Catalina Owner Reviews

Serving sailors online since 1997

Review of the Catalina 36 by Les Murray

Year built	1986
Location of boat	Bristol, RI
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	5-6
Liveaboard?	No
Owner bought the boat in	2000
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again?	Yes. This has been the perfect boat for why we got it (weekend and coastal cruising with my family). I have 4 kids so we needed lots of space below for sleeping and sitting. The 36 has the best layout for this. Looked at other boats, but for the price the 36 is hard to beat. If I had more money, a 3 cabin 42 might be a better choice, but this has been an excellent boat to start out on.
Gear that's been added	No new gear added. Replaced hot water heater and galley faucet. Added Spartite to the mast partners and replaced regular flax packing with GFI Gortex packing. Replaced all halyards. In the process of refinishing the floors.
Structural or complex improvements	No.
The boat's best features	Number one feature is space. The 36 has the roomiest layout of any boat in its class. Also, the boat sails very nice. Easy to handle and is very forgiving. When trimmed up, the boat almost sails itself.
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc.	Two things: One, problems with leaking chainplates. Will reseal those this off season. Two, anchor handling is poor. Only one bow cleat came on my boat. I will add two more this year.
Sailing characterisitcs	Very nice sailing boat. With a clean bottom and nothing in tow, it moves very nice in light to medium airs (5-10 kts). With the tall rig, I need to reef at about 18 - 20 kts. It sails very well reefed in those conditions. When trimmed, the boat balances nicely. Haven't experienced heavy seas yet.
Motoring characterisitcs	Motoring is adequate. With the 21 hp engine, we only get 6 kts. at 2200 RPM. Would like to get a feathering prop to improve motoring capabilities.
Liveability	Very nice layout. Plenty of berths for lots of people. Has 10 people on board this summer overnight. Cockpit is very roomy and the main salon area has a nice layout. Aft cabin is only adequate. The low ceiling makes for difficult entries and exits. I think the 34 has a better aft cabin layout.
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any)	Good. They were able to help me with purchasing the correct replacement hot water heater.
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any	We liked our broker very much. He found this boat for us before it was even listed. A little above our price range, but has been worth it. I highly recommend Warren Trafton as a broker.
Other comments	'Ceilidh' has been a great boat this first season. Very forgiving and a great network for information. The Catalina association here (OSCA) is also great and adds to the experience. The only way I can think of to get a better boat is to buy a bigger one. We will probably get another boat, but it will be bigger (42 - 44 ft.) and be a blue water boat. For coastal cruising, the 36 cannot be beat.

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