Catalina Owner Reviews

Serving sailors online since 1997

Review of the Catalina 36 by Michael McCann

Year built	1993
Location of boat	Bainbridge Island, Washington
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	2-4
Liveaboard?	No
Owner bought the boat in	1993
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again?	No, I would have looked for one in the 1989-1991 vintage. Although I have grown accustomed to the portlights in the hull, I still prefer a boat without. The cabinetry in the earlier boats is nicer, and though the walkthru transom is nice, it eliminates some cockpit locker space.
Gear that's been added	Yes. ST50 wind, radar, Ardic hot water cabin heat. I replaced the RV dining table with a fixed teak table with folding leafs, and storage. I replaced the hand held shower with a normal faucet, and mounted a permanent shower fixture with a separate control.
Structural or complex improvements	The port forward shroud anchor has been reinforced. It was pulling up on the counter top in the head, and needed to be anchored to a bulkhead.
The boat's best features	Sailing, she handles rough water well, and is extremely well balanced.
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc.	The boom, and mast are poorly designed making reefing difficult. The sheaves in the boom are in the wrong location making the leads unfair, and the cheap way of closing the 'gate' for the mainsail slides is also a problem in reefing. Catalina did not verify that reefing was possible on my boat, and I had to have a sailmaker fix the problem.
Sailing characterisitcs	Sails good on all points.
Motoring characterisitcs	Walks to port in reverse (more so with the 3 blade).
Liveability	Comfortable for the two of us. Holding tank is smallish for this size (20 gals.). Water capacity is ok (approx 74 gals.)
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any)
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any
Other comments

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