catalac 8m questions

[belize j]

i've recently aquired a 1980 8m catalac. it appears to have originally been fitted with inboards. the owner before me cut out the stern and fitted it with a honda 9horse. problem is: she takes on water with following waves. i'm looking for photos and info on how the outboard designed catalac (8m) is, and also the inboard fitted catalac 8m. PLEASE! i love the boat otherwise, but that stern-well area fills all the way up w/following water and runs forward up into the forward part of the stern lockers. i have my 11-year-old son on pumping duties, but every ten minutes! thanks for reply, jeff

[GordMay]

Catalac resources & information:
Catalac 8M, the best affordable cruising catamaran I could find

Including: http://catalpa.amberdell.com/files/c...m_brochure.pdf

and much more ...

[Tropic Cat]

Thanks for the plug Gord.

As to the original poster, your description of the problem is a tad on the confusing side. Are you saying the 1GM10's have been removed from the boat and the PO modified the stern to accomodate a 9HP outboard? Did he also remove the fuel tanks?

What are you calling stern wells? There are two lazzerettes directly above the rudders. These are wet lockers by design. Both have plugs which have to be installed at their base. If these are filling, ignore it. They are separate from the hulls and it's not unusual to accumulate water in them.

Please email me direct for more information or visit my web site and check the Factory Update Page.

[scotty]

jeff a better idea is to trade boats with me, my boat does not need pumping.

btw i have really fallen in love the the catalac boats. i dont want a super modern cat, i want a solid cat of a size that just happen to fit the 8m boats. now i just need to save for years, but by the time i save enough catalacs will be very old. and i dont believe in credit

[belize j]

i'll try to be more descriptive. my 8m catalac has a honda 9.9 on the stern. it appears that there used to be a seat w/locker under, where the cut-out for the honda is; i say this because it looks as if it were cut out with a sawsall, and you can still see the gutter for the locker hatch (which isn't there). the engine well looks original. it has a drain plug and tapers as it goes forward up under the boat. the problem is, the engine bracket, where the outboard bolts on, seems to have been cut lower to alow the hondas, foot to get lower in the water; as a result, when sailing or motoring, with waves from behind, water fills up the engine well, and this engine well (also where the hondas' control cables run), empties forward into the under side of where the electric panal and steering cables are. does any of this make sense? so what i'm looking for, are pictures of a 8m catalac that came from the factory with an outboard. i've checked out every catalac picture i can find on the web, and none are a close-up of the outboard engine configuration. i don't have the money to put diesels in her, but i could glass it back to the original intention if i had an idea of the design. so, anybody have a good picture? thanks, jeff

[Tropic Cat]

Take a look here.

CatalacOwnersGroup : Catalac Owners Group

[Talbot]

I believe I may be able to shed some light on this one. The stern lockers I believe you are talking about are the ones where the steering arms are housed, and on inboard powered catalacs it is also where the fuel tanks are located. These lockers are a bad design in both the 8m and the 9m, and are expected to fill with water! The main problem I found was inflow where the steering arm that connects the two rudders enters these lockers. I added an additional rubber gasket to help seal the hole. My 9m also had an outboard, and this was originally attached to the steering arm in order for the engine to steer with the rudders. I discovered that the method of connecting had added a couple of holes into these lockers even lower than the steering arm, and was the main place that water was entering (I had already sealed the hole at the base of the locker which allowed it to be free-flow of water) The biggest problem if you seal this hole at the base of the lockers and do not do anything to stop water coming in, the locker tops up with water. Whilst that only will fill that locker in the starboard hull, the port hull is a different matter. The steering cable needs holes through, and when the port locker is about 2/3 full, it will start to fill up the port engine room. (speaking from experience before I started discovering all the holes and filling them up!) I ended up with a couple of little automatic bilge pumps in the locker, but was not getting a lot of water in there anyway - nearly as much when it rained as when motoring in bad weather.

I had a much bigger engine, and due to problems in space for the installation, had not been able to get a decent forward rake on the engine, thus the stern squatted horribly (hence sealing the lower hioles)

You may be able to help solve your problem by:

getting a bit more forward rake on the engine
checking there is no lower hole for water to ingress
adding a better sealing flap over the hole for the steering connector
sealing the hole at the bottom of the locker
adding an automatic bile pump.

Bye the way

The floor of that stern locker is a false floor, sometimes not well sealed, and sometimes full of water underneath it. Its worth checking this out when you haul next.


Rick knows more about the 8m than I do, but I owned a 9m for 21 years, and knew both Tom and Mary Lack. I am always happy to assist on Catalac questions.