Can you be more specific? I am sure we can help you if you give us more details.

I could be wrong but I though you had to chip the filler out of the skeg and all the attachments were made there on the outside of the boat?

If you do pull the aft water tank let me know how you do it - mine is leaking :(

The strut on my 2003 has to be replaced and I did a quick "search" on "Strut" to see what is involved. The search produced a nice drawing of the strut and the work needed to get to it by Tom Soko.
Hilbre is out of the water for scheduled bottom work and a cutlass replacement. The bronze strut has a nasty Pink/Rose color and is somewhat soft in that area. As we are about to take a long cruise, I want no problems.

An update from the surveyor. He has seen this a few times before and can be caused by rapid electrolysis over a short period of time usually by a live power line falling into the water and the circuit breaker not tripping. It gives a different meaning to looking at what other boaters are doing in slips near you and what type of cables they are using.
John Meyer
Hilbre 2135

I recently had a lot of keel and strut work done to correct some issues presumably caused by a grounding years ago. The strut was loose and external glass work was not enough to stabilize it. I had the strut removed and reattached, which meant digging out a lot of glass and filler externally. Inside, the water tank was removed to access the strut bolts through the hull, under the tank. You will need to grind away some FG tabbing around the plywood panels that enclose the tank to remove the tank.
Neil
#863 Undine

I had this problem on my C30. The tech shop at Catalina faxed me blueprints on how it was set up and how to get the bolts out. You may want to check with them first.

I had to replace the strut on my 1987 Mark 1 and yes I had to remove the center water tank under the aft berth. The strut is held in place by 4 bolts and then glassed in. The water tank is held in a glassed in box and I had to cut the glass on the corners (2). This allows the tank to be slide out. When I reinstalled the tank, I just used a couple of L brackets on the corners to keep it in place.

Finding the strut was the hardest part for me. Catalina was in the process of moving from CA to FL and it was on back order from Catalina Direct. Please note that the strut for the C36 is also used on the C34 and a couple of other Catalinas.

Hope this helps,

Hilbre has a new strut and cutlass bearing. I am told by the yard that did the work that Catalina now casts their own struts and the one they received from Catalina required machining. First, there were no bolt holes so these had to be drilled and second the core for the cutlass bearing was one-eighth on an inch too large for the standard cutlass bearing (thin wall). It had to be machined to take a thick wall cutlass bearing. Anyone considering a strut replacement needs to confirm details with Catalina. For those of you who would like to see what it takes, here is a link to some pictures. The center water tank has to come out and the engine re-aligned after the work is complete.

[url]http://www.sailblogs.com/member/hilbre/index.php?show=gallery&aid=15296&...

John Meyer
Hilbre