Mailport: Alado Furler, Diesel Additives, Catalina 22

ALADO FURLER ISSUES?

My Alado furler system was installed for 3 years on my Newport 27 and the 3/16” forestay (purchased separately at the same time) snapped near the top of the bottom turnbuckle while under way. The fact that the system contains its own halyard system is not more advanced that the other systems that use a masthead forestay. Since the system is essentially floating on your forestay, the lateral weight caused by furling and winds on the jib are being forced upon the fittings at the top of the mast and right above the turnbuckle on the bow. On conventional furling systems the masthead halyard tightens the luff tape on the jib which helps to take some of the side loading. Stainless steel is strong when tensioned, but can break like a paperclip under constant side loads, which is exactly what happened to mine. Luckily everyone on the boat was safe and I was able to recover everything. I will not be reinstalling the Alado system.

Kevin Cerini
Kissimmee Kate, Newport 27
San Francisco, CA

As you point out, Alado’s integral halyard design has its drawbacks (see “PS Tests the Alado Jib Furler,” PS December 2008), but it offers an affordable alternative to conventional designs and a few advantages to the DIY installer. Integral halyard furlers like the Alado and CDI have a long history of use, particularly on boats in the under 35-foot range—but we’d look at more conventional designs for more rigorous offshore work. The furler we installed for our report never gave us a problem over six years of testing but your experience raises questions. As you mention, the integral halyard setup means the halyard/luff tape does not relieve headstay tension as it does on a conventional furler. In our experience, as long as there is adequate backstay tension, properly sized hardware, and free movement in the toggles and turnbuckles, the integral halyard design should not result in harmful side-loading. Several other factors may have contributed to the failure, including fatigue (which can happen at the dock), corrosion (often invisible), or a material defect. Clean breaks near the terminal like the one you describe also occurred our straight-pull testing of wire terminals, so side-loading isn’t the only possible culprit (see “Mechanical Terminal Pull Test,” PS April 2017). The chief advantage of the integral halyard system is that it can be installed fairly easily by the do-it-yourselfer—but the latest generation of conventional furlers have also simplified their installation (see “Genoa Furler Refit: a Semi-DIY Project,” PS October 2019). We would be interested in hearing about others’
experiences with furler systems like the Alado which feature integral halyards.

DIESEL FUEL LIFE?

When a boat is not used often, does the diesel fuel need re-treatment if no new fuel is added? I try to run my Perkins 4-108 once or twice a month, in gear at the dock at 1,200 RPM as my marine engine installer recommended. My 40-gallon tank lasts a very long time.

I am using StarTron additive, but uncertain whether additional treatment is needed periodically.

Phillip Legare
Via PS Online

Properly stored, marine diesel can easily last five years without causing any harm to your engine. But too often on boats it is not properly stored. In our view, you should aim to completely cycle your tank every three years at a minimum, and make sure that you maintain good quality fuel through the use of biocides as needed. Regular filter changes should give you a good indication of fuel quality. During filter changes sample your fuel. It should be “clear and bright,” with no turbidity. Don’t worry about color. Most diesel is amber, but red dye is used in the U.S. to designate fuel that has not paid a road tax from which boats are exempt.
Your chief enemy is water in the diesel which allows bacteria to grow. In the U.S., where fuel is rarely contaminated and the blend is already dosed with stabilizers, leaks at the filler cap is often the culprit.

In short, keep water out, use biocides as needed, and monitor filters for signs of contamination. So long as your tank and lines are in good condition, your fuel will be good.

We’ve done extensive testing of diesel biocides and found several formulas that kill bugs and help prevent them from coming back, “Biocides Take on Contaminated Fuel,” PS July 2009. Fuel polishing, either through a dockside service or a built-in system, can get rid of bugs, but unless you treat the polished fuel with a biocide, they will return. If your tank has sat dormant for years, you might need a complete tank cleaning (see “Do-it-Yourself Tank Cleaning,” PS July 2018). Another concern is certain metals leaching into the fuel over time (see “Are Copper Zinc, and Brass Mucking Up Our Fuel?” PS December 2019). The additives we recommend help neutralize the offending metals, but as our study shows, the fittings and hoses you put in your fuel system should be rated for that purpose, and not just whatever you can find at the local hardware store.

If you really want to dive into the topic of fuel quality—both diesel and gas—our e-book “Marine Fuel Additives,” covers the topic from top to bottom (see https://www.practical-sailor.com/product/marine-fuel-additives).

PRAISE FOR THE CATALINA 22

I enjoyed your review of the Catalina 22. My parents got one in the mid-’70s and I “inherited” her. My wife and I spent our honeymoon cruise on her, later we packed our 3 kids and a dog on it for a 5-day cruise. I fixed her up again for a 25th anniversary honeymoon-reprise cruise. Not a fast boat, but to learn to sail and cruise? Perfect. And growing up cruising in such tight accommodations made the trimaran I have now gravitated towards (a reaction to sailing slowly?) quite tolerable. It is a perfect starter-boat. Mast-raising is easy if done carefully and slowly with appropriate gin-pole and some “baby-stay” guy wires: the trick is to get the baby-stays to rotate around the same point as the mast-base so they are tight all the way up. Or to have some help keeping the mast straight during raising.

Your review of the Catalina 22 does focus on many negatives, but missed the wicked weather-helm under some conditions. It took me years to realize I could simply move the center-of-effort aft by raising the swing-keel some, which helped immensely, despite seeming counter-intuitive. Don’t be scared off, but on older boats inspect the plywood cores for saturation and rot, and check for signs of separation of the deck from the hull at the bow: I installed a turnbuckle from foredeck to the bow-ring to take the forestay tension when I fixed ours up.

My current boat is Corsair F-31 hull #001, registered in Ottawa, Canada. Most of our cruising has been on Georgian Bay, North Channel. We made one trip to the Bahamas. We bought Osprey largely because of features we loved about the Catalina: trailerable behind a (large) SUV, easy to launch, shallow draft (the F-31 is beachable), reasonable (if a bit tight) accommodations.

Ben Bacque
Osprey 007, Corsair F-31
Georgian Bay, Canada

WALKER BAY PARTS PROBLEMS

I bought a Walker Bay 8 with sail kit last year and the holes to install the drain plug were mis-drilled, requiring me to redrill them. Worse, the rivets holding the plastic plugs in the top and bottom of the daggerboard had not been made flush. Fortunately, I found this out using the short plug instead, because it took two full grown adults using a screwdriver and a 2×4 as a lever to remove the plug. Having realized that the 8-foot model was too small for me (I’m not as limber as I used to be) I ordered a Walker Bay 10. The boat arrived missing a number of bolts for the thwarts. The dealer I ordered through was told that the sail kit was missing pieces. The Walker Bay 8 and 10 are both fine boats, but I suggest buying one used.

J. Greely
via PS Online

Walker Bay took the dinghy market by storm with its injection-moulded polypropylene hull a few decades ago. Product support was one of its calling cards. We’d be interested to hear if other Walker Bay owners have experienced similar problems.

PUMP NOISE

I have a new to me Catalina 42 with a loud fresh water pump. It is mounted with rubberized mount. It is located in a relatively spacious behind the engine compartment. Can I ‘wrap’ the pump in the insulation you recommend?

Rick Benson
Catalina 42
Via PS Online

Just wrapping a mechanical device with insulation can do more harm than good as it could lead to overheating. Try to isolate the source of noises—friction (whines, squeaks, hums) or vibration (which you should feel near the mounting area and adjacent structures). The former will benefit from strategically placed sound barriers, the latter can be fixed better mounts or by stiffening the fiberglass panel it is mounted on. Is the pump cycling too often because there is no accumulator/expansion tank? Some pump manufacturers are claiming “no accumulator/expansion tank needed,” but in the opinion of many engineers, this isn’t really viable for many systems, and it leads to disappointed owners. Boat builders like the on-demand pumps because they save time. If there is a hot water heater, there needs to be an expansion tank, period. Otherwise, the pipes have to absorb the expansion, eventually failing.

LEAVE BOTTOM JOBS TO THE PROS

Omitted from discussion was the use of chemical hazmat suits routinely worn by workers handling hazardous chemicals/paints in commercial and US Naval Shipyards. These suits have external filtered air supplies in addition to complete body coverage. They’re used routinely in the commercial shipbuilding and repair industry throughout the world. As well anywhere where hazardous materials are involved.

We might also note that in the early days of fiberglass boat building it was all too common for yard workers to wrap their heads with just a cloth or towel. Many of those workers subsequently came down with various cancers dying premature deaths. The materials rank high on the list for incidence of cancers. Painting, sanding, refurbishing boat bottoms ought be left to the properly suited professionals.

Peter I. Berman
Norwalk, CT
Via PS Online