Catalina Owner Reviews

Serving sailors online since 1997

Review of the Catalina Capri-26 by Frank Columbia

Year built	1997
Location of boat	Cropwell Alabama
The boat is sailed on	Lakes
How the boat is used	Day sailing
Normal wind strength	10-15 knots
Average size of crew	solo
Liveaboard?	No
Owner bought the boat in	1997
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again?	Absolutely, It is a great boat. I bought it for the long haul. I eventually will relocate this boat to the gulf. Through out my marina there are so many examples of catalina's some of which must be considered antique. Most for long periods of time are not lets say well cared for but when they are finally cleaned up they clean up relly well. Other makes for the most part are not made with the same quality as the cataqlina's. I have a yanmar inboard fresh water cooled and it uses less than 10 gallons a year. I treat the fuel with a biocide, add a little marvel mystery oil also; never topping it off and change the oil yearly and that is all it needs this far south. I like to sail in the winter time so the boat is used year round.I still love this boat and boy is it nice inside.
Gear that's been added	I have LPG stove, television/vcr, alcohol heaterand the yanmar diesel I ordered it with also,a VHF radio.Eating utensils pots and pans, 12v blender,gas grill dvd player.
Structural or complex improvements	I made changes to my CDI roller furler by drilling the hole where the line attaches to the drum and put in a larger diameter line. The old line would hurt my hands every time I pulled the sail in. The line I replaced it with was only slightly thicker so it would still fit in the existing jam cleat. I also have a stainless steel Bimini with sunbrella top and It stays out in the open all year this being it's 6th year. It's amazing how tuff that stuff is.I also didn't like the flat finsh on the interior wood so I sanded them lightly then varnished with semigloss marine varnish.
The boat's best features	Rock solid construction and extremely comfortable. It is truly the swiss army knife of cruising sailboats. I recently went to a boat show and took a look at the current lineup of sailboats and talked to the catalina rep. after going inside the hunters and catalina's I told her I would have to go to the 350 Catalina to get more inside room than the boat I already have. She aked me what I have and I told her and she agreed. There really wasn't any more interior space in even the 387. This is because the capri26 has such a large beam 10'11". I also want to mention that this is not a tender boat and has good headroom and a real head.
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc.	My mainsail which is battened tends to rub on my backstay. Which will require repair shortly but other than this It has been bullet-proof.
Sailing characterisitcs	I have raced people from my marina sometimes they have more accelleration but I can constantly sail closer to the wind which usually gives me the win.This is a boat you can venture out in five to ten wind and if it changes to 20 to 30+ you will not have any problems getting back safely. This is one fun boat to sail when there's whitecaps on the lake.
Motoring characterisitcs	The yanmar pushes the boat at 5.5kts. even in a headwind. I have spent the better parts of a whole day and have not used any measure of fuel.I over the past 6 plus years used maybe 60 gallons.
Liveability	I've weekended on my boat and the v-berth is very comfortable. The boat also doesn't get damp It is very close to sleeping in your own bedroom. The icebox with one bag of ice will keep for at least two days I have a built in LPG stove two mounted fans from wallmart on clearance for $2.00 each one in head the other is in the main cabin which plus into marine cigarette lighter. There's 5'11" headroom and a wide beam and the boat is very comfortable with lots of storage.
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any)	I haven,t but every time I wanted something Catalina delivered but I always went through my dealer who has become a very dear friend of mine, even his eployees have almost become part of the family.
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any	My dealer has become A very good friend of mine. I knew beforehand what was reasonable to pay for the boat and value of the trade in. I was not a hard bargain seeker. I know the value of having good relations with the marina. These are the people who may or may not correct a docking mistake, look after your boat, assign you a slip, make future repairs etc. In other words find good people and don't act like a cheap jerk. I do my own service and buy add-ons on my own but anything technical like bimini size and placement, sails etc. I leave it up to my dealer.When he quoted me $750.00 for the bimini I was floored but in truth I got what I paid for It has survived near hurricane winds. and mounting position was more critical than I thought, he had one mounted wrong prviously and mounted mine correctly.
Other comments	I think It is a shame Catalina no longer offers this model. One day I would like to have a larger Catalina, I really like the new 350 Catalina and hope they will continue making other beamy boats like this.

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