We are a new Catalina 36 MK II #1465 owner (1995), Rosharon, Texas. We are keeping the boat at Watergate Yacht Club in Kemah, Texas.
The existing electronics are Cetrek ,depth, GPS, wind direction, and Speed, of which none of them work. I am thinking of replacing them with a Raymarine ST60 Plus Depth/Speed/Wind Value Pack with additional Rudder Angle Display.
I have found only one thru hull device from the existing system (speed). Does anyone have any idea if the existing depth unit has a transducer and where it may be located?
I would appreciate any information on any past installations of new systems that anyone may have.
Thanks,
Lee and Cathy Walden
[email]leewalden@gmail.com[/email]
Lee and Cathy,
Welcome to the C36 Family! You will LOVE the boat!
In most cases the transducer for both the depth and speed are next to each other. Also, in most cases, the transducers will be under the aft portion of the V-berth. I say in most cases because the instruments are not installed at the factory, but at the delivering dealer, and you never know exactly what the dealer might do. Is it possible that Cetrek instruments combine the transducers into one unit? I'm not familiar with them. I have the ST60+ instruments and like them. Not the greatest, but pretty good. Raymarine has hot and cold periods for service. Sometimes outstanding, sometimes miserable. But they are the 800 pound gorilla in the marine field. You may not need the rudder position indicator as an additional instrument. If you install an autopilot in the future, they often have rudder position built in. Hope this helps.
Tom Sokoloski
C36/375IA Past Commodore
Noank, CT
I replaced the Standard instruments on my 1996 with the ST 60 "sail pack" in 2003. Mainly because Standard was very proud of the cost to replace a failed wind instrument and there was a promo on the Ray instruments.
As Tom stated, Ray's service can be hit or mis at times. Both of my tranducers are under the V Berth, just in front of the bottom drawer.
When I made the change out, I also changed the pedistal guard to a higher/offset model to get the NavPod ABOVE the wheel. For some reason (that I couldn't understand) the arrangement on the 1996 put the instruments right behind the wheel so the top of the wheel went right through the centerline of the NavPod blocking the sight line of the displays.
There is a ton of information on this site (available to paid members) that will help you along the way and save you a ton of time on projects.
I know you will love the boat and welcome to the family!
Jack
Solstice
Hull #1598
1996 MKII/TR/FK - M35AC - 3 Blade MaxProp
Lake Texoma
www.texomasailing.org
Thanks Tom and Jack,
Druing the time of the survey, all I saw and have found is the transducer for the speed at the V-birth.
At the helm is an Edson wheel and pedistal guard, I am looking into changing the guard to an offset guard so I can lower the instrument package. At thie time, the instruments block your line of sight forward if you are setting aft, I do not like this.
I was at Westmarine today and saw a Garmin 4212 unit that looked very interesting as to displaying all of the information on one screen.
Has anyone had any experiance with this type of unit.
I highly value all of your comments, as they will help me make a decision on what to do as a new boat owner.
We have had 4 outing so far, and it has been great, but it does bother me not having a depth gauge, as Galviston bay is quit shallow at 8 to 10 feet over most of the area. Going out tomorrow.
Thanks,
Lee
Your depth transducer has probably been painted over. That combined with loss of sensitivity due to age could be part of the problem. I had this problem on our 1981 C30. The transducer on our C36, #1339 is inside under the V-berth draws. If you're thinking of replacing the fathometer (depth sensor system), first connect a new display or a borrowed display to the sensor leads at the console. The transducers are pretty much all the same with a center frequency of 200 KHz. The frequency essentially determines the physical diameter of the transducer, the resulting beam width and maximum depth capability. If the system works with the new display, then you can have the old display rebuilt. Standard Horizon rebuilt the depth display on my C30 for $75. If that doesn't work, check the continuity of the cable with a multimeter or simply replace the cable between the transducer and the display. This will involve cutting the cable at the transducer and runing a pair of wires or coaxial antenna or audio cable to the display. For test purposes, just use the most direct path. On the C30, I found the old weak transducer worked, sometimes intermittently, up to about 50 feet. If it still doesn't work then you need to replace the transducer which would involve hauling the boat and replacing the existing transducer or simply cutting a new hole for the new one. If you don't want to haul the boat right away, simply glue a new transducer to the inside of the hull with silicon rubber. I've done this and it works for a while until it comes lose or gets air bubbles in the coupling interface. Clean and reglue if you're still not ready for a haul out.
John
s/v Pooka
1994 C36 TR #1339
John & Kathy Impagliazzo
s/v Pooka
Jamestown, RI
1994 C36 TR #1339, M35AC
Google found a catalog for the Cetrek instruments; not detailed but it looks like there is a 'tri-ducer', which looks like it might be for speed/depth/temperature? Maybe that's why you only have a single transducer?
[url]http://www.ohlson38.de/Manuals/E-Technik/Cetrek.Katalog.pdf[/url]
Gary and Cathy Price
1997 C36 Mk II Tall Rig/Wing Keel Imagine...
Hull # 1617
Worton Creek, Md.
Northern Chesapeake Bay
[QUOTE=walden;5436]
We have had 4 outing so far, and it has been great, but it does bother me not having a depth gauge, as Galveston bay is quite shallow at 8 to 10 feet over most of the area. Going out tomorrow.[/QUOTE]
Lee, all the best with your new boat. Since you've been out with your boat four times and haven't run aground yet, two things until you get a working depth sounder: go back to the same places, :):) and, more importantly, get a chart and use it, even with a depth sounder. Relying on a depth sounder will not keep you from going aground, because by then it'll be too late unless you have one of those nifty look-ahead units and are going quite slowly.
Stu Jackson, C34IA Secretary, C34 #224, 1986, SR/FK, M25 engine, Rocna 10 (22#)