Catalina Owner Reviews

Serving sailors online since 1997

Review of the Catalina 38 by patrick

Year built	1979
Location of boat	Valona Ga
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	solo
Liveaboard?	No
Owner bought the boat in	2004
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again?	so far...for sure
Gear that's been added	So far I've reconfigured the stern railing (which was already custom) with dinghy davits and ditched the huge (and heavy) hard top in favor of a bimini. I re plumbed the head, replaced the really manky, worn bedding,and basically totally refinished all the interior wood as well as organizing the wiring and ditching the array of relays, and basically got all the stuff working. She was fairly well equipped but highly dysfunctional. I'm also adding a mainsail reefing system, traveler control, and general streamlining of the sail controls (she obviously wasn't sailed very much) plus I've had to have the uv strip restiched in the genny. More to come for sure.
Structural or complex improvements	Mainly just the electrical and plumbing.
The boat's best features	She's fast and points well.
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc.	Nothing major yet, hopefully I've eliminated most of the weak points.
Sailing characterisitcs	Fast and steady in even the slightest breeze yet very easy to handle in a stiff breeze.
Motoring characterisitcs	Umiversal m30 a little weak for this boat (24hp) but easily moves at hull speed and good on fuel.
Liveability	Good I hope as I plan to live aboard in the future.
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any)	n/a
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any	n/a
Other comments	I'll update as I finish outfitting and tick off some offshore miles.

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