I purchased a 2000 MKII late last year that had some engine issues that needed to be attended to which I knew during the bidding process. Fast forward a few months, my engine is repaird but out of the boat and will not go back in until the boat is in the water this spring. My question is regarding the engine mounts, should I look at replacing them as I have very easy access to them at the moment. At $270 per mount, they are not cheap but it will never be easier to access them than right now. What is the normal lifespan? At basically 20 years old, should I be looking at replacing them now or is this something that normally would last much longer and I should just put the engine back in on the original mounts?
For what it is worth, Jubilee was also built in 2000. I bought her in 2009 and replaced the engine mounts in about 2012 with about 1500 hrs on her of hard use. Forget why, but I think at least one had failed, maybe with a crack in it. There have been no problems since, with another 2000 hrs on her.
Al Fricke
S/V Jubilee San Francisco Bay
Catalina 36' MkII #1867
Universal 35-B
Yes, you should replace them. Mine lasted close to 25 years, but it should be a very easy job with the engine out if the boat. The mounts are less than $70 each if you do the replacement yourself. Leslie Troyer wrote a nice article in Mainsheet about replacing mounts. There is a link to his article at the end of this post I made about replacing mine:
https://www.catalina36.org/forum/technical-discussion/engine-mounts-earl...
Ron St. Onge
C36 MKII Hull1384
Ron St. Onge
1995 Catalina 36 MKII Hull 1384