In '94 the lovely lady that was then my wife and I were in need of a dry
boat (e.g., not 16' catamaran). The first
boat we looked at was a gorgeous, immaculate, and spacious C30TR. We were in awe. Aside from the fact it was outside of our
budget, I poo-pood the
Catalina as a
cheap production boat that wouldn't hold up. After a long time looking at many boats, we came back and bought that C30.
It's now 22 years later, and I still have that C30TR. It has been well used. It has taken beatings. It is still in awesome condition. I have to hand it to
Catalina and Universal/Kubota, this thing has held up and still looks great.
But, now I'm 22 years "more experienced". My Viking queen (not the same as then-wife) and I have aged. Both near 6', it's a bitch getting in and out of the V-berth. We can run up and down the vertical ladder, but damn, we'd like some amenities (guilt: as a kid, my parents had a
Grampian 30 with jack ****. The C30 is like a small condo in the center of
Miami.) But I diverse.
And we have
kids, and
kids have friends, and friends want to come for weekends (WE don't have friends that come for weekends, we love our land friends, but they belong on land.)
So, physics limiting things, we need to go bigger. And new ergonomics. A
Catalina 30 that has a few things. There's a short list:
1. Real forward berth. No crawling through the cave to get into
bed. No banging around to spin around and get out for the late night pee. And no stuffy aft
cabin. Forward
cabin,
hatch open, fresh air, I can tell in my sleep what the boat is doing. Just larger please.
2. Step-through transom/ swim platform.
3. Two aft staterooms. Might as well have doors forward and aft. To me that's a mega-yacht. Rather enjoy closing doors and not knowing what's going on behind them.
I did NOT think it would be hard to replace the @#&*% C30. That's a pretty short list. By replace I mean equivalent layout, and ergonomics (e.g., no traveller through the
cockpit.) And, of course, there is a reasonable
budget.
Now there is the fantastic plastic, at "reasonable" prices. You know,
Beneteau 400, 411, 393. And contemporary Catalina and
Jeanneau. If you have one of those please hit the back button now, because I don't need the hate mail. These things are built like crap. At first I likened the
interior "wood" to Ikea; that was over-rated. In fact, most Walmart furniture is better than a '95-2005
Beneteau. Fact. The damned C30 has oiled
wood bulkheads and structure; the cabinet doors and trim are solid
teak. Those new boats look like
cheap stereo cabinets one might
purchase as Best Buy to fill a rental apartment in the 'hood.
The Beneteau 405 and like Catalinas have that neat idea of a
head in the peak. But then the berth is offset. I suppose there's somewhere in the world that there won't be a relationship-damaging fight over who has to sleep next to the cold/hot
hull, but I can't figure where. It presents a climatic math formula- if it's spring and she's going through hot flashes, she's going to want to be on the outside. Then the inside. The all the
sheets come off and I freeze. Summer is easy- I sleep against the
hull and sweat and gasp for fresh air. As well, if I'm going to get a boat of that size, nobody should have to climb over somebody to pee. Stupid configuration.
We chased after a
Bavaria 39CC at a great
price. She went out to see the boat. I was ready to do the dea... She called me at 2am in
Singapore and told me it was a no-go. We couldn't stand up in most of the boat. Farg!
We looked at a Beneteau 411 and a very reasonable
price. She was enamoured. I showed her the cheap construction and explained what it would all look like in ten years.
The Catalina 42 has a good reputation and is sufficiently solid. But good Lord, it has less wood/
teak than my stupid C30. All that white plastic inside makes it look so cheap.
I fell in love with the Beneteau 430. Frankly, that's the perfect boat. And I should have grabbed the one in Michigan, but had too much going on at
work to do the dance. I looked at B430s in NY,
Australia, and
Tahiti. Basically they're all beat. Lots of
work including replacing wet decks. I love the B430. But it's like loving blondes who frequent bars. I should say blondes that have been frequenting bars for more years than they should have. We don't mind doing a lot of
refit, but I'm not paying $60k for a boat that is a year from the fiberglas graveyard at the marina.
I found a
Jeanneau 12.5 at a great price. Photos of
engine and such looked like it had sunk.
Broker friend told me the
current owner had bought it for less than half asking price two years ago "but did a lot of work." Yeah, I could tell from the old photos- he ran a sander. But even that boat
sold fast.
Found a few Jeanneau 37, but I wonder if one can even lie down in the
cockpit. And I already have read the forward berth is short.
So I dunno. Out of 100,000 boats on Yachtworld, narrow down a few things we want and the sum comes to zero.
The old C30TR now sits in a barn. Not only is it winterized, it is ready to launch after
winter. And I can't find a damned upgrade at a reasonable price. It's now I appreciate how high the C30 set the bar.