Hi all, Been reading posts, archive, websites, books, and now is the time to ask.
I have recently purchased a 1978 C27 A4. After a 20+ year break from sailing I have jumped back in and am loving just being by the big blue again. I have sent these questions to Catalina with no response but I think this group will have something to say if only a welcome. The ever hated THRU-HULLS I plan to replace all ball valves and 1 gate valve(sink) with Marelon ball valves. When trying to close the raw water metal ball valve the handle came off in my hand!! If I can get the thoroughly corroded valves off the pipe nipples without breaking them off do they really need to be replaced with true thru-hulls? I know the idea of stowed items rolling around and shearing off an unflanged non through bolted thru-hull is possible, I'm sure I can avoid this. Are there other reasons to replace? Corrosion? I have read that the pipe nipples are NPT threads, are the Marelon ball valves the same? Electrical It looks like the budget wiring on the Catalina is not Boat Cable or tinned or high flex, at least it's not solid house wire:) I have read every where that all that wiring needs to be replaced with boat cable. When checking out the wiring on the panel I found a lot of the corrosion on the back of the vintage wood grain panel and some less than ideal connections made throughout the years. When cutting back the wiring I did not find the shiny core like on the short expensive pieces of boat cable I have purchased. When I put a meter across the circuit for 1 of the cabin lights it showed no more resistance that a short piece of larger boat cable. I don't see any reason therefore to replace the wiring. Any thoughts there? Battery placement. They are set up now in the deep port cockpit locker. Was this the standard location? Seems like a tough place to service them. They were unsecured down there which I'm fixing but am open to other location ideas. The po didn't seem to know too much about these problems but a ppo seemed to do some of the suggested upgrades. The spreader bases look to be the ss ones. The chain plate upgrade was done. I can't tell if the keel root was done. Are there any tell tail signs? That's probably a long enough intro, my fingers are tired. If you made it this far, thank you!! I look forward to chatting with y'all in the future. Steve Huber Judy K II 1978 C27 #3810
