Privilege Cats

[scotte]

Originally Posted by Strygaldwir

Well, I guess I need the pictures!! It does not like spaces. Reformated the heck out of my carefully crafted rudder!

For what it's worth, you can use the "code" tag for this sort of thing, which will do a much better job of preserving whitespace and use a monospace font as well. In the message editor, it's got a # icon...

[R&B]

Hey keith or greg
I have a similar problem within the past two weeks...now the description you gave of the steering system sound to be the same as my 39 so I am going to ASSume that it have the same set up. but my issue is the steering became very tight..so I lubed all the cable and quadrants with little improvement. I have no play in my rudders so I was thinking I needed some sort of lube in the post tube but could not find any lube fittings..The quadrants seem to be directly on top of the post tube and I thought there might be some friction there but was sure If I could loosen the quad the get under it...(without the rudder falling into 30 ft of water) any suggestions would be great....I think it was keith saying that the bushing swells, we were out of the water for a week I am wondering if that may cause an older bushing to swell....I have no Ideas just shooting in the dark...any help would be great.

[svcattales]

Originally Posted by R&B

Hey keith or greg
I have a similar problem within the past two weeks...now the description you gave of the steering system sound to be the same as my 39 so I am going to ASSume that it have the same set up. but my issue is the steering became very tight..so I lubed all the cable and quadrants with little improvement. I have no play in my rudders so I was thinking I needed some sort of lube in the post tube but could not find any lube fittings..The quadrants seem to be directly on top of the post tube and I thought there might be some friction there but was sure If I could loosen the quad the get under it...(without the rudder falling into 30 ft of water) any suggestions would be great....I think it was keith saying that the bushing swells, we were out of the water for a week I am wondering if that may cause an older bushing to swell....I have no Ideas just shooting in the dark...any help would be great.

R&B, Your problem sounds similar to Keith's where he had to remove bearings to "dress them down" to free up the steering. I have a suggestion to help you trouble-shoot the problem. Try disconnecting the long bar that connects both rudder quadrants and try to turn the quadrant by hand on the rudder not connected to the cables. (On my boat the steering cables connect to the port rudder and the starboard rudder is driven by the long bar) Next, try to turn the other rudder using the helm & cables to see if it is significantly easier. Hopefully, you can isolate which rudder is causing the problem. If you can isolate the stiff rudder perhaps you can work than one back & forth to loosen it up. I don't think there are any lube fittings near the bearings so you may have to remove a rudder to solve the problem. Good luck & let us know what you find out.

[Herbseesmoore]

Considering the Privilege 39 1988, 1st year I believe. Does anyone know if the design of the hulls and bridge deck clearance was change any over the years. I read something to the effect but could not tell if it was the 39 or earlier Privileges in general.

Herbster

[R&B]

Herbster
Not exactly sure but I think it only changed sometime between 1995 1996...dont qoute me on the years. The deck and hull on the 88 ls the same as my 1992

[R&B]

Greg
Thanks for the reply I did check that all out...There was no significat difference between rudders....I am starting to think it is in the cable casings....Davis makes this lube that I bought that was made for incased cable it seemed to have loosend it up I didnt touch it for a couple a days now and the seering is back to normal...But I will keep and eye on it.....Thanks again

[Herbseesmoore]

Thanks R&B,
Only 1000 questions to go. What is the purpose of the black lexan, is it cosmetic, I see the post that grey was unsatisfactory. It looks like a heat sink and so the covers? The 39 we are looking at will need some lexan replacement. Probably 1st project. I'll reread those post. Are these pieces ready made for order or custom made.

Appreciate the help,
Herbster

[Talbot]

Having a good look at the deck layout of the 37, 39 and 395, I was surprised to see the helm position so far aft on the 39. I suppose an ex-half boat owner would appreciate being out in the open like that, and it does provide a larger outside dining area, but I have been accustomed to having a roof over my head and being sheltered from the waves in my last cat, what do 39 owners think of this arrangement

[maxingout]

I prefer the helm position on the Privilege 39. It's out of the way and gives a much larger cockpit to enjoy.On our circumnavigation, we rarely steered at the helm. Our Autohelm 7000 did 99.9% of the steering around the world. The only time I ever steered was for fun, for going through dangerous passes and maneuvering in close quarters, and to give the autopilot a rest for short periods in rough seas.In 14 years of ownership, I sat at the helm for fun rather than necessity. I would much rather have a larger cockpit.

[Herbseesmoore]

I am getting different info on the hulls of the 1988 Privilege 39 that we have under contract. A Sailing Magazine article states " The 39’s hulls are composite, cored from the waterline up and solid from the waterline down". The current owner believes the hulls are airex cored completely. And I spoke with another current owner that believes they are solid from where the deck joins on down.
Do these construction methods change over the years? I'll have a survey on the 3rd of July, maybe that will put this to rest. I like the idea of solid hulls, one of the traits that drew me to this boat.

Herbster

[Mango Cat]

I have a 1989 Privilege 39. I believe that the cored section extends below the waterline to just below the level of the cabin sole.
If you look in the bilge you can see where the core blends into the solid lay up. I will be finding out for sure next month when I replace the plastic thru hulls for the heads. I wonder if Privilege is still using plastic thru hull fittings and valves.
Anybody else worry about those or had one fail?
I am pleased with the boat overall. One thing to check on these boats is that the walls of the head tend to let shower water seep into the plywood walls. Water collects where the walls are glassed to the hull and the wood in between rots away.
Russ

[Herbseesmoore]

Thanks for that info, every little bit helps as we anxiously wait for the buying process to play out.

Herbster

[scotte]

Originally Posted by Mango Cat

I wonder if Privilege is still using plastic thru hull fittings and valves.
Anybody else worry about those or had one fail?

Yep. I plan to replace all below water line thruhulls and seacocks... Even the metal ones don't open and close all that easily, and plastic seacocks below the waterline... Well I'm not a fan of them!

Originally Posted by Mango Cat

One thing to check on these boats is that the walls of the head tend to let shower water seep into the plywood walls. Water collects where the walls are glassed to the hull and the wood in between rots away.

I'm in the middle of dealing with this problem. Water was seeping down and starting to rot the bulkheads at the bilge. I ripped the head down to bare hull and bulkheads, dried everything out, injected lots of penetrating epoxy, retabbed the bulkheads to the hull, fiberglassed the shower tray back in, and tomorrow start fitting in FRP panels from Lowe's for the shower walls. When I'm done, there will be no exposed wood (except the door frame and the cabinet). I love the beautiful wood finish, but we decided to sacrifice it behind FRP panels to keep the water where we want it.

I'll try and get some pictures up of this rebuild at some point.

[maxingout]

Originally Posted by Mango Cat

I have a 1989 Privilege 39. I believe that the cored section extends below the waterline to just below the level of the cabin sole.
If you look in the bilge you can see where the core blends into the solid lay up. I will be finding out for sure next month when I replace the plastic thru hulls for the heads. I wonder if Privilege is still using plastic thru hull fittings and valves.
Anybody else worry about those or had one fail?
I am pleased with the boat overall. One thing to check on these boats is that the walls of the head tend to let shower water seep into the plywood walls. Water collects where the walls are glassed to the hull and the wood in between rots away.
Russ

I have had two marelon plastic fittings break off. One on a head intake, and one small one in the engine room. I replaced all of them while in the water in Australia. It's a two man job, but it can be done without hauling the boat out of the water. We beached the boat so we couldn't sink if we had a problem, but we still had all the through hulls underwater when we changed them out. It took about half a day to change out eleven marelon through hulls for bronze ones. All it takes is one person on the inside of the yacht, and one on the outside. Piece of cake.

When Privilege built my catamaran, they brought the internal and external fiberglass skins together in the area of the through hulls. There is no exposed foam core when you change out the through hulls.

The foam core goes down to the waterline, but if you load the boat heavily, it will be below the waterline.

[maxingout]

Originally Posted by Herbseesmoore

I am getting different info on the hulls of the 1988 Privilege 39 that we have under contract. A Sailing Magazine article states " The 39’s hulls are composite, cored from the waterline up and solid from the waterline down". The current owner believes the hulls are airex cored completely. And I spoke with another current owner that believes they are solid from where the deck joins on down.
Do these construction methods change over the years? I'll have a survey on the 3rd of July, maybe that will put this to rest. I like the idea of solid hulls, one of the traits that drew me to this boat.

Herbster

The foam core goes down approximately to the waterline. If you go into the engine room, you can see the line where the foam core ends, and the solid fiberglass begins.

I have had my privilege 39 for fourteen years and I have never had a problem with the hull. It has extremely strong construction.

The only place I ever had water intrustion into the core was in the floor of the chain locker. The design was faulty because they fiberglassed stainless steel loops into the floor of the chain locker, and water could seep around the edges of the stainless loops and get into the floor and it's core. The stainless loops were there to attach the bitter end of the anchor rodes. The stainless loops did what they were supposed to do, but they also allowed water intrustion into the core in the floor of the locker. The surveyor in New Zealand tapped out the hull with a hammer and found the delamination, and we replaced the core in the floor of that locker without a problem. We have had no problems with it since the repair.

I recommend that anyone buying a cored multihull to take a tiny hammer and tap out the hull to see if you can find any areas of delamination. It's easy to do and could save you a lot of headaches later on.

The Privilege 39 is very robust. It can take a licking and keep on ticking. It's a good offshore catamaran that tooks us around the world without ever having to worry whether the yacht was up to the job.

Good luck on your survey.