[C320-list] rigging

[Allan S Field]

It's hard to believe that it has been 11 years since that tour but following
are my entire notes of that visit!

Catalina 320-Rendezvous Factory Tour – August 2004

As part of the C320 Rendezvous in Marina del Rey, CA, Orlando Duran, the
very capable host for the Rendezvous, arranged a tour of the Catalina
factory in Woodland Hills, about a 30-minute drive away from the Marina in
Anywhere, USA, but almost 2 hours in LA traffic.  We were greeted at the
factory by designer Gerry Douglas.  According to others who have taken the
“traditional tour”, we could expect to spend about 30-40 minutes.  Mr.
Douglas and 2 members of his staff spent over 2 hours with us!  I think that
we saw everything but the trucks that take the boats away from the factory!

While pictures were not allowed, and free samples are not given (much to our
collective chagrin) I did take notes throughout the tour that I would like
to share with the newsgroup.  Mr. Douglas has been gracious enough to review
these notes to ensure that I am not passing along inaccurate information.
Following, in no particular sense of order, is a summary of what I heard.
Warning: this is a long e-mail but hopefully, there will be something for
everyone by the end!

All 320’s are made in CA while the “big boats” are made in FL.  The company
is vertically integrated meaning that virtually everything either is or can
be made in-house.  For example, while spars may be outsourced, they also can
be made in-house.  For the 320, the boom is made in-house but the mast comes
from Charleston.  Of interest to many of us is that the boom on the 320 also
is the mast for the 25!  On-site production includes a keel foundry, metal
shop, wood mill, sail loft, canvas shop, fabric shop, mattress shop, and
rigging shop.

Replacement sails are available from Catalina.  

New 320’s come with an inner spring mattress in both the forward and aft
cabins.  These mattresses also are available for purchase for about $350.00
and colors can be coordinated going back to about 1999.  

On average, between 2 and 2.5 320’s are produced each week.  Depending on
the production schedule, 320’s take anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months to
completion.

A new boat – the Catalina Morgan 44 – will be introduced at the Annapolis
Boat Show.  Mr. Douglas plans to be at the Show to show his new baby.  The
boat will have a 55-gallon holding tank and 170-gallon fuel and water tanks.
There will be a separate refrigerator and freezer on board.  Headroom will
be 6-feet, 5-inches.

Replacement hatches and rudders are available for just about every boat
Catalina has ever made.  There are 6 molds for the Aqua Lift muffler
therefore Mr. Douglas strongly encourages that when ordering a replacement,
send the old one in and Catalina will send you a match.  For Sea Shadow, we
probably will remove ours over the winter, send it in, and keep the new one
for when and if needed.

The new Catalina’s come with a Yanmar 3Y series engine, the 4th type of
engine to go into the 320.  In response to a question regarding hot water
heater failures, Mr. Douglas states that 90% of the failures are due to poor
winterizing.  The question was 2-part with the second part being the failure
rate of the ProMariner chargers but I did not note the answer.  In talking
with virtually every Captain at Rendezvous, the opinion on the ProMariner is
very mixed.  For every Captain that leaves the charger and refrigerator on
24/7 and has no problems, there are an equal number who have gone through at
least one ProMariner and a battery bank – yours truly has been through 2
ProMariner’s and 1 battery bank.

There was much discussion regarding the rigging.  Most standing rigging
failures occur about one-half inch below the swage.  In southern CA, Mr.
Douglas recommends replacing the standing rigging every 8 years.  However,
washing the salt off after every sail will increase the life expectancy.  By
contrast, in the mid-west on fresh water lakes, rigging will last 20-30
years.  Catalina expects to do away with the lifeline cover in the next few
years.

The factory runs 3 shifts.  Gelcoat and keeling are performed at night due
to a desire not to offend the rest of the businesses in the area (most of
whom are closed at night) with these noxious odors.  While I saw #1023 in
production, others saw #1030.

Care of the galley counter tops is the same as for the gelcoat – compound,
buff and wax to get the shine back.  When replacing the galley flooring,
call Catalina for the new replacement material that is much easier to clean
than that on the older boats.

Since Catalina has been using the vinylester layup (1995), there have been
virtually zero blisters.  Any that have occurred have been at either the
keel to hull joint, where the shaft exits the hull, or on the rudder edge.
Knit laminates, versus roved, are used on the Catalina’s.

The lower 30% of the rudder is designed to breakaway in a hard grounding;
the remaining stub should get you home.  Keel bolts should be torqued to 235
foot pounds after the first year, then left alone.

The infamous Catalina port list was discussed.  According to Mr. Douglas,
the narrow water line at the beam makes for a faster boat with the downside
being that the boat is sensitive to weight distribution.  His recommendation
is to keep the weight down to control the list.

The port side cockpit locker was designed to take a 10-speed bike in storage
with the wheels off!  A yellow thong to anyone on the list who knew that
little factoid already!

This was our second 320 Rendezvous and something that Linda and I intend to
keep on our schedule for the years to come.  While the opportunity for such
an extensive tour of the factory made the trip worthwhile in itself, the
other owners we met, the ideas we came back with from roaming through other
320’s, and the opportunities to sail in an area normally out of bounds to
us, made the trip absolutely incredible.  I would strongly encourage all who
can to consider the annual Rendezvous as part of their schedule.  I cannot
imagine anyone returning home the least bit disappointed!

-----Original Message-----
From: C320-list [mailto:c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com] On Behalf
Of Michael Ferguson
Sent: Wednesday, April 29, 2015 9:17 AM
To: C320-List at Catalina320.com
Subject: Re: [C320-list] rigging

Thanks Allen

Guess I need to get busy before a failure happens. What about steering was
anything mentioned.

Michael

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

From:"Allan S Field" <allan.field at verizon.net> Date:Wed, Apr 29, 2015 at
9:08 AM
Subject:Re: [C320-list] rigging

Following are my notes re: rigging from the factory tour we did a few years
ago with Gerry Douglas:

There was much discussion regarding the rigging.  Most standing rigging
failures occur about one-half inch below the swage.  In southern CA, Mr.
Douglas recommends replacing the standing rigging every 8 years.  However,
washing the salt off after every sail will increase the life expectancy.  By
contrast, in the mid-west on fresh water lakes, rigging will last 20-30
years.  Catalina expects to do away with the lifeline cover in the next few
years.


-----Original Message-----
From: C320-list [mailto:c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com] On Behalf
Of Graeme Clark
Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2015 3:46 PM
To: c320-list at lists.catalina320.com
Subject: Re: [C320-list] rigging

I have just finished replacing the standing rigging on my 1996 320, which I
bought last year; the previous (original) owner had never replaced it. he
claimed never to have been sailing in anything greater than 25knots but I
decided not to risk it. I just didnt  want to be mid-passage somewhere, the
wind freshen up and be always wondering what weakness might lie
undiscovered.

It used to be the case that insurance companies required standing rigging
replacement evry 5 years, then it became every 10, then every 15 and so on!
My company did not insist on it but they made the point that if I had a loss
and it was attributed to lack of routine maintenece then there could be an
argument about liability!

So - what was the old rigging like - well, from the outside I couldnt see a
problem and nor could the riggers but they made the point that in may cases
there will be internal corrosion and even siophisticated tests like the eddy
current test are no guarantee.

Theres some good info about fatugue failure in rigging here
http://coxengineering.sharepoint.com/Pages/Fatigue.aspx

I decided to have the mast un-stepped and strip the old rigging myself, send
it to a supplier to match up new, and refit it myself, employing a rigger
only for the re-stepping and rig tuning which I wnst confident of doing.

The unexpected plus side of this was that I got to really see how the rig
was put together and undersatand how the spreaders are held to the mast, how
the wires run through the spreder tips, how they are held in place and so
on. With the amst down all this could be done eaisly with two feet on the
ground and gave me the oportunity to easily run new wiring, fit new aerial,
nav lights and examine the masthead components such as sheaves for repair or
replacement if necessary.

And I got to gibee everything a really good clean up!

If you dont replace your rigging then at the very least you need to be happy
regulalry going up the mast in a harness or chair to inspect the swaged ends
of the riggings for any sign of broken wires.

Finally the original rigging screws (turnbuckles/bottle screws) fitted to
early Catalinas - the ones with the slide on stainless steel tubular covers)
seem to be universally derided, these days, by any rigger as being the
perfect design to retain corrosive seawater and hide what's going on. 
Hope this helps

Graeme
#366, 'Jaskar', Falmouth Cornwall, UK




Message: 6
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2015 05:51:42 -0700
From: Michael Ferguson <coralman at bellsouth.net>
To: 320 <c320-list at catalina320.com>
Subject: [C320-list] rigging
Message-ID:
    
<1430225502.89251.YahooMailAndroidMobile at web181201.mail.ne1.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Hi all

Just a thought. Has anyone replaced their standing rigging our had any
failures. Nauti Clew is 20 yes old and I use her often in 20 plus not winds.
I check for stress cracks etc but worry about aging parts. Also the steering
cable same age. Thanks

Michael

Nauti Clew 169

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