>From a single boatshow visit where a Catalina 309 was displayed next to a Tartan 3400 my view is that a Catalina is not at all like a C&C The only similarity is that the 309 looked to have its hull designed 30 years ago and that the interior of the Catalina was constructed like a 1970s travel trailer while the C&Cs built in the 70s had drop down dinettes similar to travel trailer layouts ... that is it! The Tartan impressed me. It had all rigging and gear seem correctly sized and solid. The toe rail was a bolted on affair which gave me faith in the hull / deck joint. Interior fit and finish was very nice. In fact it seemed to be built solidly and firmly the way I have always been accustomed to from years sailing on and around C&Cs - which have been my benchmark. The hull shape looked more cruisy than the C&Cs made by same company but still looked modern and like someone actually oput some thought into it. I then walked off the Tartan and onto teh Catalina 309. For those not familiar with these two boats they were new models approx half a dozen years ago. The Catalina 309 was advertised as a 30 ft boat that was under $100,000. It in fact was listed as ready to go for $113K. Maybe making that $116K would have made it far more worthwhile. 1. The underbody looked like a pig. It looked like someone recycled an old hull and keel design from 1980. To put that in perspective in 1980 I woul dnot have wanted an outdated design from 1950 - I would have wanted a modern 1980 design ... this is what C&C did iin 1980 and why C&C was succesful - because of its designs 2. I stepped on board and saw the wheel and liked it. It was the one where the sides fold in when at dock. Unfortunately it was the only thing I liked about this vessel. 3. A 30 ft boat had cleats that would look at home on a 23 ft boat. A C&C 24 has much more substantial cleats. This was repeated on all th erigging and gear on the deck - severely undersized. 4. There was no toerail. The hull/deck joint looked very inferior to a bolted on toerail style joint 5. The mast was deck stepped for interior room. OK this is done in a lot of cruising boats by Beneteau, etc ... as well but at least on the Beneteaus the interior finish was nice 6. Then I stepped inside. Some poor sap would be paying $113,000 for this. The interior did not look as nice as a 25 year old C&C 30-2. There was a thin vveneer over pressboard in the sliding cupboard doors, everywhere the woodwork looked like cgheap bargain basement pressboard/veneer. For an additional $2000 a real wood could have been used to make the interior look nice. Insted Catalina chose to make this look like a tent trailer built in 1973. My overall impression was that I would far sooner buy a C&C 30-2 that was 25 years old at the time and then spend $50,000 outfitting it to be like brand new again. I would have a more modern hull, a more modern interior, a far superior fit and finish and a much more solid boat. Even doing this I would still come in under the new cost of the Catalina 309 and even at teh same price the 25 year old boat would be better value. So no. Using that one Catalina as a yardstick against any C&C they are not the same. The Catalina 309 had more build quality in copmmon with a MacGregor 26. Rant continues .. even a boat with a less desireable interior such as the Mega is in different class. While the interior is not made to look nice and may use similar materials to that Catalina teh boat itself had a huge amount of design work. The sailing characteristics and everything else showed a lot of attention was paid to it. and finally. Judging by the Catalina 309 at that show Catalina itself is not in the same class as beneteau .... Mike ________________________________
From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] On Behalf Of Jim Watts Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2013 4:15 PM To: 1 CnC List Subject: Stus-List To the barricades! For those that are familiar with Sailing Anarchy, there is a thread going on right now on a good boat for singlehanded cruiser/racer. One of the more annoying twits on SA maintains that C&C's are in the Hunter/Catalina league...and cheaply built. Anyone else want to jump on? I have already told him what I think. http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/index.php?showtopic=152222&page=2#entry 4368064 -- Jim Watts Paradigm Shift C&C 35 Mk III Victoria, BC
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