Association Forum - Tanky water in the tank

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 250 Specific Forum

Tanky water in the tank

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

chris wray
Deckhand

Member Avatar

USA
22 Posts

Initially Posted - 04/12/2004 : 16:38:10

All,
Great forum, very thankful for it. We have 250 WK #421 berthed in SF Bay. How does one drain the water tank in the bow and flush it with a chlorine solution? How can one keep it fresh?
Have gel cell marine battery that I have never seen... Do these require topping off (with what) such as a car battery sometimes requires with distilled water?
Lubing the wheel linkage cable. How often do we do this if at all? What can be inspected for wear RE: prefailure symptoms. I think about it alot especially when the boat is heeled over, we are in heavy traffic and 3 foot chop and the pressures on the rudder are seemingly great. Jeepers, sure would have marriage trouble if it decided to let go at such a time...
Shroud tension: How tight? Have rigger come and check it?
C250 one heckuv'a boat. Have ripped thru "The Slot" during an ebb tide and registered 10.6 MPH on the GPS. Lots going on at 10.6 MPH. Sublime experience.
Thank you in advance for any advice.
Chris Wray

Edited by - on

Bay Tripper
1st Mate

Members Avatar

USA
56 Posts

Response Posted - 04/12/2004 : 17:21:57

I can only answer the gel cell battery question. They are a non-maintance battery.

Edited by - on

Arlyn Stewart
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
2980 Posts

Response Posted - 04/12/2004 : 17:57:41

Hey Chris.... will take a stab at a couple of your questions.

I would provide a way to pump the tank out so that it could be done monthly. Two possible ways to do this is to add fresh water pump to the sink or lav or a blaster pump that can draw fresh water from the tank or even have a valve to choose fresh or sea water. There are other ways to pump it out as well.

The battery is in the aft compartment and if its a gel... no water maintenance is needed but if it has a cap structure on it, then it requires water maintenance. Easiest way to handle that on the 250 is pull the cushions and using a piece of clean cardboard, release the battery cables and lift to cardboard and slide the batter to the front of the berth where it can be filled. DO NOT touch any cushion fabrics with hands contaminated by touching the battery.

Shrouds are a bit of a mystery. I would not let just any rigger do it. The C250 uses a modified B&R rig and with the wide open hull, there are some limitations and character differences between it and most other boats. Mast [url="http://www.stewartfam.net/arlyn/tuning.html"]tuning[/url] is too involved for a short answer...

If your wheel steering has the single cable, it is subject to several types of [url="http://www.stewartfam.net/arlyn/examination.html"]failures[/url] ... and ought to be replaced by either the Edson two cable upgrade or an [url="http://www.stewartfam.net/arlyn/steeringcable.html"]open wire design[/url] .

If the system has the pull pull cables, then a special grease is required. Grease fittings can be added to the cables I understand.

If your boat is experiencing heavy pressures on the helm, there are solutions. Again, the steering cables can be part of the fault. The flexible cables have a lot of drag and the Edson design didn't have a very good steering ratio. The open wire design has no drag and a much better ratio.

The [url="http://www.stewartfam.net/arlyn/making_sense.html"]rudder[/url] also can be the source of excess torque. If your using the 2nd generation rudder, it is not balanced. If its a beaching, it can be [url="http://www.stewartfam.net/arlyn/ruddermod.html"]balanced[/url] quite well rather easily, if its a blade, then converting to the 3rd generation will provide rudder balance which will reduce torque and provide better slow speed characteristics.

Edited by - on

cathluk
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
513 Posts

Response Posted - 04/12/2004 : 21:44:00

Gel cell batteries do not need to be topped off.

As for the water tank we add a capfull of bleach whenever we fill the tank which keep the "floaties" away. We don't generally drink the water, but we do cook with it & have not had any problems - there's probably that much clorine in regular tap water. My tank is on under the starboard setee so we use a turkey fryer oil pump to drain it (also handy for refilling the solar shower).

Edited by - cathluk on 04/12/2004 21:44:51

mday
Navigator

Members Avatar

197 Posts

Response Posted - 04/14/2004 : 18:46:30

Hey Chris!

I thought "marriage" and "trouble" were synonymous -- whatever course you happen to be steering your boat.

Max

Edited by - on

chris wray
Deckhand

Members Avatar

USA
22 Posts

Response Posted - 04/15/2004 : 14:18:56

Thank you all for the info. So you have to pump th' tank out, OK.
Arlyn, thanks for the tip on the push pull Edson system I had never heard of such a thing being available. We are running with the 3rd rudder.
Chris Wray

Edited by - on

Arlyn Stewart
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
2980 Posts

Response Posted - 04/15/2004 : 15:50:56

Chris,

If using the 3rd rudder and experiencing any significant rudder torque... then its probable that the wheel steering is inducing drag to the steering system. This is a known issue on the flexible Edson cables, especially the single cable system.

The other issue is that the steering ratio on the Edson system presents a fairly low ratio with approximately one turn of the wheel from lock to lock. Eliminating the drag and doubling the ratio makes a huge difference.

Edited by - on

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.