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    Transmission stiff shifting and control cable replacement

    By
    Ludovic Francois
    -
    0
    Over the week-end, we had an issue with the transmission where it was not possible to shift to forward gear anymore.
    Few minutes later and too much play with the gear control, I managed to shear the screw in the shift lever, as you can see in the picture below.
    sheared screw in my catalina 36 shift lever
    sheared screw in my catalina 36 shift lever
    After a safe back-up to the dock, thanks a lot to the help of Philippe Guillaud and his family!
    It’s now time to fix Hotel Catalina (again)!

    Plan!

    This issue looks to be current with Edson Pedestal (as all other issues before :)), according to multiple comments online:

    So the plan will be to:

    1. Remove the sheared screw from the lever
      1. How? Still need to figure it out
    2. Replace this screw:
      1. https://www.amazon.com/Button-Socket-Screws-Stainless-Quantity/dp/B00YSS9ZAG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1488176791&sr=8-2&keywords=1%2F4-28+x+3%2F4+stainless+steel+screw
    3. Check that the transmission shifts easily by itself to make sure the problem is coming from the control cable and not the transmission itself
    4. Figure out what size of control cables needs to be ordered:
      1. 14′ cable (transmission): http://www.catalinadirect.com/index.cfm/product/1544_841/engine-control-cable-14br-c-270-c-28-c-310-c-320-c-36.cfm
      2. 15′ cable (throttle): http://www.catalinadirect.com/index.cfm/product/1545_841/engine-control-cable-15brc-34-c-36.cfm
    5. Replace the old control cables with a coupling nut (10-32) connecting the old and new one:
      1. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1JA51-Rod-Coupling-Nut-Grade2-10-32-Pk10-/381002901460
    6. Give some love to the engine parts who need a bit of painting:
      1. metal treatment: https://www.amazon.com/Ospho-605-Metal-Treatment/dp/B000C02CDG
      2. paint: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002JG01VQ/ref=ox_huc_add_on_msg_title_1?m=ATVPDKIKX0DER
      3. Protect the fuel line from chafing, not sure how I missed them during my last chafing protection mission.
    Picture from the control cable to replace
    Picture from the control cable to replace

    New priority project on Hotel Catalina! Let’s see how many week-end will I need to get it fixed 🙂

    Helm tear down and fixing

    Most of this section is coming from this document from Edson Marine. Edson Marine has been very helpful to answer my questions about the different part numbers I was not able to find around.
    http://www.edsonmarine.com/support/PDFs/installation/EB396EngineControlInstr.PDF
    Edson Pedestal
    Edson Pedestal

    Remove the broken screw in the 960-A-938 lever assembly

    During the issue the screw broke and the gear handle got free:
    Easier than expected! I was able to get it out pretty easily with an easy out screw extractor after I drilled a small hole in it with a 1/16″ cobalt drill bit.
    1/16" cobalt drill bit hole
    1/16″ cobalt drill bit hole

    Remove the compass

    The 3 first ¼”-20 x 3 ½” ¼”-20 x 4” stainless machine screw came out very easily and of course as usual one didn’t come at all after a lot of drilling and one drill bit broken I succeeded to get the compass out with only one screw to replace!
    compass broken screw
    compass broken screw

    Remove housing

    Remove broken ¼”-20 x 3 ½” ¼”-20 x 4” stainless machine screw

    At the beginning based on documentation and online information I ordered by mistake 3 ½” machine screws where needed 4″ long screws.
     
    broken screw removing method
    broken screw removing method

    Lost lever assembly to control housing screw

    Lost lever assembly to control housing screw
    Lost lever assembly to control housing screw

    I just had to send a quick email to edson to be able to order the needed screw on boltdepot.com.

    Those screws are 8-32 pan head machine screws 3/8” long.

    Remove screw holding the cable holder

    I was doubtful about this part since it looks tedious to get it back there. But it was not as bad as it looked.
    screw holding the cable holder
    screw holding the cable holder
     

    Engine room side work

     
     Now I am done on removing the different pieces on the pedestal side, I need to see how it looks on the transmission side.

    Transmission control cable holder

    Transmission control cable holder
    Transmission control cable holder
    Pretty rusty but not too difficult to remove.
    Pretty rusty but not too difficult to remove.
    Pretty rusty but not too difficult to remove.

    Transmission control cable is now free

    Transmission control cable before cleaning

     
     
     

    Transmission arm removal 

    Removed from the transmission but impossible to disconnect the cable from the arm 

     
     
     
     

     After some efforts the transmission cable is totally free!

    Cables pulling

    Time to put a coupling nut (10-32) and send the new control cables

    Old cables removed

    New screws from boltdepot.com arrived

    Cables replaced. Time to put everything back together at the pedestal

    Now at the engine

    Bracket cleaned and painted

     

    Cables in place

    Machines Screw too small for the housing!

    First I went back with the old one before to replace them later on.

    Compas LED crimping for easier removal next time

    Everything is now back to normal!

    This project took me 2 week-ends, and some painting at home. When it happens I thought it will take a lot longer, but it got fixed pretty fast.

    More information about this process

    Here more good information about this issue:

    Engine high temperature water alarm issue

    By
    Ludovic Francois
    -
    0

    After the over heating issue we had last month, the water temperature alarm stopped to work. No sound anymore at the start of the engine.

    After some troubleshooting it seems it was just a ground issue at the engine block level.

    The wire with a resistor broke at one point and it seems to be the culprit for this issue

    Ordered some 1K Ohm 1/2W Flameproof resistors:

    • https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AYIQRA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    Rebuilt it and it works great now!

    M25XPB Heat exchanger leak

    By
    Ludovic Francois
    -
    0

    After 2 weeks ownership we decided to go out for a small cruise, still the stress of the docking and undocking of this huge to us boat. Fortunately we will not have to dock it back ourselves this time!

    Just out of the marina we started to hear the noise of the high temperature alarm yelling at us. Time to turn off the engine. Calling the radio and getting a free ride to our slip by the cost guard 🙂

    After few calls and some troubleshooting we realized the issue was a leaking heat exchanger. Learning the hard way…

    I posted first these troubleshooting notes on the Catalina 36 user association, if you have a Catalina 36 I highly recommend to join as a paying member. You will get more content and receive mainsheet magazine once a quarter.

    Troubleshooting

    In the process to troubleshoot the leak we discovered it was the time to replace the heat exchanger!

    Yesterday I removed it from its very unaccessible location. I will definitely mount it back aft at one point.

    Once removed I was able to read the part number / SKU: Seakamp 200420 and take some measurements.

    Now here is my question, do I replace with the exact same model? And where should I buy it?

    Some pictures of the little guy 🙂

    seakamp 200420 m25xpb heat exchanger 1
    seakamp 200420 m25xpb heat exchanger 1
    seakamp 200420 m25xpb heat exchanger 2
    seakamp 200420 m25xpb heat exchanger 2
    seakamp 200420 m25xpb heat exchanger 3
    seakamp 200420 m25xpb heat exchanger 3

    For the inches to mm value, I was using my vernier caliper, and not sure if it’s in metric or standard. So maybe some numbers are a bit off, also since I guess this heat exchanger didn’t move for the last 10 years, they are not the exact value.

    So far I saw the required part there:

    One other option would be to bring it to a radiator shop, have them clean it up, and give the outside a good coat of paint (or powder coat), but not sure about who I could ask to do that here in LA? And does it worth it? I have the feeling it needs more than a clean up.

    Especially since it was leaking.

    Heat exchanger replacement

     

    So I decided to replace it with the SEAKAMP model shipped by Mr Cool (http://www.mrcool.us/200420cn-universal-westerbeke-medalist-heat-exchang…(link is external)). For now, I just replaced in the same location at it was before, the ultimate goal is to move it aft, but I want to avoid to add more troubleshooting for now.

    The heat exchanger came with brackets AND clamps as you can see in this picture:

     

    universal-medalist-200420cn
    universal-medalist-200420cn

    So I felt a bit concerned about the brackets shipped with the HE, if I use them, I don’t see how I can use the clamps.

    This is how it looked at first:

     

    hotel catalina catalina36 seakamp 200420
    hotel catalina catalina36 seakamp 200420
    Updated my setup, look a bit more pretty, even if it will be way better when I will move it the way Matthew from Catalina 36 forum suggested it!
     

    Radiator flushing

    I also did few (ok a lot of them) flush of my radiator since it seems a lot of salted water has been living on the fresh water side of the cooling system.

    To do that I used a Water Quality TDS Tester, cheap tool found on amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002C0A7ZY) to mesure how salty the remaining coolant was.

    A temperature gun (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K5QVBCU) pointing the top of the thermostat and a lot of free time! Not sure it was really useful but it made me happy 🙂

    Hotel Catalina M25XPB TDS values
    Hotel Catalina M25XPB TDS values
    • TDS value was always measured during the draining step when the engine had cool down
    • Temp min was taken before to start the engine again
    • Temp max was taken just after I ran the engine for at least 10 minutes
    Here a picture of the radiator flush cleaner I used!
    Prestone radiator flush cleaner
    Prestone radiator flush cleaner
    I am now done with my heat exchanger / cooling system replacement for a while I hope. It was a very instructive process 🙂

    Sources

    M25XPB Water pump replacement – Sherwood vs Oberdorfer

    By
    Ludovic Francois
    -
    1
    Catalina 36 - M25XPB with Oberdorfer N202M-908
    Catalina 36 - M25XPB with Oberdorfer N202M-908

    Since day 1 we own the boat, the sherwood water pump was leaking a bit, it was never the top issue but always something bothering me. In this article we are going to go through:

    1. Replacing the water pump
    2. Replacing one of the old cooling hose
    3. Touch up painting of the engine oil crankcase

    It took few hours to go through this work, but everything was pretty straight forward.

    Original state of Hotel Catalina

    Here couple of pictures from June 2016, 2 weeks after we took delivery of Hotel Catalina.

    First engine picture June 2016
    First engine picture June 2016
    First engine picture June 2016
    First engine picture June 2016

    Based on this pictures we can saw this leak has been there for a while by the rust we can see on the engine.

    Time to fix this leak and give some love to the engine!

    It has been now over 1 year we own the boat and it’s time to tackle this pump leaking and clean the rust on the engine block.

    Here are few of the options to complete this task:

    • get a rebuilt kit and fixing it (tried it, it was worse!)
    • new sherwood pump (very expensive and not so much good feedback on the different forums)
    • migrate (upgrade?) to Oberdorfer
      • Replacing with an Oberdorfer pump that has the base that goes on with the same clip system as your Sherwood pump (more expensive, but more straight forward replacement)
      • If you aren’t scared of, rework the base of the Oberdorfer bolt on pump so it bolts into the pump land on the engine (way cheaper, but a bit too involved in my mind)

    After looking online I found a very good deal on the N202M-908 at pump and parts online. Let’s go with this solution!

    Oberdorfer N202M-908
    Oberdorfer N202M-908

    Here is the invoice for the pump:

    Replacing the elbow water pump hose

    This step is unrelated to the water pump, but it was way easier to complete since the water pump was not in the way anymore.

    Old sherwood pump, old hose and old clamp. Everything will be soon replaced.

    Tried to clean and fix the sherwood water pump, but the leak was always there.
    Tried to clean and fix the sherwood water pump, but the leak was always there.

    New hose installed!

    Now time to fill the radiator with new coolant! Last time was replaced was last year during the heat exchanger failure.

    Now the hose has been replaced, let’s replace the water pump!

    The service from https://www.pumpsandpartsonline.com/about-us was very good! Few days after the order I received the part as expected.

    I was not sure about the purpose of this hole, and asked online I realized it was to make sure in case of leak of the pump, the raw water has a way to exit somewhere else than in the engine.
    I was not sure about the purpose of this hole, and asked online I realized it was to make sure in case of leak of the pump, the raw water has a way to exit somewhere else than in the engine.

    Now it’s time for some painting touch up

    It’s the first time I try that, I decided to pick white to be able to see if any leak happens in the future. The result is pretty good looking. Next time I have a chance to remove the belt, I will definitely do more painting.

    Pump installed and running!

     

     

    Temperature is good!

    Impeller replacement for my spare kit

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/112455220825

    Oberdorfer replacement impeller
    Oberdorfer replacement impeller

     

    Boom outhaul replacement

    By
    Ludovic Francois
    -
    0

    It was not possible to take advantage of the outhaul with the sail becoming a bit older, it was a missing feature. So after a bit of fighting with the boom, I was able to tear it down and see how it looked.

    One of the challenge was to remove the end caps, I guess they haven’t been removed for a very long time, maybe never?

    Hardware

    On each end caps, I replaced the screws with 8 x ¼-20 x 1/2” SS Hex Head Bolts

    The new system is composed of two ball-bearing Harken bullet blocks:

    This has been a huge improvement on the sail control! You can see some pictures and references below.

    Photos

    References

    https://www.catalinadirect.com/index.cfm/product/1139/boom-end-casting-c-28-c-30-c-34–c-36.cfm

    Boom end: https://www.catalinadirect.com/index.cfm/product/1139/boom-end-casting-c-28-c-30-c-34–c-36.cfm

    Ball bearing for boom ends: https://www.catalinadirect.com/index.cfm/product/11/masthead-sheave-ball-bearing-c-25-c-27-c-28-outhaul-c-28-c-30-c-34-c-36.cfm

    Catalina 34 outhaul post: https://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,6301.msg40823.html#msg40823

    Julandra reference: https://julandra.shutterfly.com/274#277

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