Catalina Owner Reviews

Serving sailors online since 1997

Review of the Catalina 320 by Pat Tyler

Year built	2001
Location of boat	Little River, SC
The boat is sailed on	Open ocean
How the boat is used	Weekends and longer
Normal wind strength	16-22 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
Gear that's been added	At commissioning we added Radar, Chartplotter and later added a mattress for the aft stateroom.
Structural or complex improvements	No
The boat's best features	Easy to sail and handle under power yet comfortable enough to spend several weeks on without getting on each others nerves.
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc.	Keel bolts were not tight enough and caused a small leak, blige pump failed in frist six months. My dealer and catalina solved both problems in a timely manner.
Sailing characterisitcs	Very easy to handle alone and dutchman works great once you get all the adjustments correct. Tends to round up.
Motoring characterisitcs	We motored 250 miles to Hilton Head and back down the ICW (whole trip execpt 30 miles with wind in our face) with lots of current both with us and against us. No problems. Boat handles well in reverse and we always back into slips since it makes it much easier for my wife to get on and off the boat.
Liveability	Excellent for two for extended periods. We've had three for several days at a time. I think it might get small with 4 for much more than a weekend.
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any)	Very Good
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any	We purchased from The Hull Company in Charleston, SC and have been very satisfied. We're about 2 hours away and the service has been great. While near Charleston on a trip he came to the boat on very short notice (about 15 min.) to show me a very simple fix. He could have done it on the phone in a couple of minutes.
Other comments	Great boat and fits our need to a tee.

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