Catalina 350 International Association

Hi everyone! I wanted to share our experience with getting our boat back in the water after being winterized. We had the bottom blocked and painted and the boat splashed. We got to our boat and went to get everything up and running as usual. We turned on the A/C and it kicked on, but no flow from the cooling water. Fortunately, we had a friend with us who has experienced anything and everything that can be experienced with a boat. We started checking at the raw water intake, through the strainer, through the pump and finally, through the A/C unit. We applied compressed air through the hose at the pump discharge side and we got no movement. We continued though to the cooling water discharge hose to the A/C unit and again, nothing moved. Having disconnected the hose from the elbow fitting at the hull discharge, we discovered a blockage. A mud dauber wasp had made its nest right in the elbow of the discharge fitting. We cleared the dried mud, reconnected the hose and powered up the A/C. Cooling water flowed freely and all is well. We had tried checking for blockages from the discharge, but due to the elbow, we could not get our probe through to the wasp nest. From now on, we will plug all thru hull openings when the boat is on the hard.