Catalina or Hunter?

[JTSmith]

Yeah, yeah, I know, most of you will shout "NEITHER!" But let's skip that part. Here's my thing. After years of chartering, I'm buying and planning to live aboard. The parameters of that are these: $50k boat budget. 34-36 boat length. Beamy enough to be comfortable below. That said, I've narrowed the search down to Catalina and Hunter 34-36s. Which direction should I go?

Let the production boat bashing begin.

[ontherocks83]

Besides the fact that you are comparing names and not actual boats its too hard to answer. You can have a Catalina in horrible shape and a Hunter in perfect shape or vice versa. Also will you be strictly staying at the dock to live aboard or out cruising the deep blue. Unless you are comparing 2 similarly equipped brand new boats it should be down to the specific boat and its condition not overall make.

However to answer your question through my experience I have personally found that Hunters seem to be more comfortable and luxurious where Catalinas tend to be better built but more traditional in styling and comfort. And yes the fact that i own a catalina is making my opinion biased

[cwyckham]

You need to be more specific on your use. If you are living aboard and never leaving the dock, choose the hunter. They are, IMHO, the ultimate dock queens. If you want to sail the boat, I'd go with a Catalina.

[JTSmith]

Originally Posted by ontherocks83

Besides the fact that you are comparing names and not actual boats its too hard to answer. You can have a Catalina in horrible shape and a Hunter in perfect shape or vice versa. Also will you be strictly staying at the dock to live aboard or out cruising the deep blue. Unless you are comparing 2 similarly equipped brand new boats it should be down to the specific boat and its condition not overall make.

However to answer your question through my experience I have personally found that Hunters seem to be more comfortable and luxurious where Catalinas tend to be better built but more traditional in styling and comfort. And yes the fact that i own a catalina is making my opinion biased

Guess I should've said, "All things being equal..." Same length, same age, same condition. And I will be sailing. Coastal. Keys. Bahamas. Eventually Caribbean.

Are those destinations places you take your Catalina?

[avb3]

Stop with the personal attacks and responses thereto.

Some posts have been removed.

Keep it to information that the OP was looking for.

[JTSmith]

Originally Posted by avb3

Stop with the personal attacks and responses thereto.

Some posts have been removed.

Keep it to information that the OP was looking for.

Nah, it's my bad. Having a rough day and being a baby about it. It's all good.

[Snore]

I do not believe there is a big difference between the two. Although not having a true backstays scares me.

May I suggest you consider a Tartan 34-2. Same price point and what many (including me) consider a better build quality.

For where you will be cruising you don't need a lot of electronics, defer that expense and look at a more robust design. Just a second viewpoint.

[savoir]

Catalina

Look for one with the two digit model number such as 36 rather than the newer 350. They sail better.

[Curmudgeon]

All other things being equal, Catalina, hands down. I've never owned either one, but I know people who have.

[angelfish2]

Originally Posted by JTSmith

...After years of chartering, I'm buying and planning to live aboard. The parameters of that are these: $50k boat budget. 34-36 boat length. Beamy enough to be comfortable below. That said, I've narrowed the search down to Catalina and Hunter 34-36s. Which direction should I go?

JT, I've sailed on both and I think each one has their strong (and weak) points. Is there any way you can sail on both of these before you make a decision? I think I would do that before I made up my mind.

[a64pilot]

Catalina's seem to have a much better Rep for whatever reason and there are far fewer for sale at least in the SE USA, are you west coast?

[jackdale]

I have sailed both. Catalina would be my choice.

[nolagal]

We are from New Orleans and sail a 42 ft Hunter Passage CC. We've been to the Keys and the Bahamas several times. In 2012 we left for the Western Caribbean and spent until Feb of this year mainly sailing Belize, Mexico, Rio Dulce. There were many Hunters in Placencia harbour last winter. Sizes ranged from 34 - 53 I think. Most of our Canadian friends were sailing Hunter 37s (or is it 38s). They'd all sailed down from Canada (not together) and around the Caribbean before landing in Placencia and Rio Dulce. They all loved their boats. We didn't see many Catalinas, don't know why. We are now in the E Caribbean. So having only cruised on our Hunter I can only say she's lovely.

S/V WAHOO

[neilpride]

For 50000 $$ you can have a Beneteau to, just saying

[ontherocks83]

My catalina is an older 1st generation c30. It definitely has design flaws but overall is very robust and forgiving. A few things I like about Catalina is they (especially now) actually listen to feedback from customers and make changes to their current models to improve their design. Even with my boat if you look at gen 2s and 3s they improved on the design enough to have the longest production run of 1 model.

Keeping in mind they are not custom yachts and are a production boat they have the best support and in my opinion bang for your buck you can find in a production boat. I emailed them a while back with a question about their 355 and after a few emails from people that couldn't answer my question it eventually got forwarded to Gerry Douglas the VP and he answered my question personally. Thats pretty awesome in my book.