Catalina Owner Reviews

Serving sailors online since 1997

Review of the Catalina 30 by Bob Blankenhorn

Year built	1980
Location of boat	Huntington, NY
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	1989
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again?	Yes, we mostly cruise and spend weekends on the boat. The wide beam and ample cabin space make the trips very comfortable. Our only complaint is the under-sized powerplant. We have the 11hp Atomic Diesel. This engine barely gets the boat to 5 knots and has real trouble in stong wind or tide conditions.
Gear that's been added	We have mostly added small items like loran. We modified the topping lift and halyards to be accessible from the cockpit. Not much else.
Structural or complex improvements	None
The boat's best features	The large cabin and handling in bad weather.
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc.	Again, the engine has been the biggest problem It was built with a metal plate over a whole in the water jacket. This plate faces a sea water cooling system. It rusted through last season causing three weeks of down time and hours of repair. The exhaust and transmission died the season before. We also have problems with leakage around windows and the mast base.
Sailing characterisitcs	The boat is sluggish in light winds, but responsive in 15 knots and above. It handles heavy seas well. We have only a 150 roller furling system and the orginal standard hieght mast and main. We also have a three bladed prop which doesn't help our boat speed.
Motoring characterisitcs	The engine is slow. In addition to the problems mentioned above we have replaced the water pump once and the impellor twice. Also since the transmission was repaired, we experience excessive vibration at certain RPM's.
Liveability	The large cabin and sleeping space makes for very responsible accomodations. We have spent no more than a week on board, but this worked out very well.
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any)
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any
Other comments	I am generally very happy with my boat. Owning a stock boat offers many advantages when it comes to getting parts and advice.

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