Hi Andres,

Interesting choice of things to think about upgrading for a blue-water voyage.  Most of your 'upgrades' are really safety additions in the event things go terribly wrong.  Not bad, of course, but I'd first consider actual structural improvements to a boat to make it more blue-water-ready.  

For our boat, those types of things would likely include:
1.  Upgrade of all standing wire rigging.  Certainly if it hasn't been done before (for your vintage boat).  At the time, I'd probably also upgrade to heavier wire.
2.  Increased tankage (water and fuel).
3.  Any needed sails (including a storm jib)
4.  I'd think hard about my hatches and ports as well.  Leaking?  How are the closures?  
5.  Spares: autopilot, steering cable.  Rudder?  
6.  Probably a bunch of other bits 'n' bobs to consider as well...

Since it really sounds like you're just trying to move the boat, rather than prep for long-term blue-water cruising, I would personally just have it shipped, assuming you have a company around there that does that.

-J

Just food for thought, but I'd spend time on your fuel system - especially on the interior condition of your diesel tank.

Plant growth, which grows in the tank and breaks loose in rough water, can and will clog filters thereby killing your engine.

When I bought my boat, I cut two holes - after draining the tank and vacuuming out the diesel fuel -  in the top of the fuel tank and clean the entire inside of the tank. It was a mess with algae growth; almost half and inch think.  I clean it all out. Made inspection plates and threaded hole the top of the tank, and installed the plates with pliable non-hardening sealant. No leaks as of yet.

I also replaced all the fuel lines and filters.  
I motored 444nm without a hiccup from the engine.

Time and energy well spent.

The new tank supplied by Catalina Direct come with custom inspection ports all ready form the factory - and are USCG approved:
http://www.catalinadirect.com/index.cfm/product/2936_800/fuel-tank-32-ga...

Andres,

Search this site. There is at least one C36 owner who circumnavigated. Craig somebody, in Seattle. Larry Brandt reported here about a conversation he had with him about upgrades. The guy talked to Gerry Douglas the designer of the C36, and he specifically said not to increase the rigging size as it is already oversized. Replace? For sure.

The only major adjustment the circumnavigator made was to add two extra cockpit drains, and he said it didn't really matter IIRC.

There's also a famous story about a C36 that was abandoned just 100 miles off LA heading for Hawai'i -- they did a lot of things wrong but there are still some lessons. E.g. they talked about taking on water and the bilge pumps not being able to reach it because the boat was so heeled. I have seen that myself under normal sailing conditions and I now have a small bilge pump on a stick, wires with crocodile clips, that I can deploy and poke into any corner of the boat as needed. I just dump any water into the cockpit. There's not much but the central bilge pumps are left high and dry on a heel.

I'd say you are on the right track with emphasizing safety equipment.

- nick

I would think some of this is dependent on timing... Have you planned this voyage based on the monsoons (wind direction and strength) in the South China Sea? If you hit the SW/SE monsoon, you're beating the whole time but winds are more moderate. The northerly monsoons would give you more favorable wind direction but they can be... stronger sailing weather than I would want to be out in.

You should do a thorough inspection of the boat, beyond what a surveyor will or might do. This includes all standing & running rigging, sails, packing glands, through hulls, rudder and rig tension. If you are mostly near shore (ie less than 80 miles from shore) then SSB is a nice to have but expensive. The VHF will probably do fine. There has been a lot of discussion on life rafts over the years, so you need to do some research on this. The engine needs to be thoroughly checked including the exhaust hoses, the exhaust riser and mixing elbow. All engine/fuel filters need to be fresh at the start of the voyage and have sufficient spares. Service everything, engine, transmission, blocks, masthead sheaves etc. Other useful  spares include a raw water pump, impellers, a spare halyard and some running rigging, snatch blocks, replacement bulbs etc. I carried a spare fresh water pump, a macerator, bilge pumps & hose, a full set of engine hoses among many other items, use common sense on what other spares you need . Make sure emergency signals are still valid. I also carried six 5 Gallon diesel cans. All fuel was filtered through a WM Baja type filter. In three years of cruising in Mexico we were never more than 85 miles offshore but did encounter heavy weather a few times. We had no AIS but had Radar. We did opt to purchase a Viking 4 person off-shore life raft and mounted it on the foredeck just ahead of the mast. You should have an EPIRB and a grab bag.  There is much more I could say about the preparation and the reality of distance sailing, unfortunately, too much to include here. What I have given here, is just a sample of the thought and planning that goes towards a safe and worry free trip.
John Meyer
Hilbre 2135

Andres, the mast length will be in the owner's manual in the Members' Technical Articles section.

The mast is one piece.

What is the height of the Mast "above" the water level? 

Does any one know why the made the MK 2 so much shorter than the MK 1 ?

Tom

if you go to the manual for the Mark 2 the height above water line is 52 feet 2 inches . The manual for the Mark 1 shows 56 feet 6 inches. These are for the tall rig as that is what I have and in my book it shows both of these numbers in different places, 

Andres, I have a couple comments:

1) Why do you think that you need to make this a 1600 NM trip? Of course you want the boat to be safe for an open ocean voyage of 160 NM or 1600 NM, and there should be no difference in that. But the voyage from HK to SIN could be broken into short legs of a couple days each, don't you think? Wouldn't Hainan Island and the Vietnamese coast be available to you?

2)  I might be interested in doing this trip for you at no charge if my expenses were covered. It would put my planned 2015 Alaska trip on hold, but subject to a) my assessment of the serviceability of the vessel and b) suitable results from my researching the piracy risk along that route, I might do it. Would need one trustworthy crewman, of course.

I worked out of HK for three years '78 through '80, and lived in Singapore for 10 months in '88 . Met my [German] wife there, in fact. I've been through two typhoons in HK and one in Manila and so have a serious appreciation for seasonal weather in the South China Sea. Note, though, that I wouldn't move anyone's boat over there, especially to Singapore, without having the cops run a drug dog through it.