Tony,

My advice is to get (pay for) a good survey. You will never regret the money you pay for this service !!!

Find the best boat surveyor you can by asking other boaters in your area.

Did I say "you will never regret what you pay for this service"?

Amen

I have a 2002 catalina for sale in the newport RI area sse the classifieds for a 2002 Fin Keel Tall rig it is in perfect condition no leaks

When I bought my C30 and again when I bought my C36 my insurance company would not insure the boats without a survey by a certified surveyer.

Tony:
It is interesting to see that you have looked at many 36's and have found some type of water damage. To me it just tells me that the past owners have not taken care of there boats. I have a 1990 (1057) and my bulkheads are fine and no leaks around the chain plates either.

Owning a boat is work as I think a lot of owners do not do needed maintenance yearly. I think also it may depend how tight the rigging is also, I sail ours on the loose side as I like to see a little give on the leeward side of the rigging. That is just me though.

As for the bilge cover, mine has a little rock also. Something I have wanted to correct but have not gotten to it yet. I do not think that is a big issue with the boat. I was just going to sand the high area down on the underside of the board so it fits flatter.

Randy

I am in the middle of a complete chainplate "resoration" wherin I remove the chainplates, clean and inspect, inspect the holes in the dek for apparent core rot, repair, and rebed. Here's what I've found so far: While 3 out of 6 chainplates showed signs of leaking (thanks previous owner!), inspection of the core suprisingly revealed very little core rot around the chainplate holes. 5 minutes with a dremel removed the 1 square inch worth of rot round the center port chainplate, a little thickened epoxy, and the problem was solved. I am coating the sides of all the holes with a layer of epoxy before reinstalling the chainplates and rebedding them. This has been completely worth the effort, and when complete I will have the satisfaction of knowing neither my bulkheads nor core are at risk of rot.

As far a sitting low, it sounds like the boat is overloaded which should be easy enough to fix!

I think that most of the boats from around 1998 or 1999 (my boat's year) sit low on the water line. This is especially noticeable in fresh water since it is less buoyant. Some owners of those years have actually raised their water line. My guess is that the MKII added more standard equipment and beam in the aft part of the boat. The measured displacement of many of the MKII is way above the published specs.

When we bought our 1998 C36 about a year and a half ago, we found the same problem. I was told around that time that it was a common problem with C 36s of around that vintage. The explanation I was given was that Catalina used to use a sealant that did not dry flexible, but hardened. Thus, the constant pulling and relaxing of the shrouds caused cracks in the sealant.

In the case of our boat, the previous owner had done nothing and serious dry rot set in. I'm now about to start the process of replacing that bulkhead. (By the way, on the old web site there was a description of this process by somebody who'd done this. Does anybody know where this description is now?)

John:
Here is a link to the old 36 web site that has a lot of info on bulkhead replacement. Hope this help you.
Randy

[url]http://catalina36.org/eve/forums?a=search&reqWords=bulkhead[/url]

We have an article here on the site on rebedding chainplates - and it's something you need to plan on about every 3-4 years. Otherwise, it' soggy bulkheads....