Catalina 36 for a Cruising Couple???

[MoonSailer]

My wife and I have owned a Pearson 323 for 4.5 years and have been very happy with many of it's attributes. But we are looking at retirement next year and are thinking of cruising the east coast and the bahamas. The Pearson is plenty seaworthy and rides the waves well(6-10' anyways) but it is rather small and we are considering buying a larger boat. With our finances as they are we are thinking about $60,000 and 35-40'. Looking on the web the Catalina 34 and 36 keep coming up. By the numbers these boats don't seem as seaworthy but do have a lot more room and are probably seaworthy enough for our cruising plans. Any thoughts or comments on these three boats???

[sailingdog]

$60,000 is a bit tight for a 40' boat IMHO. I'd also recommend that you reserve about 15-20% of your budget for refitting, updating, repairing, customizing whatever boat you do end up buying.

Considering what kind of sailing you want to do, I don't see why you couldn't do it in either Catalina.

CruisingDad is one person you should probably PM, since he's not really active on the forum at the moment. He is the Catalina 400 technical editor, as well as being one of the moderators on the forum.

Given your budget, I'd concentrate on the Catalina 34, rather than the 36, since they're more likely to be in decent shape for that kind of money. You also should consider the Pearson 36 or 365, which is probably more affordable and slightly larger.

[Faster]

The Cat 36 is the nicer layout, IMO, and at 60K you're probably looking at an earlier model depending on your area.

Some years apparently had a problem with the keel step support, so look sharp for that, esp if its a newish boat at a "great' price.