back the wrapping and then cut the wires close to the solder joints

Cut the outer covering of the Two and Three wire cables so that they were all the same length.

Stripped the wire ends for Crimped Ring Terminals

After shrinking the terminal covers, it all went together really easy.

I'm anticipating pulling the mast in December to do a few jobs on the mast and to replace the standing rigging.

Also cleaned up the sheaths of the two cables, just had to wipe them down with a Clorox wipe.

I put the terminal block cover on and secure it to with a couple of small zip ties.

Next: Test it!

Peggy operated the switches while I rushed around the boat on and off the dock to check the lights were working. 

Anchor Light 👍 

Steaming Light 👍 

Deck Light 👍 

Running Lights 👍  ( Tested but not part of the Mast wiring )

So all deck and Nav lights are working

With the wiring checked out, I secured the terminal block and the 2 & 3 wire cables to the P clip that is under that screw in the top left corner of the picture.

Yes, I cleaned up the deck support and the bilge before closing it up and re-testing - all's good.

Cross this one off the list and updated the Service history.

See you on the water.

Paul

Fixing the Crapper

Replacing the Toilet

We keep the bathroom as clean as possible, you never know when a visitor has to 'go', so our toilet is clean, but it leaks, and it does not matter how clean it is if it leaks!

We replaced the discharge hose from the Toilet to the Holding tank, but we keep getting a small amount of fluid on the floor in the head, pretty sure it's from the toilet, the cost of the bits to service the old unit, along with the work, just doesn't make sense when a new unit is less than $200 from Defender.

So we are now the proud owners of a brand new Jabsco Twist 'n' Lock Manual Toilet - 29090-5000. Ordered on September 1st and arrived on September 5th. I checked the condition of the product before taking it down to the boat as I had read that some recipients had reported damage to the toilet. This was very well packaged and the box showed no signs of external damage - well done UPS.

In theory, the hole pattern for the base should exactly match the old unit's so that should make it an easy task.

We flush the toilet with Fresh water - if you have seen inside the holding tank after the toilet has been flushed with salt water for a few years you'll understand why.

So I'll blank off the hose port on the back of the pump assembly.

Looking at the pic above, i can see that the Discharge port on the base of the pump assembly is pointing upwards but on the boat, the port is pointing to the right ( towards the bow ), however, checking the new toilet, that discharge port looks to be able to position in three directions by just removing the 3 screws, pulling the port off, rotating it and reassembling.   Fingers crossed!

I'll apply a thin film of Butyl tape to the underside of the base just to ensure there's no way for any liquids to seep under the base should there ever be a leak.

OK, as always, that's the plan.

Well that went really well.

Turns out that the Toilet was only secured by 3 lag bolts, the back left hand lag bolt was missing and when I removed the Toilet, that screw had previously broken off and I could see the old screw shaft had been leveled off so that it did not protrude. Oh, well, one less lag bolt to worry about.

The output port is not triangular, it's circular, so that means the port can be rotated a full 360º just by easing two screws accessible from the front of the toilet (one can be seen in the picture above )

The whole job would have taken about 10 minutes had I not left my socket set at home. Most of the time was spent unscrewing the lag bolts in the very limited area behind the toilet.

I used the 'old' toilet seat, it was only replaced comparatively recently.

All done with enough time to do the mast wiring fix for the Anchor light before heading home. 

A good day.

See you on the water. 

Review of Aqua Maps

Review of Aqua Maps Navigation App.

I have been using Aqua Maps for several years. Initially I tried it out when it first came to market, at that time I was not impressed, but a couple of years later I revisited it and was impressed. Very recently, they have updated the software with a new feature - Route Planner - which does what it says, use it to plan your route.

But first let me drool for a while about one feature that I use every overnight trip. The Anchor alarm.

Some background: I have probably tried at least 15 different anchor alarm apps and none of them have made the grade and compared to Aqua Maps they were complete failures, so I'm not coming from a blank starting point. Oh, and I'm not being sponsored in anyway by Aqua Maps.

Ok, about the Aqua Maps Anchor Alarm. Here's a typical use for me.

On my Samsung Tablet which has a built in Sim Card so it's always able to connect to the Internet, I'll open Aqua Maps and set the Anchor Alarm. The program allows for setting the alarm during the actual drop of the anchor, ie. The anchor is where you are! which of course is not where you will be when the rode is let out. 

Sailing in South Florida, most of the anchorages are pretty shallow - 8' to 16', taking tides into account, down here they are mostly less than 3' so our depth at the anchor will be around 8' to 19' with the tide changes. We typically put out a 5-1 scope but if the weather is likely to deteriorate, I'll go for at least a 7:1 scope. So it's quite normal to let out 80' of chain at anchor. I'll set the anchor distance to 100', just to give a bit of wiggle room.

Of course, there is also the option to set the alarm after anchoring. ie. The anchor position is not where you are! The app has an excellent method of setting the alarm by using GPS, angle to point to the anchor and the distance from the anchor. Both methods work really well.

Now the alarm is set, and if it goes off, then you'll know it, most likely if you are anchored nearby us then you'll know it too! It's like all hell breaking loose! It cannot be ignored. Let's be real, that is exactly what you want even if you're wrapped up in a comfy berth at 2-o-clock in the morning! It's a one touch button to cancel the alarm so that the issue can be dealt with.

This is all really good, several other apps do something similar but Aqua Maps certainly has real sailors working for them and it shows. 

But Wait There's More.  If I'm not on the boat then I won't hear the alarm - Alarm Mirroring to the rescue. I have Aqua Maps installed on my Samsung phone too! If I turn mirroring on in the app on the tablet and confirm I want to use the mirroring system on my phone, then Aqua Maps mirrors the Boat's view and alerts just as the tablet does on board. So if I'm within range of a cell tower, both on the boat and ashore, then I'll get the alarm reports ashore.

I use this feature whenever we go ashore in the dinghy and being able to mirror the alarm system is a huge stress relief.

In short, Aqua Maps is worth the money even if it's just for the Anchor Alarm system.

Ok. What about their new feature - Route Planning.

Prior to this new update, route planning was easy, just click on the chart where you want the next waypoint be and save it.  Pretty easy, it would take a while, perhaps a few minutes, if you wanted to plan a route that has a lot of turns, but generally very quick.

Route Planning - Click the Start, Click the destination, Save, Done! Review and tweak if you need/want to. 

Cards on the Table: We have a full Garmin system on our boat and a NavLink2 wifi server to connect our boat data with Aqua Maps running on our phones or tablet.  The beauty of this setup is that I can run Garmin Helm on my tablet to mirror the chart plotter or I can view the NEMA 2000 data ( Wind, Water Speed, Heading, etc. ) inside of Aqua Maps.

How do we use Aqua Maps on the boat?

When we are planning a trip while in the cabin or cockpit, Aqua Maps is on screen, we have a RAM mount at the helm which can hold either the Tablet or a Phone, so we can have Aqua Maps at the helm, we use it as a backup - we've had a Chart Plotter failure before and it's stressful here in South Florida where there a lot of high speed boats around, plus, our Draft is 5'7" ( plus our tools ) and it's skinny water around here in many of the inlets. That backup is important.

What features do we like the best. The amount of info about the local areas are a huge value and Aqua Maps digs in. Yes it has Satellite view ( like Google Maps ) and a lot of local user info too. 

If i did not have a Chartplotter, then Aqua Maps could fill those shoes, it does not link to our Autopilot that's not a surprise, but if I didn't have a Chartplotter then I would probably not have an Autopilot.

Oh, I forgot to mention the GEC account. We have the full Aqua Map system and that include access to maps around the USA and a GEC account. That's basically a file storage for map data - gpx or kmz files. This gives me the option to upload Route files from my phone or tablet to my GEC account, I can then review them on my computer.

Finally - What about Customer Service?

The proof is in the puddin.

I had an issue when they first released the Route Planning feature, I sent one email to their tech support and had a response the next day and a fix the next day. Nuff Said.

Ok, if you have not got the app yet, take a look at their website. https://www.aquamap.app/

The App is available for both Android and IOS.

All of the good stuff requires a subscription, it will not break the bank.

Paul Alcock

Skipper of the Sailing Vessel Eximius - 1987 Catalina 34 - Tall Rig Fin Keel mostly found in South Florida.

See you on the water. 

Mercury 4hp Thermostat replacement

Our Mercury 4hp barely peed when the engine runs. I have never changed the Thermostat, so maybe time.

Turns out, it's not that difficult. 

First ,get the new Thermostat. 

I recently had the outboard shop fix the seized choke. I didn't know it was the choke, but they figured it out in less than an hour. Now the engine run really well. It just doesn't pee, almost a slow drip.

So I asked them if they had the parts for a Thermostat replacement and, while I'm at it, how about parts for replacing the water pump impeller. 

In stock, OEM brand, I picked them up an hour later.

Back in my garage,  I removed the engine cover and got down to it.... changing the Thermostat. 

The Thermostat is housed under the Throttle control linkage.

Turns out that I just needed to unscrew the two bolts on either end of the housing. 

The housing was firmly held in place, it took a few taps with a leaded hammer to break the gasket's grip.

Then it was easy to lift the housing out of the way.

Looks pretty grotty.

After prying the old Thermostat out of the housing then, using a razor blade, I cut off the remnants of the old gasket, and cleaned the surface with wet-dry paper.

Next repeat the cleaning process on the housing cover.

Next, I replaced the gasket , housing cover and Throttle linkage but did not install the new thermostat. so that I could run the the engine. 

With the engine outside attached to the water supply, I ran the engine, still no peeing.

DUH! I used a piece of wire to clear out the weep hole. Woohoo, 

Next, flush the engine with salt remover. Left the engine running for a few minutes then , back into the garage, I removed the Thermostat housing, inserted the new Thermostat and buttoned everything up.

Back out side, connected the water and flushing kit. Ran the engine which now pees like a teenager. 

After ensuring flushing fluid and let it sit for couple of hours. 

The whole task took less 2 hours plus the flushing and now it's ready to put back on the boat.

Looks we're ready to see you on the water.

The outboard Shop

954-781-5611

Ask for Bambi

Upgrading the batteries - pt i

 Fixing the broken switch - pt II of the battery upgrade.

While tightening the nut holding the new +ve cable ring terminal to the #2 connection on the back of the Battery Selector Switch, I over torqued it and this crack happened. A few choice Expletive Deletives crossed my lips. 

As soon as I realized my screw up, I researched for a replacement switch. WM had them locally for over $110 plus tax, or Amazon had them, prime, free shipping the day after the 4th of July, $42. Buy Now!

The new switch is due to arrive tomorrow, July 5th.

It's an easy replacement. Switch to OFF, disconnect the 3 battery +vs. disconnect the cable from the +ve Fused bus bar and the +ve to the system. I'll slide a 3" piece of heat shrink over the ends of any live cables.

Remove the switch, insert the new switch, remake the connections and switch the battery bank to On (#1)

Ok, however, I am still finishing off the upgrade to the battery system, from 3 x 100Ah LiFePo4 batteries to 5 x 100Ah LiFePo4 batteries - all the same brand and model.

I'll change out the cables so that they match the design above.

The 4/0AWG cables are matched for the +ve and -ve lengths to ensure equal charging and discharging from all batteries.

The new Switches ( Yep, I accidently ordered 2 ) arrived today. If feel a lot better tomorrow ( Sunday ) I'll complete the wiring per the diagram above.

• Make up a 20.5" Positive cable and 20.5" Negative cable.
• Turn the system off
• Remove the old 4 Way switch and install the new one.
• Connect the New -ve cable and the new +ve cable.
• Torque everything down.
• Turn the system back on
• Turn the Solar Charger back on.

The two battery banks do need to be equalized by leaving them all connected in parallel for about 12 hours, That means leaving the boat without power for 12 hours  - scary.  Working out how to do that.

The biggest concern is leaving the boat without Bilge pump power. I could just put a regular Lead Acid battery connected to the bilge power circuit breaker overnight.  I'll look at doing that. 

Felt worse today, Sunday, :( rotten cold - Yuk ), no plans till Tuesday, work day. But if I feel better tomorrow, I'll do some of the boat work.

Feeling much better, we're heading down to the boat this morning.

Peggy was not feeling so great, she took on my cold. So down to the boat alone.

step one was to make up the new 4/0 AWG cables for the original battery bank terminal blocks and the 4 way switch then it was time to turn the power off to install them. So no AC and no Fans - I should have charged up the cordless fans!

Not me, but an image to show how it felt working beneath the cabin seating to get this work done.

It took some coaxing, but got it done. I did have to disconnect the -ve cable at the Shunt in order to pull the cable out near the battery end such that I could complete the crimping of the ring terminal at that end.

It took a total of 3 hours on a Sunny South Florida afternoon with no wind and in the cramped quarters. My shirt was a mop, jeans too.

By 6pm I had everything done that was planned for the day and turned the power back on. The cables to the second set of LiFePo4 batteries were still disconnected.

By 13:00 next day, the batteries were fully charged so now is the time to balance the two battery banks.

I'm expecting a delivery this afternoon, if that arrives soon, I'll still have time to nip down to the boat and connect up the new batteries and test that part of the system.

Life event got in the way of finishing the job yesterday, but today I was able to get this job done and install the new Vent Cowls - see this link 

Ok, back to finishing this project.

The two new Chins 100Ah 12 Volt LiFePo4 batteries are installed and wired into the system.

I was able to install the fuse block cable covers.

The thin Red and Yellow cables are 1/0AWG cables, that thick cable is a 4/0 AWG cable that connects from the fused terminal block to the #1 position on the 4 way battery selector switch.

The black strap ties the new batteries down. There's a small storage space on the side of the battery bay, I'll empty that and install a bulkhead at the end of the bay.

After completing the wiring from the new batteries, I checked the torque settings for all of the terminal bolts & nuts then put the terminal block covers in place. The cover for the -ve block would not fit as the screws need to be about 1/4" longer and I did not have them on the boat. Surprise !  I'll go to ACE Hardware on Monday to get them. The cover is sitting on one of the batteries right now ( lower right of the photo )

Time to test. I first check the 5 battery BMS' and  I had tested the voltage difference between the new batteries and the old, less than 0.1 volt. Good start.

Next I switch the battery selector switch from #1 to #2, gave the system a couple of minutes for the Victron Touch 50 to come back to life and checked out the state of the system. Everything was working but now running off of the two new LiFePo4 batteries. All good so far.

Next I switched for #2 to #1 & #2, so now the boat was using the full 5 batteries. Again, all good.

Using my Tablet, I connected to the Victron system and updated the Battery Capacity from 300Ah to 500Ah.

With everything setup, next test was to see if the system would run our Air Conditioning. We can check that off! We ran it for over an hour and the system was only down to 85% and that was with the AC running 100%. Looking good so far.

While the AC was running in order for us to test the full battery bank, I completed the install of the new Cowls - now the boat looks good too!

This job is complete although I do plan on upgrading the wires that connect to the Victron system from 1/0 AWG to 4/0AWG,. As mentioned previously, the system is fused down to 300Amps, so I'm not worried about the cables, the system never gets close to 300A.

Ok, cross this one off until the winter when we'll replace those cables.

After all of this, we actually stowed all of the tools and packed up the left over bits from the project.

Now to plan some sailing.

See you on the water.

Replacing the Vent Cowls

Replacing our Vent Cowls - Again!

We purchased Eximius in May of 2015, at that time it had plastic Vent Cowls and they deteriorated badly in just a few months. Was it something we did when cleaning them? There was always a grotty sticky feeling to the outer surface. I would put it down to UV damage but the boat was in a slip in Port St. Lucie, it should have been no different in our slip in Fort Lauderdale. So, I replaced the cowls in 2018 and again in 2021. They turned grotty in 2023! Two years! And now, four years later they too are grotty and sticky again! Enough! They cost $190 for two, time to remove the lock on the wallet and buy some decent cowl vents.

Initially searching Amazon but really could not find any that would fit the original Catalina Plastic Dorade boxes. Searched the rest of the web, at least it seemed like it, but finally I found Buchan Marine - Cowls - that's what they do!

They have several styles to chose from and I like the low profile cowls, I know that I have leant upon the plastic ones several times, the low profile design should reduce the risk of damage if that happens again.

The Deck plate should fit where the existing vents are and will look a whole lot better. Definitely an upgrade for Eximius.

Perhaps I'll get them in time for Father's Day 😉

I sent an email to Scott Buchan at Buchan Marine https://www.buchanmarine.net/ventillation and he replied on Saturday evening! He suggested that I confirm the deck plate size, so I'll go down to the boat later today/early Monday and measure the plates. The hole pattern appear to be the same and I did see this pic in their photo gallery images.

That looks exactly like our C34 except the teak is in better condition.

Just an FYI, the deck plate allows the vent cowl to be removed and blanked off. We're in SoFla, and part of our Hurricane prep on the boat is to blank off anywhere that water can get in. Being able to just unscrew the vent cowls and blank the holes off with the Deck plate is a big help. The existing plastic cowls do have a blank, but it's not screwed down and we have used gorilla tape to hold it down during preps for previous hurricanes.

I ordered the 4" Low profile vent cowls this morning ( June 10th 2025 ) from Scott at Buchan Marine:- 

https://www.buchanmarine.net/product-page/stainless-low-profile

BTW, this will make Peggy happy as she detests the plastic ones.

Nice to be adding some Boat Bling for a change.

June 11th, the day after sending an email to Scott at Buchan Marine, I received a reply with an invoice for the total cost and shipping for the 2 vent cowls. PDQ response time.

The invoice is for the two cowl vents with Deck Plate and Cap, two bug screens, and a T handle ( for the Deck plate Cap ) and Shipping. I'll not post the total as I'm guessing the price is going up like everything else. 

Update: June 12th. Scott replied to my payment via Zelle. Confirmed the shipping address.  So far so good!

I'm not being sponsored by the Company, although I have been chatting to Scott since I placed the order.

They are a small business specializing in Ventilation Cowls and have been around for 25 years. As a small business owner myself, I appreciate really good customer service and Scott clearly wears that hat.

Buchan Marine are located in California. But they are not a new startup and have been in business for around 25 years. 

  

Scott just advised me that if you mention Eximius in your order, he will give you a 10% discount

https://www.buchanmarine.net/?eximius10.

Hopefully, the new Cowls will arrive this coming week. We're planning on some other work on the boat this week after working Monday & Tuesday on a customer's project. We'll install the Cowls the day after they arrive as it should be a quick and easy install.

The new Cowls should ship in the next day or two, seems they do individual QA checks and a final Polish before shipping. I'm getting excited, bright shiny things do that.

So, just to have a comparison, here's a pic of the Starboard side Cowl Vent on the boat:

The plastic really cannot handle the South Florida Sunshine, it's way beyond 'cleaning'

If you notice the Black Dorade housing, it's because I refinished both of them a few years back. Time to make them Boatiful again to honor the new boat bling.

Anticipation is growing.

The insides look pretty grotesque too!

Again, the astute will notice the nice non-skid finish in the pic, that was done earlier this year ( 2025) 

Got an email from Scott today, Cowls should ship tomorrow. WooHoo.

Thursday, July 10th. Arrival Day.

Oh My Goodness !

The package arrived a day early, it was waiting on our doorstep when I got home from the grocery store.

The box was heavier than I expected, it took an effort to restrain myself from opening the package before I had stowed the foods in the freezer.

I carefully used a box cutter to open the substantially packaged box, I didn't want to scratch the new Cowls.

WOW ! They are gorgeous. Sorry if I'm swooning with praise, but they really are awesome. You know how it feels when you install a new Stainless Steel Turnbuckle to replace one made in the dark ages? Looks Good, Feels Solid, the shape is amazing. I'm totally impressed. 

The package contained the two new cowls, two blanking plates ( Shiny Stainless too ), two bug screens and a Stainless Steel blanking plate key to aid installing / removing the blanks.

Ok, so I obviously have a thing for big bright shiny things, but I didn't realize how bad, I'll have to work on that. Meanwhile, I have to go to the boat to install them. From what I can tell, it should be a simple task of unscrewing the old cowls and installing the new. I'll put some butyl tape between the stainless retaining ring ( very shiny ) and the original plastic/fiberglass base. That's it.

Of course, life events are happening and I'll have to wait till later before going down to the boat. But.... if there's a chance break in the life events, I'll be down there in a flash.

Just picking up one of the cowls brings a smile. I should have done this years ago.

I'll hold off posting this until after the install and I have some pics to show them in place.

In my garage, they look fantastic, growing antsi for the install.

Saturday July 12th - Install Day

Despite the threat of a stormy day, we headed down to the boat to finish another project and to install the new Cowls.

The old cowls were now really gooey, the plastic has been really affected by UV here in South Florida.

It only took a few minutes to remove the screws holding down the old cowls.

I did have to drill holes in the Dorade base as the holes in the cowl's stainless steel base did not line up with the holes either the original holes for the cowls installed by Catalina nor the two replacement plastic cowls that I have installed during the past 10 years. That only took a minute for each cowl.

Here's what we started with. The top of the old cowls is horribly sticky. I was able to rotate the cowls in order to reach the screws in the base.

The new cowl next to the removed old plastic cowl.

This is a significant upgrade and is long overdue. I Should have done this job right when we first replaced the original cowls. At least, I presume they were original, but I'm guessing that as the replacements were in such bad shape after just a couple of years, then the ones in place when we purchased the boat in 2015 were probably also just a few years old.

And this is the result of the new replacement.

Absolutely gorgeous. Super solid, high gloss and they won't fall off. 

There's hex head set screw on the inside of the cowl, just a couple of turns with an allen key wrench and the cowl is locked in place.

I am totally pleased with these cowls. They did take a few weeks for delivery but was it worth it. You Bet!

Thanks Scott. I'll send you an email about some other cowls I might be interested in replacing.

Now when I say " See you on the Water " I'll be thinking that you'll know it's Eximius, she's wearing her Jewelry and looks Fine!

See you on the water.