I am considering purchasing a Catalina 30 1982, atomic 4
I would appreciate any information regarding design or old age problems to
watch out for
The boat has always been in salt water and if purchased will go to fresh and
will be sailing the great lakes

Any and all information is greatly appreciated

Barry,
It's hard to go wrong with that boat. Here's a photo of the one we used
ot have as we crossed the Mexican border on the '99 Ha Ha
http://rangerbest.home.comcast.net/sc-600-400.JPG

Ours had a tiller, which if you can find one, I would reccommend as it
really opens up the cockpit and auto-steers well with just an
inexpensive tiller pilot.
Ours had end boom sheeting. I would reccommend mid boom sheeting, but it
wasn't important enough to make it to the top of the project list while
we had ours.
It makes a great day sailor and a good coastal cruiser. The longest
trip we ever did entailed living on the boat non-stop for two months
from SF Bay down around the tip of Baja and up into the Sea Of Cortez.
Had a great time, but it was "cozy" with 4-5 people aboard (dropped one
off at Cabo San Lucas) for this long.


Pluses:
- A very successful, well tested design made for 25 years or something
like that.
- An active listserver on sailnet with hundreds of members (a great
resource).
- The A4 has it's own listserver on sailnet.
- Very easy to sail, After running the lines aft, I used to single hand
ours easily.
- Reasonable performance.
- Easy to resell when the time comes.
- Very little exposed wood means easy maintainence.
- A4 is easy to understand and work on (kinda like a 60's era VW engine).
- Can be trimmed so the helm is balanced and very light even in high winds.
- Turns on a dime.
- Great cockpit for entertaining.

Negatives:
- V-berth is kinda narrow at the pointy end when two are sleeping in it.
- Minimal fuel and water tankage for really long trips.
- Minimal storage for really long trips.

Hope this helps - Dan

barry kay wrote:

I am considering purchasing a Catalina 30 1982, atomic 4
I would appreciate any information regarding design or old age problems to
watch out for
The boat has always been in salt water and if purchased will go to fresh and
will be sailing the great lakes

Any and all information is greatly appreciated





--
Dan Best - (707) 431-1662, Healdsburg, CA 95448
B-2/75 1977-1979
Tayana 37 #192, "Tricia Jean" http://rangerbest.home.comcast.net/TriciaJean.JPG

On Wed, 03 Sep 2003 14:59:12 GMT, "Daniel E. Best"
wrote:

Barry,
It's hard to go wrong with that boat. Here's a photo of the one we used
ot have as we crossed the Mexican border on the '99 Ha Ha
http://rangerbest.home.comcast.net/sc-600-400.JPG

Ours had a tiller, which if you can find one, I would reccommend as it
really opens up the cockpit and auto-steers well with just an
inexpensive tiller pilot.
Ours had end boom sheeting. I would reccommend mid boom sheeting, but it
wasn't important enough to make it to the top of the project list while
we had ours.
It makes a great day sailor and a good coastal cruiser. The longest
trip we ever did entailed living on the boat non-stop for two months
from SF Bay down around the tip of Baja and up into the Sea Of Cortez.
Had a great time, but it was "cozy" with 4-5 people aboard (dropped one
off at Cabo San Lucas) for this long.


Pluses:
- A very successful, well tested design made for 25 years or something
like that.
- An active listserver on sailnet with hundreds of members (a great
resource).
- The A4 has it's own listserver on sailnet.
- Very easy to sail, After running the lines aft, I used to single hand
ours easily.
- Reasonable performance.
- Easy to resell when the time comes.
- Very little exposed wood means easy maintainence.
- A4 is easy to understand and work on (kinda like a 60's era VW engine).
- Can be trimmed so the helm is balanced and very light even in high winds.
- Turns on a dime.
- Great cockpit for entertaining.

Negatives:
- V-berth is kinda narrow at the pointy end when two are sleeping in it.
- Minimal fuel and water tankage for really long trips.
- Minimal storage for really long trips.

Hope this helps - Dan

This guy knows his stuff: the Catalina 30 is a top Great Lakes/coastal
boat, although with that giant companionway I wouldn't run before
heavy weather. Lots of them on the Great Lakes also race at a PHRF of
around 190-200, I think. One comment on the A4: go for freshwater
cooling. Unless the seawater was flushed from the block occasionally,
strainers employed and the proper 140 F thermostat used, there is
likely salt precipitates in the cooling passages. A Marsolve flush
followed by the installation of fresh water cooling and a higher temp
thermostat will keep that A4 happy.

Of course, in the Great Lakes, most A4 users already have raw water
(direct lake water) cooling and the hotter T-stat (higher cooling
temps make for better combustion as long as it's below 190-200F). So
you could just do a through soak and rinse of the passages, get the
goo out, and continue to cool via a thru-hull.

R.

R,
Good points.
Ours had raw water cooling. I would flush it every year or two w/ a
mild acid solution to clean out the deposits. Fresh water cooling was
another one that never made it to the top of the project list.

Worst weather we ever sailed in was a gale that blew up during the night
as we crossed from Pt. Pulpito (on Baja) to San Carlos (mainland side).
They apparently were measuring 40 kts in the (protected) harbor, but I
was a little too busy to get the hand held anemometer (sp?) out of the
nav station and check it. All I know is that it was blowing like stink
from just forward of the beam (the spray would sound like firecrackers
going off as it blew off the top of the waves and hit the back of my
foulies). We routinely sail "the slot" on SF Bay which sometimes has 25
kts sustained and 30 kt gusts and this was MUCH stronger than that.

We were occaisionally taking green water over the bow, but only rarely
would it wash all the way back over the hatch and into the cockpit. We
obviously had the hatch boards secured in place. Probably a good thing
that it was too dark to see or I would have been scared sh**less. As it
was, we made such good time under the triple reefed main and a scrap of
jib that I had to heave to for a couple of hours to await daylight for
the approach to San Carlos. Sort of a long night as I didn't trust the
vane and/or tiller pilot in those conditions and hand steered all night
(it was nasty enough that if things got suddenly worse, I wanted to be
sure that I was the one on the helm, so I didn;t even share the duty).
For the record, the boat came through the gale just fine w/out any
damage beyond a bit water inside (mostly when the hatch was opened).

I almost forgot, there is a factory reccommended after market
modification to the chain plates (for the lower shrouds if I reall
corretcly) Make sure that it's been done (or get it done yourself).
The current owner should know about it. If not, give Catalina Yachts a
direct shout (http://www.catalinayachts.com/contactus.cfm) and ask them
about it. Did I mention that one of the REALLY nice things about
Catalina is that they are one of the few boat manufacturers from that
era still in business?

Take care - Dan

wrote:
On Wed, 03 Sep 2003 14:59:12 GMT, "Daniel E. Best"
wrote:


Barry,
It's hard to go wrong with that boat. Here's a photo of the one we used
ot have as we crossed the Mexican border on the '99 Ha Ha
http://rangerbest.home.comcast.net/sc-600-400.JPG

Ours had a tiller, which if you can find one, I would reccommend as it
really opens up the cockpit and auto-steers well with just an
inexpensive tiller pilot.
Ours had end boom sheeting. I would reccommend mid boom sheeting, but it
wasn't important enough to make it to the top of the project list while
we had ours.
It makes a great day sailor and a good coastal cruiser. The longest
trip we ever did entailed living on the boat non-stop for two months

from SF Bay down around the tip of Baja and up into the Sea Of Cortez.

Had a great time, but it was "cozy" with 4-5 people aboard (dropped one
off at Cabo San Lucas) for this long.


Pluses:
- A very successful, well tested design made for 25 years or something
like that.
- An active listserver on sailnet with hundreds of members (a great
resource).
- The A4 has it's own listserver on sailnet.
- Very easy to sail, After running the lines aft, I used to single hand
ours easily.
- Reasonable performance.
- Easy to resell when the time comes.
- Very little exposed wood means easy maintainence.
- A4 is easy to understand and work on (kinda like a 60's era VW engine).
- Can be trimmed so the helm is balanced and very light even in high winds.
- Turns on a dime.
- Great cockpit for entertaining.

Negatives:
- V-berth is kinda narrow at the pointy end when two are sleeping in it.
- Minimal fuel and water tankage for really long trips.
- Minimal storage for really long trips.

Hope this helps - Dan


This guy knows his stuff: the Catalina 30 is a top Great Lakes/coastal
boat, although with that giant companionway I wouldn't run before
heavy weather. Lots of them on the Great Lakes also race at a PHRF of
around 190-200, I think. One comment on the A4: go for freshwater
cooling. Unless the seawater was flushed from the block occasionally,
strainers employed and the proper 140 F thermostat used, there is
likely salt precipitates in the cooling passages. A Marsolve flush
followed by the installation of fresh water cooling and a higher temp
thermostat will keep that A4 happy.

Of course, in the Great Lakes, most A4 users already have raw water
(direct lake water) cooling and the hotter T-stat (higher cooling
temps make for better combustion as long as it's below 190-200F). So
you could just do a through soak and rinse of the passages, get the
goo out, and continue to cool via a thru-hull.

R.

Best way to ruin an old Atomic-4 is to flush it with muriatic acid.
An A4 that old is probably somewhere near the end of its life due to
internal corrosion. Use a non-acidic descaler such as Marsolve or
Rydlyme ... it wont disolve the base metal.

How to check if the engine has enough 'meat' left in the block to be
worth bothering about: either you or the surveyor/mechanic remove a
single (or more) exhaust manifold bolt, then go in with a dental pick
and count the number of threads remaining in the block. If you can count
at least four threads in one of the exhaust manifold attachment bolt
bore holes, then the engine has not rotted awawy internally and has
sufficient 'meat' left.

To prolong life, seriously consider to add freshwater cooling, even in
fresh water. With fresh water cooling, the engine 'cooling loop' will
contain antifreeze with its associated 'anti-corrosion' compounds, etc.
The important thing here is that you will never (when winterizing) have
to drain the coolant (other than the raw water side). Draining and
letting an A4 'air-dry' internally will promote HUGE chunks of rust
platlettes to break off, which will eventually clog the exhaust manifold
and engine internals ... keep it WET and dont let it dry out internally
- for long life.

wrote:
... but it's the quality of the sailor that
can drive them effectively. The fact that you HAD a third reef to go
to sets you apart (is that Catalina standard issue? if so, I am
impressed!), as is your willingness to run off the wind and heave to.
....
Who today knows how to heave to their boat and when?

No, we had the third reef installed in the main as part of preparing for
that trip (our most adventurous to date). I am a big proponent of
being prepared and minimising the strain on the vessel when things start
to pick up. In my experiance, reefing early has no down side. It not
only eases the stress on everything (especialy the humans), but by
letting the boat sail more upright, you actually go faster than when
heeling waaaay over. Besides, if you mis-read the trend, it's real easy
to shake the reef out again.

The night I wrote about was exciting, but not really scary at all as we
had the boat under complete control at all times and lots of reserve
left before we would be "pushing the edge". I've read several times
about waves sounding like freight trains as they approached you, but
this was the first time I had ever experianced it. Kinda cool really.

The only time I was at all nervous on the trip was a night several weeks
earlier when we were heading south past Pt. Conception in 20-25 kt winds
and 6'-7' square waves off the stb quarter. Two mistakes of mine
combined to make things interesting. The first was that I did not check
the battery state, just assumed that since I had been motoring for a few
hours that they were fully charged (it turned out that my alternator
wasn't charging them). This resulted in both batteries being COMPLETELY
dead - about 2am, I had to turn off the (by now weak) nav lights in
order to make the light on the compass bright enough to read it. The
second mistake was I had decided to cross Pt. Conceptin 10-12 miles
offshore in an attempt to miss the worst of the notorious wave action.
Unfortunately, as a result we were dodging freighters all night w/out
the benifit of radar or nav light. To make matters worse, I developed a
severe case of vertigo and every time I lifted my eyes from the compass,
I would unintentionally start turning the boat. I had to calls the boys
up into the cockpit all night to keep an eye out for freighters.

Never forget, as long as no one is hurt, it's an "adventure".

Fair winds - Dan

On Mon, 08 Sep 2003 17:59:54 GMT, Dan Best wrote:


No, we had the third reef installed in the main as part of preparing for
that trip (our most adventurous to date). I am a big proponent of
being prepared and minimising the strain on the vessel when things start
to pick up. In my experiance, reefing early has no down side.

Absolutely.

It not
only eases the stress on everything (especialy the humans), but by
letting the boat sail more upright, you actually go faster than when
heeling waaaay over. Besides, if you mis-read the trend, it's real easy
to shake the reef out again.

Or unroll/raise more foresail.

The night I wrote about was exciting, but not really scary at all as we
had the boat under complete control at all times and lots of reserve
left before we would be "pushing the edge". I've read several times
about waves sounding like freight trains as they approached you, but
this was the first time I had ever experianced it. Kinda cool really.

You just self-insured against future trauma...ever consider crewing on
Trans-Pacs? G Seriously, small coastal cruisers who know blue water
techniques (and keep their wits in a blow) are usually welcome as
watchkeepers on 50 footers.

The only time I was at all nervous on the trip was a night several weeks
earlier when we were heading south past Pt. Conception in 20-25 kt winds
and 6'-7' square waves off the stb quarter. Two mistakes of mine
combined to make things interesting. The first was that I did not check
the battery state, just assumed that since I had been motoring for a few
hours that they were fully charged (it turned out that my alternator
wasn't charging them). This resulted in both batteries being COMPLETELY
dead - about 2am, I had to turn off the (by now weak) nav lights in
order to make the light on the compass bright enough to read it. The
second mistake was I had decided to cross Pt. Conceptin 10-12 miles
offshore in an attempt to miss the worst of the notorious wave action.
Unfortunately, as a result we were dodging freighters all night w/out
the benifit of radar or nav light. To make matters worse, I developed a
severe case of vertigo and every time I lifted my eyes from the compass,
I would unintentionally start turning the boat. I had to calls the boys
up into the cockpit all night to keep an eye out for freighters.

Never forget, as long as no one is hurt, it's an "adventure".

I suggest rigging a "low voltage" alarm, or carry those Zodiac-style
battery powered nav lights. Shipping lanes with no lights is no joke
even in flat water...most of those guys only stand watch for large
metal boats these days, or so it seems.

Good sailing,
R.

wrote:

You just self-insured against future trauma...ever consider crewing on
Trans-Pacs? G Seriously, small coastal cruisers who know blue water
techniques (and keep their wits in a blow) are usually welcome as
watchkeepers on 50 footers.


In addition to what I've done with my own boats, I've assisted on
several deliveries up & down the California coast and would love to do
some transpacs or deliveries back. I love the rhythm you get into after
a couple days and there's nothing better than a night watch on a dark
moonless night when the phosphorescence is really bright.
Unfortunately, ever since we were forced to downsize a couple of years
ago, getting that kind of uninterrupted time away from the office is a
tough one. In a few years though, once our youngest is well entrenched
in college, we're working towards slipping the lines for an open ended trip.

I suggest rigging a "low voltage" alarm, or carry those Zodiac-style
battery powered nav lights. Shipping lanes with no lights is no joke
even in flat water...most of those guys only stand watch for large
metal boats these days, or so it seems.


I've made sure that the voltage can be checked in my current boat by
simply pushing a button while sitting at the nav station and the
readings go into the hourly log entry whenever passage making (which I
define as any trip long enough to establish watches). I may not be the
sharpest tack in the box, but I do try not to make the same (or related)
mistake more than once.

Fair winds - Dan

--
Dan Best - (707) 431-1662, Healdsburg, CA 95448
B-2/75 1977-1979 http://rangerbest.home.comcast.net/ChinookDrop.JPG
Tayana 37 #192, "Tricia Jean" http://rangerbest.home.comcast.net/TriciaJean.JPG