I need information on a couple makes of boats

[Little Otter]

Hi all, I have been looking at Pearson and Catalina yachts recently. I was wondering if any of you have expirience with either one or both, if you could tell me I would be very interested in their handleing, sailing ability, build quality, saftey, storm weatherability, and anything else that you know about them. Thanks.

[Liberty28]

You might want to be a little more specific as to model, year, etc. I would also suggest that the owners associations for these boats have a tremendous amount of info for you. Such as...

Home of the Pearson 40
CatalinaOwners.com - Home

[Little Otter]

thanks I didn't know if they had one and couldn't find it so i assumed they didn't, I would like information on any 30' models they made.

[wcsailor]

FWIW...We had a Catalina 34 with several 30s on our dock. It's very roomy and though we never sailed on our friends' boats, they loved them. When we were cruising some friends had a Pearson 34 or 36 (can't remember which) and it was considerably faster than our Catalina.

[Little Otter]

Thanks wcsailor, I was hoping I would get something like what you said also, the reason I'm asking is my dad is in baltimore alot and when he is home he wants to spend time with us and take us on vacation but half the time it cost more to rent a house for a week than it does to go to disneyworld, and that is the thing that usually keeps us from going but if we had a boat then the cost of renting the house for a week would be gone and we could go on more vacations to the beach and stuff, currently pearsons and catalinas are the only one I have found that are fairly cheap and don't need that much work done to get them ready to sail. so thanks again for your info wcsailor.

[r.furborough]

I think the Catalina 30 will have a more 'friendly' living area compared to the Pearson, aslthough I think the construction of the Pearson will be superior.

Bob

[Little Otter]

Thanks r. I'll keep that in mind.

[svHyLyte]

e.g. Boat Builders Row - SailNet Community

[never monday]

the Catalina will have better and easier resale

[Soft Air]

lol lol

[sandy daugherty]

The Pearsons are a level higher in quality of construction, and retain their value much better than Catalina. I researched that while I was still working for a broker, using soldboat.com. There are a wider selection of Catalinas. Pearsons were in production for many more years, and early models, from the 1960's are still worth more than Catalinas from the 1980's.

But as in any boat over the age of 10, condition governs the price. There are crappy Pearsons, and there are crappy Catalinas. Avoid them.