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I have owned my 1996 Catalina 28 for a little over a year now. I can only compare her to the other boats I've owned which include: Holder 20, Grampian 26, Catalina 309, Precision 23, O'Day 20, and Cal 21.
I find the 28 to be better mannered than the 309. Seems to behave better when the wind picks up and she hasn't gotten a reef yet. Sailing into the wind, I can lock the wheel and she'll stay on course almost indefinitely, which is something my 309 wouldn't do. She's not prone to rounding up, although she eventually will. Not a tender boat, but she's not overly stiff...just moderate. She points well enough. I couldn't give you figures on that. Mine's a wing keel. She's easy enough to single hand, provided you don't mind going forward to adjust the traveler. Obviously, they wanted to maximize the interior volume, so they gave her a wide beam. That's always going to affect sailing characteristics, but they seem to have done a good job with it, as she doesn't sail "tubby". I have found no real negatives to how she sails. Everything she does is moderate.
I do appreciate the MP25 engine. Where I dock it, There's a 34 on my starboard and a 36 on my port, and they have the same engine. Plenty of punch for a 28 footer, which is nice when going into steep, closely packed, Lake Michigan waves.
She does have one annoying quirk, but only under power. The faster she goes, the more the wheel pulls to the left. If you were to let go of the wheel at cruising speed, she'd immediately go into a hard turn to port. It would probably be pretty much a spin, but I've never allowed her to do it. The wheel clutch comes in handy. I haven't found a lot of info on this trait, other than it's common to the C28 and is supposedly the result of the relationship of the prop and rudder. I've read that there's a replacement rudder that fixed it, but is expensive. I'll just deal with it.
Access to the engine is excellent. Once you take the fiberglass housing off, you can get to everything easily. The transmission and stuffing box are also easily accessed.
You'll make up your own mind about the interior, and your needs are likely different than mine. We miss the room of our 309 but we're couple that uses it for daysailing, and we sail her to other ports three or four times per summer and spend a total of about 12 nights on her each summer.
We're happy with her size. We live next to the marina, so I bicycle over often to single handle her, and she's easy to get out of and into the slip with no assistance. Big enough to be appropriate for getting around Lake Michigan. We've had enough experience with this boat to be able to say we'll have her for many years.
Good luck with your search.
Think you'll find the First 32 has a 36 foot interior crammed down to 32.. Very cramped belowThanks....
If I could get the Bene First 32 with the ancient Volvo's price down far enough, I'd get it and re-engine with a Yanmar.
Cheers, Peter
Pete, actually it's an advantage to get your own autopilot. You can get newer technology. We have an ancient ST3000 exposed belt wheel drive. The intermediate years of the ST4000 had LOTS of problems: needed rudder sensors, the O ring at the wheel was flimsy, the clutch sucked, the belts wore out....I wished that it had an autopilot which I consider to be essential for single handing while my wife is disabled. Would probably be expensive to retrofit?
The only other thing that bugged me was that the owner leaves the annual oil change until the Spring, letting the engine baste in that old contaminated oil. Why not change it now so that the engine is not marinating in acids mixed with the old oil for the duration of the winter season??? People are funny! I would also run some fresh water through the heat exchanger and leave it with a bit of fresh antifreeze/water mix in it over the winter as well.
Cheers, Pete