Forgive for lack of knowledge of the proper name for the metal ring that is on the deck that surrounds the mast and has blocks anchored on it, the mast base aluminum step ring?
If you have an in-mast furling main and the interior setup where the table folds up against the bulkhead, looking from inside how many bolts do you see coming through the deck to fasten the mast step ring?
Haro-
We have a 2005 with in-mast furling and a bulkhead table. I was on our boat today. There are only four bolts that pass through into the cabin: two aft and two on the starboard side. I checked in the head and there were no bolts there, or on the port side of the casting. I couldn't crawl topside (due to the winter cover) to look to see if the collar also utilizes screws to fasten it to the cabin roof. If my memory is correct, I believe it does.
Paul & Wendy Keyser
"First Light"
Rye NH
2005 C36 MKII #2257
Wing, M35B
Thanks Paul for checking. My dock neighbor has the identical c36 2005 as yours. He bought his boat 8 months ago. He told me that he had to pull the mast to replace the mast ring as it had become broken. He showed me how he had chiseled into the bulkhead just under the cabin top to install a new bolt and nut from below to prevent any future broken mast step ring. The screws from the top simply screw into the cabin top plywood with no support from below with a nut, similar to the other bolts. I suspect that the screws became stripped out, due to attached blocks above, and the ring broke.
I was sure that on my 1999 c36 all bolts had nuts below. To my surprise I found two of the port bolts do not protrude through the cabintop and so are also screwed in. In my case there are 10 holes on the ring and 8 of them have nuts below. But on my neighbour's c36 there were 3 protruding middle nuts on the starboard side and one on the port side. There are 2 more holes on front and back of the ring for a total of 4 bolts that were not installed by the manufacturer, but they are on mine.
At first I thought the installer cut corners and it was an exception, but since yours are also missing, you may consider adding the 4 bolts and nuts from below.
Next time I am on his boat, I will take a photo of how he add the nuts below and post it here..
This would be a good question for Catalina to answered.
Haro.
Sail La Vie 1999 Catalina 36 MKII, M35B-17031, Coyote Point, San Mateo, CA
About Sail La Vie
Thanks for the info Haro. I've never really looked at this part of the boat until you brought the topic up. I will add at least one bolt to the cabin top mast collar casting (or what ever it's called) during the spring commissioning. Somewhat surprised that Catalina didn't use additional bolts instead of screws to better support the turning blocks. I wonder if many others have had this casting crack?
Paul & Wendy Keyser
"First Light"
Rye NH
2005 C36 MKII #2257
Wing, M35B