Catalina Owner Reviews

Serving sailors online since 1997

Review of the Catalina 250 by Mark Hartong

Year built	2007
Location of boat	Deltaville, VA
The boat is sailed on	Bays, sounds, or protected salt water
How the boat is used	Weekends and longer
Normal wind strength	10-15 knots
Average size of crew	solo
Liveaboard?	No
Owner bought the boat in	2006
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again?	Yes, She is an optimal trade off between price, size, and features. In the end, even with the additional gear and modification were added, she was 50% of the cost of a similarly equipped 28 Mk II. Affordable, stable, easily soloed, and extremely comfortable for one person, yet still large enough for two for those times when the spouse elects to go.. The dealership, Chesapeake Yacht Sales of Deltaville VA were a pleasure to work with and I can not recommend them enough. Although Persephone was the smallest new vessel they had sold, you would never have known it based on the way they treated us. Weekly phone calls with status until commissioning was complete, and then monthly follow ups for any discovered in service issues.
Gear that's been added	standard options over stock boat: sail-drivemarine head, wheel steering, wheel pedestal guard, ST60 Tridata, holly solecushions
Structural or complex improvements	2nd house battery bank with battery monitor and chargerCockpit port lights to after berthAC Shore powerRC-435 Chart plotterS-1 Wheel driveHolding Tank Tank Level IndictorElectric Bilge pump
The boat's best features	price, ease of maintenance (no vast expanses of woodwork to keep up), simplicity in soloing, stability, weatherproof pop top cover, roominess for 1 person (use the V berth for stowage, and after berth for sleeping), inboard diesel (fair number of power boaters around who insist on making wake, so there is always the issue of cavitation) excellent access to the dieselWhile I would have loved to have a C28 Mk II, or the 30 MkIII/309, the C250 is really the boat for the rest of us on a budget. While either of the later would be have been wonderful, the 250 allows one to go sailing with a new boat and still have money left over for other things. Something not possible with the other two when one considers all of the other expenses in life (house, car, school, medical, etc)
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc.	Slightly heavy by the stern with the fuel tank and holding tank right aft. Remembering to duck when standing up quickly. After the first couple of times not ducking, Salon table is a bit of an access problem if using the v berth ( though since don't have a navigation station works well for spreading charts) Table fiddles would be nice when anchored out and have to deal with wake turbulence
Sailing characterisitcs	Well balanced, dry boat that likes to be sailed relatively flat. Reef early above 15 knots. Could point closer to the wind. Good hardware
Motoring characterisitcs	5 kts at 2600 rpm, 1 pint /hour. No prop walkNo cavitationCould pick up another 1/2 knot with a folding prop, but have other uses for the boat units
Liveability	Excellent for 1, Cozy for 2, 3 or more I don't think so. Single burner stove limits cooking, careful meal planning is a mustThe standard blue ice chest can't possibly be insulated!!!! It is, however, easy to remove and stock. Catalina needs to rethink this.
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any)	No direct contact with Catalina
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any	The dealership was Chesapeake Yacht Sales in Deltaville, VA. Outstanding customer service. Can not recommend them enough. Proactive, so minor issues never became an major problem Would gladly purchase another bigger Catalina from them. Recommend them in the strongest possible terms! An excellent representative for Catalina!!!!!!!!!!
Other comments	Well built user friendly boat. After a year of ownership ( She was an October 2006 delivery- start of model year 2007) I'm still very pleased. If the opportunity ever comes to upgrade, Catalina will be first place I look.

Contact
About
Terms of Use