Well used Catalina 390, concerned.

[CatalinaFan]

Hi,

I am now able to buy a sailboat to live aboard and cruise.
Looking at a 2002 Catalina 390 with 1776 hours on the yanmar,
and 3 years of continuous cruising under her belt. She has been setting
for 2 years now with light use.

She has lots of systems on board.
Watermaker, generator, 2 air conditioners, radar, etc.

My concern is that the regular maintenance was neglected.
I was wondering if this boat would be worth the $144,000
we have tentatively agreed on?

Would I have systems break down and drain my cruising
kitty? Would it be better to keep it simple and not have all the
nice but not needed stuff?

She has had the forward water tank replaced with a steel fuel tank.
The head uses fresh water to flush.

Thanks for any advice,

CatalinaFan

P.S. I'm a first time cruising wannabe.

[Cruisingdad]

Well, when are you heading out? Have you owned a Catalina before?

The 390 was never one of their more popular models. I honestly do not know a lot about it. Thus, I will speak in general terms:

1) The watermaker will probably need maintenance. Who is the make? You better just plan on a rebuild even if he pickled.

2) Check your sails. 3 years of cruising is like 10 years of typical use.

3) The only issue with siting that long might be the engines. Diesels do not like to sit. The hours do not bother me, but how were they put on? Was it 300 hours/year? That is high but fine. Or, was it 500-600 hours the first threee years then nothing? That would not be good. Of course, there is no way to know. Given the hours, etc, get a engine survey. This is NOT part of the regular survey.

4) Radar will probably be fine. It will probably be out of date, but who cares. The only difference is it may not have an overlay, but that is not the end of the world.

5) Go join Mainsheet and get to know the folks taht run the 380/387/390. That is your forum group. You can go to catalinayachts.com and look under mainsheet for the Tech editor. I forget his name. Seems competent. Still, I do not recall Catalina selling a lot of those. I think it is a modified 380, as I recall. Check with the TE for Mainsheet.

Hope that helps. If you have specifics, write me or write back here. If it is a modified 380, I can be of a lot of help. I lived/cruised on one with the fam for several years. Now doing it on a 400. I am the TE for Mainsheet for the 400.

- CD

[captron400]

The 390 is a version of the 380, both based on a Morgan design. Catalina also made a Morgan 38 center cockpit with the same hull. They were all built, side by side, in the the old Morgan plant in Largo, FL, now owned by Catalina. All three are decent, reliable boats. But note that they are not the fastest 38's out there. The 387 is a totally new design, and has almost nothing in common with the others. Catalina has stopped production on all of the boats based on the 380 hull.

I've got friends with the 380/390 and they all like it. I've sailed with the past Commodore of the association. Get the boat surveyed by a professional. If it looks ok to him and you think it's worth the price, then go ahead. Warren Elliot is the tech editor. You can get his email address from any copy of Mainsheet. If you buy it, then join the association.

[camaraderie]

Based on the asking price of the 2001's that are on yachtworld at present I would have to say that I think you are over-paying as what you've listied is about 15K of add on equipment beyond "normal" outfitting. Nevertheless, the survey results will give you the ability to negotiate still lower and if you have a very good survey then the boat may be worth what you've agreed.