From: legacy@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (wayne.m.simpson)
Subject: Re: Cruising Boats (was Re: Book "Maiden Voyage")
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 13:27:57 GMT
Summary: Catalina and the "average" boat

In article <1992Sep28.142427.14594@acd4.acd.com> dmb@IEDV4.acd.com ( Dave Barker ) writes:
>
>        At the risk of offending some people, I will admit to never 
>        having been impressed by the Catalina line of boats. The designs,
>        at least from an asthetic standpoint, always seemed to be too
>        homogenous-nothing to really distinguish them from being anything
>        more than just a very average boat. Sort of like a committee-designed
>        line of boats. Of course, they do have a reputation as being
>        sturdy and fairly rugged, and the prices, especially of used
>        models, almost demands that they be considered (if operating
>        on a shoestring budget, he said as he hopelessly tries to 
>        balance his outstanding debts with his total net worth...) 

Hoo Boy! (he says, beginning to hyperventilate) Now you've gone and 
done it. Off come the gloves!!!    :-) (for the humor impaired)

Yes,  Catalinas look very much like average boats. That's because they
are average boats made for the average guy. They are intended to give
the sailing public what they want for a little less than anyone else.
They are not, and were never intended to be "character boats". In spite
of this, or perhaps because of it, Frank Butler has built more boats
(over 50,000) than anyone else in the sailing industry.

The boats are conservative in design with an eye towards maximizing interior
volume without ungainly height of topsides. This dictates a boat with 
fairly short ends, with fairly vertical transoms, at least on the boats
30' and under. This profile was very common in the 70's, and that's when
all of the under 30' Catalinas were designed. Newer or longer Catalinas,
the 28, 34, 36, 38, and 42, all show rakish reverse transoms, which is 
the style today.

As for Catalina being a committee designed boat, the committee has never
numbered more than 2. All design work is done in house by Frank Butler
with the help of a naval architect (Robert Finch in the early days,
Gerry Douglas nowadays) to get the design right. This means that they
all follow pretty much the same design philosophy, and if you don't like
one Catalina, you probably won't like any of them. On the other hand, an
owners who likes his Catalina will probably like all of them and more
often than not, will trade from one Catalina to another when it's time
to step up.

If you want to learn more about Catalina as a company, there is an
article in the September issue of Sailing magazine

I have sat on both sides of the aesthetics issue. My first boat was a 
Seafarer 23, designed by Sparkman and Stevens. It was beautiful and
sailed well, although it was a bit wet and quite tender initially.
People would circle me in anchorages and heap compliments on my boat's
pretty lines. They never do that for my Catalina. But I can stand up
in my Catalina. I can sit on a nice settee with a backrest. I can cook
a meal, and sleep in a comfortable berth. I can also sit on a proper
toilet. These things make all the difference.

I would describe my Catalina 27 as handsome, but hardly beautiful. She
is, however, an emminently practical, good handling, highly capable
sailing machine.

Wayne Simpson (no fancy .sig this time)
Newsgroups: rec.boats