Catalina Owner Reviews

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Review of the Catalina 270 by Rip Fleming

Year built	2002
Location of boat	Santa Barbara
The boat is sailed on	Open ocean
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	2002
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again?	Yes, the boat is a great sailing boat. A friend of who has a larger Catalina believes my boat is faster and sails better. The boats pluses are that you can sail shorthanded. The minuses are that the tankage is limited. We recently spent 4 days at Santa Cruz Island (2 people on the boat). I took two extra 7 gallon cans of water. We were very careful with water use but we used every drop we took (each of us only took one shower).
Gear that's been added	We just recently added a Furuno 1623 radar so we could navigate the shipping channels on the way to Santa Cruz Island if we get caught in fog. We told the installer that we wanted to be able to store the display in the cabin when we were not using the radar. He installed a ball mount on the steering pedestal so we can attach and detach the radar display as needed. It works great.
Structural or complex improvements
The boat's best features	It is alot of boat for the money.
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc.	My biggest complaint about the boat is the way the mainsheet is rigged (midships traveler over the hatch cover). The jam cleat is not adjustable and it is tilted upwards. This makes it extremely tough to secure the mainsheet. I am 6'1" and I am not tall enough sometimes to cleat it because of the upward angle.
Sailing characterisitcs	The boat sails very well on all points of wind. It has a nicely balanced helm and is fun to sail. We mostly sail in 10 to 18 knots of wind but have had it in winds up to 24 knots. At 24 knots you have your hands full.
Motoring characterisitcs	The boat motors extremely well. I did not have any inboard engine handling experience when we bought the boat but I had no problem learning to get in and out of the slip. We have the 3 blade prop which gets a good "bite" on the water. It backs fairly well and in forward at slow speeds turns on a dime. In calm weather you can cruise along at up to 6.5 knots.
Liveability	The boat is livable for no more than two people for only a few days at a time but only because of its size. I am sure that it is as good or better than most boats of its size.
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any)
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any	We bought the boat new from "The Chandlery" in Santa Barbara Harbor. It was an excellent experience in every way.
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