Welcome Steve,
Thru-Hull Volcanoes - Don't know much about them personally. I left them in place on a dry sailed race boat but they would make me nervous on a boat kept in a slip or one I planned to overnight on with the family. I knew a couple that had hose let go while they were sleeping in the V berth. Water made it up just about to the mattress before they woke up and that was that for the wife's spending time on the boat. The good news was there was a thru-hull to close and the harbormaster was able to pump it out. Some other list members have replaced the thru-hull volcanoes and maybe they can share more on what they found during removal. Electrical - It is true the wire Catalina used is more automotive service than marine. It should be tin plated stranded copper wire but not "Tinned" in theory. In practice the majority of the failures come from bad connections not corroded wires. I would replace the bilge pump wiring with the real deal marine cable using adhesive seal Anchor brand crimps and a true ratchet crimper. Then other circuits if they prove to be bad. On my 6 moth old C270 I had to replace several crimp connections in the main panel area done by a poorly trained tech at our dealer after we went all dark around midnight on SF Bay. I'm a stickler on ratchet crimpers, but then again I'm an expert in this area. Nigel Calder went right off my list of recommended experts when I watched a video of his where he made back to back critical mistakes. First he used a cheap auto parts store crimper to make a connection and then he pull on it to make sure it wouldn't come off. Tugging on the terminal is an admission you're not sure about the quality of your work. The real pull test is done on a sample using a tensile tester the will stretch the copper wire until failure. The right thing is to use the ratchet crimper that won't let stop before the proper amount of force has been applied, at which point there's no question it is there for good. The amount of force applied is critical to getting gas tight seal between the wire and the terminal which keeps moisture and corrosion from affecting the connection overtime. We all know a guy who fixes his trailer wiring every season; I've never done mine more than once on any trailer. Since I'm a C270 owner I can't comment on battery placement beyond the should be in secured battery boxes.. Cheers, Phil Agur <http://www.catalina27.org/public_pages/profile270.htm> s/v Wing Tip C270 LE #184 MMSI 366901790 From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of steveo900rr Sent: Thursday, July 29, 2010 9:35 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [IC27A] Long time lurker......1st time poster 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.&n! bsp; 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
