[jbarros]

First, a disclaimer, I''ve been acused of all types of things by "real" sailors for my defense of Catalina''s. I''m in love with the 270, and I''ve spent more time on assorted Catalinas then any other boat (and the boat I own is NOT a Catalina) So, I''m a fan. That being said:

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Unless he is the designer, he has no basis other than personal opinion, to make the following statement: "The Catalina 350 is designed to do two things be cheap and offer a lot of room. All else is secondary.
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Forget about the 350 specificly, and lets look at the entire line:
http://www.catalinayachts.com/about.cfm

From Mr. Buttler:
"When I founded Catalina Yachts in 1970, my goal was not to become the largest sailboat builder in the United States. My goal was, and still is to build good boats that are a good value for our customers. "

He builds boats that will stand up to more than 90% of people will throw at them, and he builds them cheap enough that working stiffs can afford a new one without selling their home landside. They''re not the offshore yacht of choice, and there are thousands of stronger boats out there. Catalinas are built to a price point.

I live not 10 miles from the Catalina Factory. I know people who work there. They''re proud of the products they make. Most of them own catalinas. It''s like people who got scoffed at for owning a Tin Lizzy. You know what, it wasnt the best car of the time by FAR. but it''s something "real people" can afford, and it''ll do more than most people want. No boat does everything well.

So, as much as I love Catalina''s, I''ve gotta back JeffH up on this. One of the main reasons I love the Catalinas is that they give the accomidations I want, in a package I can handle, at a price I can afford. And that IS their primary focus.

I''m also happy to say that I''ve never had any of the people I''ve delt with try to convince me elsewise. When talking to them about a 23.5, of which they only made three, but they do still have the molds, they were frank with me. They said if I wanted to do that type of sailing, I should look at companies that do that.

I''m happy with them. But neither I nor anyone I know in their organization would pretend that they''re anything more than a good value for what alot of people will realy end up doing.

-- James