Catalina Owner Reviews

Serving sailors online since 1997

Review of the Catalina 30 by ArkadiyS

Year built	1985
Location of boat	Fairfield, CT
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	2-4
Liveaboard?	No
Owner bought the boat in	2013
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again?	Yes. We moved up from 27 ODay, and immediately realized a difference between a light wing keel boat that was scary in heavy weather to a boat that is very comfortable inside and very comforting in bad weather. Excellent mid-size boat!
Gear that's been added	When we bought this boat it was pretty bare. We added dodger, bimini, full winter cover, dutchman, replaced both original sails, standing and running rigging, toilet, most hoses, and many other minor parts.
Structural or complex improvements	Nothing structural. Rebedded most of the windows, and still chasing leaks from topsides.
The boat's best features	Good handling in heavy weather, very roomy for a 30 boat. Very happy with our M25 21hp engine. Fun to sail and very forgiving for those of us learning/improving our sailing skills. Very essy to maintain, great support group, and free and knowledgeable tech support from CatalinaDirect. Everything is available and at reasonable cost.
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc.	Prop walk in reverse is annoying, even after getting pretty used to it backing-in into our slip in a very tight marina, it still catches us by surprise from time to time. The rest is very much expected for a 30 year old boat.
Sailing characterisitcs	Easy to sail and good handling in heavier winds 20-30 knots. Sluggish in light winds 5-10knts. Performs best in 10-15 knots. Needs good sails.
Motoring characterisitcs	Hard weather helm at full throttle, pulls hard to port at 2,300 RPMS, cruising at 5-5.2 knots. Prop walk requires getting used to when backing up. M25 (21 hp) engine is well sized for this 11K lbs boat. Turns on a dime with some maneuvering.
Liveability	We normally travel 2-4 for overnights (our family). The entire quarterberth is now converted to storage for 4 folding bikes, 2 inflatable kayaks and our gear. Table is permanently up and there is enough space around the cabin.
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any)	N/A
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any	We bought from a dealer, and were pretty happy with our entire purchase experience.
Other comments	Highly recommend this boat for anyone who wants to tinker and learn to sail a midsize boat. Excellent step-up to the next size of 34+ footer. Cannot go wrong with Cat 30. Make sure to either hire a good surveyor or do a very detailed walk through before buying.

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