Catalina Owner Reviews

Serving sailors online since 1997

Review of the Catalina 22 by Susan McNeely

Year built	1987
Location of boat	Eagle Creek Resv., Indianapolis
The boat is sailed on	Lakes
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	1990
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again?	Yes, it's done everything we wanted.
Gear that's been added	Boat came with 150% genoa, 170% drifter, knotmeter, depth sounder, lifelines, traveller, boom vang, halyard winches, lines led to cockpit, Origo alcohol stove. We've added compass, VHF, hand-held GPS, second reef in main, five interior gear hammocks, line storage in cockpit locker where battery is stored.
Structural or complex improvements	No
The boat's best features	Easy to trailer/launch (swing keel and rudder). Sturdy on open water (Great Lakes). Forgiving. Not a race horse, but not a dog, either - good compromise for mini-cruising and introducing friends to sailing. Good looking boat. Gasoline storage works well.
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc.	Sliding roof hatch has had to be repaired. Pin on swing keel cable came out, had to have boat hauled to replace a $1.50 part. Rudder SPLIT (boatyard was able to repair pretty easily. Cockpit hatches are attached poorly - machine screws where there should be through bolts and/or backing plates. Traveller arrangement is not ideal. Plastic blocks on traveller and in mast are ridiculous, fail quickly (later models have improved blocks in mast).
Sailing characterisitcs	The boat is relatively easy to handle, I can singlehand in brisk wind easily. It rewards proper sail selection and trim, is not very forgiving if you're lazy. It really slugs along closehauled in waves above 2-3 feet; however, we managed one 35-mile passage, closehauled the entire time, in about 6.5-7 hours. The boat was a lot happier than the crew. The 170% drifter is a dream anywhere from a close reach to a run when the wind is 3-5 knots. I've slipped past a lot of faster boats in these conditions, and it postpones using the iron wind a lot. It's also an easy sail to handle.
Motoring characterisitcs	Would not drive through 2-3 foot waves with our old 4 hp Johnson. Have a new Honda 5 hp which is great, but still won't go upwind through 3-ft swell. Motorsails quite well with main up.
Liveability	Cramped (it's a 22 footer, what can you expect?) After 9 years of 1-2 week cruises, we've pretty well become accustomed to its quirks, though, and we keep going back. With 3, it was really too tight; since our daughter no longer comes along, it's ok for two for that length of time, as long as you don't get continuous rain. We cook below but eat in the cockpit a lot. We eat very well, two burners don't seem to be limiting if you favor stir-fried foods and one-dish meals. There is all kinds of storage, we've never begun to fill it up with two weeks' worth of supplies. Lot's of room under cockpit on motor side for bulky items - sleeping gear, empty gas tank, hose, lines, etc. Back is hard to reach, so we put less used items there. Locker under rear of quarter berth is good for extra case of soft drinks or beer.
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any)
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any	Bought boat used from Sails Inc. in Indianapolis. They've been great to deal with over the years, the owner is a member of our sailing club.
Other comments	It's a great boat to have if you're trying out cruising, since you can trailer it to some pretty good areas. If you do a lot of cruising, you'd move up in size, but if you are landlocked as we are, but want to cruise your own boat, you can't do better. We keep it in the water at home, and it makes for some wonderful evenings of afterwork picnics and afternoon sails with friends.

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