laketahoe
New Member
Just got back from a few weeks with having a new to me 2004 Mod 3 14.2 at Lake Tahoe. I made a few modification before the trip, mostly based on posts I have seen here. All of which I was very glad I did-
1) Installed a Hobie Baby Bob for extra piece of mind to not turtle. We actually had a blast the first day in calm winds capsizing and recovering. Overall not as hard as I thought it would be, but I will be adding a swim ladder for next year to help get back into the boat, or a better rope ladder than the one I had cobbled together. With the Baby Bob installed it is pretty clear it would be impossible to turtle it.
2) Installed the Catalina outboard motor mount for a Newport Vessels 36lb trolling motor. As per another post I saw, to prevent the rudder from hitting the motor I reversed the direction of the brackets inward so I could get the mount furthest to the port side while stilling being able to access the bolts in the cockpit. With the trolling motor locked in a straight position, you can use the rudder to steer without it hitting the motor prop. While drilling these holes, I did see wood material and the transom was not hollow, so I was glad that it appears Catalina reinforced the transom during manufacturing for this motor mount even though this boat didn't come with it from the factory.
3) Installed an electrical outlet for the motor back near the transom and ran 8awg cabling forward to the cuddy. Fishing this wire was a challenge- I had to use a boroscope camera stuck up the drain plug hole and fiberglass fish rods pushed down from the small holes in the cuddy. It was interesting to find that on this model they did add buoyancy by adding what looked like plastic water jugs taped in place with plastic packing style tape (pics attached)
In the cuddy I put a 50AH lithium iron phosphate battery. Having the battery in the cuddy keeps the weight forward and the cockpit area clear. The trolling motor was really critical for us, and allowed us to to get home on a day when the winds just went to dead calm when we were miles away from home. It was also very helpful in mooring/docking.
4) Installed a Boom Kicker. I think this was a good addition for convenience in handling the boom.
The only thing I still want to do is to add reef points to the main sail and upgrade to a furling jib.
1) Installed a Hobie Baby Bob for extra piece of mind to not turtle. We actually had a blast the first day in calm winds capsizing and recovering. Overall not as hard as I thought it would be, but I will be adding a swim ladder for next year to help get back into the boat, or a better rope ladder than the one I had cobbled together. With the Baby Bob installed it is pretty clear it would be impossible to turtle it.
2) Installed the Catalina outboard motor mount for a Newport Vessels 36lb trolling motor. As per another post I saw, to prevent the rudder from hitting the motor I reversed the direction of the brackets inward so I could get the mount furthest to the port side while stilling being able to access the bolts in the cockpit. With the trolling motor locked in a straight position, you can use the rudder to steer without it hitting the motor prop. While drilling these holes, I did see wood material and the transom was not hollow, so I was glad that it appears Catalina reinforced the transom during manufacturing for this motor mount even though this boat didn't come with it from the factory.
3) Installed an electrical outlet for the motor back near the transom and ran 8awg cabling forward to the cuddy. Fishing this wire was a challenge- I had to use a boroscope camera stuck up the drain plug hole and fiberglass fish rods pushed down from the small holes in the cuddy. It was interesting to find that on this model they did add buoyancy by adding what looked like plastic water jugs taped in place with plastic packing style tape (pics attached)
In the cuddy I put a 50AH lithium iron phosphate battery. Having the battery in the cuddy keeps the weight forward and the cockpit area clear. The trolling motor was really critical for us, and allowed us to to get home on a day when the winds just went to dead calm when we were miles away from home. It was also very helpful in mooring/docking.
4) Installed a Boom Kicker. I think this was a good addition for convenience in handling the boom.
The only thing I still want to do is to add reef points to the main sail and upgrade to a furling jib.
