Catalina Owner Reviews

Serving sailors online since 1997

Review of the Catalina 22 by Jason M

Year built	1976
Location of boat	San Diego, CA
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	6
Liveaboard?	No
Owner bought the boat in	2007
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again?	Yes, it was an excellent deal for me, since I bought it below book value and I managed to keep the slip it's previous owner had for the past 14 years. Here in San Diego, it's next to impossible to find a slip so this was EXTREMELY important. Many people buy new or used boats here and then find out they've no place to slip or moor them. I was lucky that I did my homework, made plenty of phone calls, and found all of this out BEFORE I actually made a purchase. There were two other Catalina 22s for sail when I was looking but their slips weren't transferable so I passed them by. I've seen a few people towing swing-keel 22s and I've watched them rig them and launch them and then the opposite when their day ends and it looks like a real pain in the butt to me, especially when it can add about an hour to your time both coming and going. It's faaaar easier to simply pay and slip the boat and then cough-up an extra $25 for somebody to clean the bottom once a month. This makes an enormous difference to my family in terms of actually using the boat, i.e. we'd hardly use it at all if we had to trailer the thing.
Gear that's been added	I've added nothing; simply field-dayed the boat with my 10 and 12 year olds.
Structural or complex improvements	No; hull, wing keel, shrouds, lines, and sails are fine.
The boat's best features	It's a very easy to sail and a very forgiving boat with a shallow draft thanks to it's wing keel and an extremely affordable price when purchased used. However, it tends to build significant weather helm as it heels; it rounds-up into the wind too easily in my experience. Tried adjusting the backstay but to no avail. Easier to simply ease the mainsheet in the puffs or just reef the mainsail in sustained winds higher then 12-15 knots.
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc.	Hinges on the seats in the cockpit have been troublesome (screws kept coming out). Nothing a little epoxy couldn't fix...
Sailing characterisitcs	Would probably sail to winward better if I didn't have the wing keel but I'll take that any day over the swing keel and it's associated problems due to the combination of age and salt water on the wire, pins, and crank.
Motoring characterisitcs	The 4hp two-stroke does it's job but needs to be gunned when going against a strong tide with a good wind.
Liveability	The only person who would seriously consider living aboard this boat would somebody who was homeless at the moment and had neither a job, savings account, or a credit card...
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any)	Never dealt with Catalina Yachts itself.
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any	Didn't deal with the dealer; the boat's a 1976 model.
Other comments	I love the boat considering it's low cost and ease-of-sailing. It's also got a "classic" look that's aged very well over the years. Trendier boats (the 1980 Hunters come to mind) look like cheap garbage today. Not so the Catalina 22s; they're akin to wearing a pair of top-siders and khakis - a clean, timeless look that weathers the en-vogue "fads" quite nicely. My wife and I have a 7 month old, a 2 year old, a 4 year old, a 10 year old, and a 12 year old. The kids take their turns coming and going from the cabin to the cockpit but a bigger boat's in order in the future (if I can secure a bigger slip first!). Perhaps a used Catalina 36 or maybe an old Cal 40, which has a rather robust history out here in southern California thanks to its success in the TransPacs of the 60s and 70s.

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