Catalina Owner Reviews

Serving sailors online since 1997

Review of the Catalina 36MKII by Dave Harris

Year built	1998
Location of boat	Palmetto, FL
The boat is sailed on	Open ocean
How the boat is used	Multi-week coastal cruising
Normal wind strength	10-15 knots
Average size of crew	2-4
Liveaboard?	No
Owner bought the boat in	Bufo
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again?	Yes, It's a great boat! Unfortunately the dealer I bought it from was not as supportive as I had expected. The factory, Mr. Frank Butler in particular, has been very responsive to my concerns.
Gear that's been added	We added just about everything you can imagine. I expect it's the best equipped C36 around. Here's what we installed: Autohelm wind/depth/speed Autohelm SP5000 autopilot Ratheon RL72 radar with HSB Ratheon 520 plotter Ratheon 112LP GPS ICOM SSB with Ham Freqs ICOM VHF EPIRB Life raft Central Air/Heat
Structural or complex improvements	None
The boat's best features	It' big enough to comfortably go offshore, small enough to easily singlehand, has all the conveniences to be a good liveaboard boat.
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc.	The Jabsco marine head has been a problem from the beginning. It would not pump out the bowl about 50% of the time. Catalina sent me a whole new toilet assembly. Same problem. Jabsco thinks it's in the pump assy, have sent me a new pump. We'll see. I've had a lot of support with this problem. When the boat was commissioned and the mast was stepped, the mast did not sit squarely on the step. It concerned me but I was told that was normal.
Sailing characterisitcs	Fast, stable.
Motoring characterisitcs	Minimal vibration from the engine, we have gotten the fuel consumption down to about 1/3 gal/hr at 1500rpm and that has given us about 4 kts in calm seas.
Liveability	Great, with the exception of the
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any)
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any	I had a terrible experience with my dealer, but I got a great price. I had the boat commissioned away from the dealership which made support from them difficult. I suggest getting to know the folks your buying from and withhold some funds until after the commissioning.
Other comments	It's a great looking boat, sails well and comes at a reasonable price. It may not have all the amenities of the Island Packets and others, but Catalina is a sound boat.

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