Older Catalina 36 or 38 . . . Cruiser ?

[lifeofreilly57]

Like any boat of a certain age you would want to check the rudder and rudder stock before heading offshore, over time degradation can happen.
Also you might think of upgrading the chainplates and rigging to a little more robust set up, just for safety and reliability, otherwise pretty good boats.
They always tended to build a bit heavier than the other production builders.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by jeremiason

Catalina Yachts produced its first boat, the Catalina 22 in Hollywood, CA in 1969.

Later (Early 1970s) they opened the Woodland Hills Production Facility.

1984, Catalina purchased Morgan Yachts in Largo Florida and slowly moved all of their manufacturing to the Florida facility. In 2008, they closed the Woodland Hills production facility, but continue to produce Yachts at the Largo factory.

Woodland Hills remains the company Headquarters,

Also Catalina Yachts continues to be the largest and longest running privately owned Yacht manufacture in the USA.

At last count they have produced over 60,000 boats since 1969.

Thanks, Tom! It always irks me when someone tells me that I didn't do what I did, in fact, do! A group of us, five in number, wanted to buy Cat 22s. Went to the Oakland dealer, asked what sort of deal he would give us for an order for five boats. The answer was list price and a 3 month wait. So, we contacted Frank Butler and became dealers ourselves, located in the great maritime center of Turlock. Got 18% off list and one month delivery. I built trailers for all five, and when we picked up the boats in Hollywood, the predominately Mexican work force made a lot of snide comments about them in Spanish. They were pretty embarrassed when one of our group then answered them in fluent (gutter) Spanish. Got on well after that!

Frank was (and is if I'm correct) a kinda odd fellow, but one hell of an astute observer of the real life yachting scene. His continued success is a result of the ability to build boats that actually reflect the way American boats are used among other things. I admire his methodology and his success and wish him well, even though my needs have deviated from his product line.

Cheers,

Jim

[lifeofreilly57]

Look in this months issue of Cruising World, in the classic plastic section there's a review on the older 38's.

[klmmicro]

Originally Posted by lifeofreilly57

Look in this months issue of Cruising World, in the classic plastic section there's a review on the older 38's.

Saw that! Pretty cool review. There are several Catalina 38's in the harbor where my slip is. Great looking to me. Far more 36's though, mine being one of them. Either one would make a fine local cruiser.