Catalina Owner Reviews

Serving sailors online since 1997

Review of the Catalina Capri-18 by Layne Carver

Year built	2001
Location of boat	White Bear Lake, MN
The boat is sailed on	Lakes
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	2001
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again?	Yes. Without a doubt. It is the perfect boat for me at this time. We wanted a smaller, entry level, fixed keel boat
Gear that's been added	What's to add? The boat came with the motor mount
Structural or complex improvements	No.
The boat's best features	The sailing characteristics
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc.	Nothing yet.
Sailing characterisitcs	She is a wonderful sailor! She practically sails herself. She is stable, comfortable, lively
Motoring characterisitcs	I use a 5hp Yamaha but you could easily get by with a 4 or even a 3. At first we had a 3 which handled her fine but it didn't have reverse so we moved up to the 5 with reverse because it was on sale. You really want reverse gear. She motors very nicely in forward
Liveability	We have not yet stayed over night on the boat. It is not the QE2 but it does have a nice comfy layout below for about two. The two single berths are very large
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any)	Have no experience here.
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any	We bought our Catalina 18 from White Bear Boat Works in White Bear Lake, MN
Other comments	We wanted to move up from a centerboard daysailor to a boat with a fixed keel