Catalina Owner Reviews

Serving sailors online since 1997

Review of the Catalina 36 by Russ

Year built	1984
Location of boat	Clear Lake, Texas
The boat is sailed on	Bays, sounds, or protected salt water
How the boat is used	Day sailing
Normal wind strength	10-15 knots
Average size of crew	2-4
Liveaboard?	No
Owner bought the boat in	2000
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again?	Yes - just what I thought it would be. A little underpowered and kinda "wet" pointing into a chop. Very roomy for my family even on our occasional overnighters/weekends.
Gear that's been added	Extra battery capacity, Adler-Barbour cold machine, saltwater washdown system, bow roller, 33lb bruce, GPS, tons of other little improvements like insul. for reefer and double seals on reefer lids, upgraded wiring/plumbing, extra fans/lighting, winch covers, MOB pole, etc.
Structural or complex improvements	Anchor handling system is non-existent from factory. Adding this was a semi-major improvement to facilitate anchoring almost every time we go out.
The boat's best features	Good sailing, well balanced boat. Lot's of room for our purposes. Roomy cockpit.
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc.	Universal M25 mixing elbow gave out at 16 years! No real problem to replace it. No big problems - just typical little stuff for a 16 year old boat.
Sailing characterisitcs	Points well, is fast in 10-15 knots. Wont hardly sail with main-only. Well balanced helm - reef at about 20 kt or slightly less. Easy to single-hand and dock. Much bigger than this would probably require an extra hand or two. Just the characteristics I was looking for when I bought her. She has met or exceeded my expectations.
Motoring characterisitcs	Slightly underpowered. The M25 runs well, but will only produce 5.5-6kts at about 2700-2800 rpm's. If you have to motor into a chop (and heaven forbid, against the tidal flow), your SOG can be reduced down to the 3-4kt range. This boat needs the power they put in the MKII's - but the price is right and the motoring capability is OK.
Liveability	Very liveable for our purposes. Plenty of room down below - lazarette's allow for minimal storage in cockpit. I hope to upgrade to a 2-cabin C42 MKII in 5-7 years. The 36 has been and will be enjoyable for many years to come.
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any)	No dealings
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any	My experience with a broker was positive. I've bought two used boats and both experiences were positive.
Other comments	Good boat - lot's of bang for the buck. Super support network. All you have to do is ask the questions.

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