Replacing the Standing Rigging on our Catalina 34 Sailboat

Replacing the Standing Rigging.

Our biggest job on Eximius in the ten plus years we have owned her.

Eximius is insured by Geico - BoatUS and the policy is due to be renewed in May of 2026, they sent us a letter advising that we needed to have a Survey done before the renewal.  Our plan is to have the boat out for it's semi annual bottom refinish during a haul out in January 2026, so it sounds like a good time to get the Survey done, if not during the haul out then at least shortly after.

The Standing Rigging was inspected two years ago but has not been changed out during our ownership, and most rigging companies seem to suggest that standing rigging should be replaced around the 10th year. Our rigging still looks good but more on that later.

Having made the decision to replace the rigging, my first quote was from a local rigging company, they are 'the' company in South Florida, we had them do the inspection two years ago and we have purchased several running rigging products in the last 10 years, including replacement blocks for our halyards and reefing lines just a few months ago. Their quote was over $15,000. That did include un-stepping the mast, replacing the standing rigging, re-stepping the mast and tuning the rigging. The only additional cost would be the storage of the mast at the marina while the work was being done.

My next option to consider was Synthetic rigging which I really like. I have replaced all of the lifelines on Eximius with Dyneema, that was in 2017 - Eight years ago and they are still holding up. That was a full DIY job and was definitely not an expensive option.  The Quote from the Synthetic rigging company was for a DIY job but they would supply all of the rigging materials. That was just over $6,000 and quite honestly, I was sorely tempted to go that route. Among other things, we could carry a complete set of the standing rigging as spares and barely hit the total weight of the Stainless rigging.

Then I looked up the cost of a DIY job using replacement rigging from Catalina Direct - Wow!

The entire project was going to cost less than $4,000 including tax and shipping.

So, I spoke with Kevin at Catalina Direct to confirm I had put all of the bits needed into my cart at https://www.catalinadirect.com Then completed the order. The initial shipping for the order was $12, but I knew that was not the final number, it turned out to be $175. That brought the cost to $3,986.87. 

I placed the order on 12/10/2025 and it arrived this morning, Friday Dec 19th. WooHoo!

Time to plan the work.

Step 1: Check the inventory.

The order came in two boxes. I was impressed by the UPS driver whom did not seem to break a sweat bringing them to my door. Awkward to carry and quite heavy.

The contents were very well packaged and padded with both scrunched paper and bio-degradable chips. 

Each set of shrouds was packed inside of Large Ziplock bags and the smaller components inside an additional smaller zip lock bag.

Some of the shrouds were held together with plastic tie wraps but some were not. I was concerned about taking them out of the bags and not being able to get them back in. So I opened the bags and put my own tie wraps on the wires to stop them springing out of control when I pulled them out of the bags.

I took photos of each bag before unwrapping them in order to check that each had the correct kit of pieces - Turnbuckles, T-Bolts, Compression Fittings, etc.

Everything was fine except the Forestay package. The kit should have included a  compression fitting for the top of the stay, but instead, there was a small T-bolt fitting. Thank goodness it was not a wrong shroud.

I called Kevin at Catalina Direct, he asked me to take pictures of the kit and send them. I already had the pics so I sent them while he was on the phone. 

The good news is that the Forestay is the last item on the plan for the Standing rigging job. So a few days waiting for the shipment of the correct fitting is no big deal at all.  It does prove that it's always worth checking the received items as soon as possible when an order arrives.

Ok, moving on.

The instructions for making the Compression fittings are pretty clear - Here's a link to the instructions.

Basically, I have to remove the shroud/stay, lay it on the dock alongside the new wire and fittings. Cut the new wire to fit and make up the compression fitting.

Generally, the plan is to replace one shroud/stay at a time. 

• Secure the mast with an extra line from the mast head to the deck 
• Ease the Turnbuckle at the foot of the shroud/stay 
• Climb the mast and release the shroud then lower it to the deck, descend back to the deck 
• Disconnect the lower end of the shroud to the chainplate.
• Lay the shroud/stay on the dock and mark the new one to the correct length
• Cut the new shroud/stay and make up the compression fitting
• Ascend the mast and hoist the new shroud/stay and replace it
• Back on deck tighten the shroud.

I have a Spinlock Rig Sense tensioner, so I'll take note the tension before removing the old and after installing the new.

To climb the mast I'll be using our 'Mast Mate' mast climbing ladder which should speed things a lot compared to having to use ascenders to climb the mast.

It might work out that the lower shrouds can be replaced in pairs but I don't think I'll risk changing out both mast head shrouds at the same time. So the job will involve as many  as 7 trips up the mast not including the forestay, so perhaps eight all together.

That's the plan. I hope Peggy will be on hand to man the safety winch line and to take pictures and videos.

We're planning on a trip to Lake Boca for the New Year's Eve cruise, so more important is to complete the Diesel Fuel Tank install.  Waiting on some hose clamps, should arrive today  ( 12/20/2025), but I have some I could use temporarily if the new ones are late. So I should be able to complete the fuel tank on Monday 12/22. Just need to get the Diesel cans full and finish the job.

Part two of this post should be the start of the re-rigging. Tuesday??

See you on the water.

UPDATE - December 22 2025

While down at the boat working on the other couple of projects, I pulled the mainsail off of the mast and left it tucked inside the Cradle Cover ( stack pack ) with the intent of raising the Mast Mate.

Snag! The Mast Mate was used and the original buyers must have selected a skinny sail slug set, much too narrow for our Catalina 34. Checking with the Mast Mate company online, I found the correct sails slugs for our mast, they should be here within a week.

Minor delay, and we do have Christmas to get past.

Stay tuned as always.

I welcome you comments.

Still planning to see  you on the water ( for the new year's eve cruise )

Paul

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.