Catalina Owner Reviews

Serving sailors online since 1997

Review of the Catalina Capri-26 by Jeff2650

Year built	1990
Location of boat	Solomons, Md.
The boat is sailed on	Bays, sounds, or protected salt water
How the boat is used	Day sailing
Normal wind strength	Select one
Average size of crew	solo
Liveaboard?	No
Owner bought the boat in	2001
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again?	Yes, it was and remains our first boat. Catalina is a solid boat and is easy to maintain, even with its inboard diesel M2-12.
Gear that's been added	Standard Items, but nothing major.
Structural or complex improvements	other than tuning the rig often with my Loos Pro 2 gauge for the standing 3/16th rigging, no
The boat's best features	Its a small cruiser that suits our needs for weekend jaunts on the Chesapeake Bay. Its very stable in most sea states seen on the bay and rarely have I felt uneasy in the over 18 years of ownership. The features are similar to what one would expect to find on a small camper, its there but not overly complex. The large cockpit is exceptional and the ability to move around quickly on deck (mostly solo) aids in my ability to see the sails ect. The RF is easy to manage and when the winds pick up, the main is pretty quick to reef. I love the 4 self telling 16s winches, its as if another person was onboard to hold the sheets.
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc.	The previous owners never took care of the water heater, so I removed it and tossed into the bay.... Just kidding, settle down folks, it is removed however, I just simply bypassed the heater and connected the out/in tubes with a splice and it works fine.
Sailing characterisitcs	Pretty stable, largely due to its wide beam. But because of this and the wing keel, shes not a great point to wind on a beat, and other boats seem to take her, not quickly, but a slow and gradual loss. That being said, shes comfortable on sail, and rarely finds her beam in the water. She likes to turn into the heavy breezes and pretty quickly develops weather helm, but a lazy mans luff by relaxing the main some usually corrects the heading up.
Motoring characterisitcs	The M2-12 pushes her to hull speed, although I routinely only go to 2600-2700 RPM. The engine access is wonderful with full exposure. I replaced the mixing elbow once, largely due to it rusting out. The heat exchanger is poorly placed and the VERY frequent requirement to inspect the 1/8th pencil zinc is largely a pain, but if not done because to the design will chop off like the base of tree and be stuck, in the exchanger without the ability to retrieve it. Like I said, poor design.
Liveability	Maybe for long weekends, I guess even longer given the sea condition and ability to provision, there seems to be ample storage. This is ideally a weekend cruiser for 2-4 folks.
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any)	Once I went to clean my thru hull speed indicator, I called Catalina and they talked me through it..dont worry- they said, the water will come up and then recede they said...I pulled the plug in the head locker and the water never receded...Like having my hand on the Aorta!!! Im sure they hung up the phone and laughed. I never called back.
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any	Good broker, looked at crappier boat, Im glad they knew what we wanted, even when we didnt
Other comments	Great boat, easy to maintain, I keep it our home in Solomons, Ill upgrade to a 315 one day, but for now Im aimlessly sailing her 40s per season on the bay.

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