Catalina nixing 320 and 350?

[michigancruisers]

I was talking to a Catalina dealer today about ordering a new boat and was told that it was no longer possible to order a 320 or a 350 as they are no longer being made. Someone also was told the same thing from another dealer. Anyone know if this is true? Seems a bit strange to drop these two popular boats.

MCs

[tomandchris]

I have heard the rumors about the 320 but not the 35. Gerry Douglas, designer at Catalina, denied it publicly in Feb., but that was 5 months ago. They also denied the 34 and 36 were going to be discontined until they came out with the 37 and actually did it. Can't really blame them, they need to cull the line to cover the most bases with the least inventory in this economy.

If they were not one of your calls, I would contact Sail Place in Cedar Springs, Mi and ask them. They are one of the oldest Catalina dealers in the country and have always taken care of their customers.

Good Luck

[k1vsk]

You can rest assured Catalina won't discontinue 32 and 35 ft boats without coming out with a replicate design length just as their largest competitors have been doing for decades on a frequent basis with their entire lines. Catalina is just slower at it.

[winddancer88]

Originally Posted by k1vsk

You can rest assured Catalina won't discontinue 32 and 35 ft boats without coming out with a replicate design length just as their largest competitors have been doing for decades on a frequent basis with their entire lines. Catalina is just slower at it.

Hopefully they'll replace the 350 with a similar length boat drawn in proportion to the 375. It's a bit too fat and flat (bottomed) for me, but the length is perfect for a coastal cruiser. Maybe a replacement for the recently discontinued 34?

[tomandchris]

It will be interesting to see what they do if this rumor is true. The 320 and the 350 are still on their website, but there are probably unsold boats around the country to account for. The 34,350, and 36 were all basically the same lenght within less than a foot.The cockpit of the 34 and 36 were identical. Frank Butler and Gerry Douglas did not want to re-invent the wheel and they had long production runs on the boats. The 350 certainly a different body in that it was like a RV down below, but length wise very similar.

If they were to come out with a new model it would probably be somewhere around a 33 to fit in the middle of the 309 and 375.

MichiganCruiser, keep us informed on your search.

[michigancruisers]

I know that there are 350's and 320's for sale at various dealers and the boats are still on the Catalina website but what we were told specifically was that we can not order these boats from Catalina any more. We were debating between a 309 and 320 and decided that the price delta was not worth the extra 2 feet to go to a 320. The jump to a 350 is significant, about $70,000. Something in the 34 foot range could be interesting.

MC