Association Forum - Charlotte, NC Boat Show

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Charlotte, NC Boat Show

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

svmoxie
Past Commodore

Member Avatar

USA
331 Posts

Initially Posted - 02/05/2004 : 10:07:41

I drove down last night to the Mid-Atlantic boat show that was held in the Charlotte Convention Center. Last night was the VIP invitation only pre-show show and I went as a guest of American Marine & Sail Supply out of Zebulon, NC. They are the largest local Catalina dealer in my area. (Zebulon is a little east of Raleigh, NC.)

The night included free drinks, hors d'oeuvres, about a thousand power boats, and three (5) sailboats. (Six if you include the Macgregor 26.) All five of these were brought in by American Marine. They had the Catalina 13, 16.5, both of which looked like a LOT of fun, a water ballast 250 and the 350. (For those of you counting, they also had a Hunter 33.)

What a boat the 350 is! One of the best coastal boats I have seen in the price range. I could easily live aboard this one!

The anchor locker is amazing, split sections with two anchor rollers and the windlass mounts below flush on the deck. It is a deck stepped mast with lots of turning blocks on the step plate and the HUGE traveler incorporates the deck organizers and lots of rope clutches. Inside is a U shaped galley with a two burner oven, DEEP double sinks with a sprayer head faucet and a foot pump that provides sea water, freezer, two refrigerator openings and another dedicated ice box. A very nice touch was the built in trash can that folds out from the side of the sink cabinet. The head / shower was plenty large enough for me at 6'1" and the nav station / chart table had me drooling. Tankage included 80 gals of water, 40 gals of diesel and a 22 gal holding tank. Fit and finish was about an 8 of 10, the quality of materials was at least a 9 of 10. Overall I'd give it a strong 9 of 10 for its purpose as a coastal cruiser.

Sorry no pictures from this visit but they will be in Raleigh in two weeks and I will be at that show too.

If you plan to attend the Raleigh show, let me know and I will try to meet you there to say hi.

Winston-Salem, NC

Edited by - on

LeighMarie
Navigator

Members Avatar

USA
188 Posts

Response Posted - 02/05/2004 : 12:56:16

Clif, My wife and I went to the Strictly Sail Show in Chicago and were amazed at how much we liked the 350 also! They had only the larger Catalinas there, but we liked the 350 even much more than the 387. The beam is wider in the 350 which makes for a roomy, comfortable feel inside. We intend to keep our C25 for about 5 years or so, but were amazed at how both reacted to the 350. After about 2 minutes we came to our senses and told ourselves to be patient and wait, but we almost could have easily gone the other way.

Edited by - on

JimB517
Past Commodore

Members Avatar

USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 02/05/2004 : 12:59:44

I also love the 350 and it is a lot of boat for the $

It looks to me like a very nice cruising boat....of course I also love the Catalina 42!

Edited by - on

lcharlot
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Antigua and Barbuda
1301 Posts

Response Posted - 02/06/2004 : 22:45:46

Please excuse me if this is a dumb question, but I haven't owned anything bigger than a Catalina 25, so am unfamiliar with the bigger boats. Here's the question: On the Catalina 350, is the "holding tank" only for the toilet, with the shower and galley sink drains going directly to the sea, as in our smaller trailerable boats? Or does everything drain to the holding tank on the big boats? If that is the case, it seems to me that 22 gallons isn't very big, and you would have to pump it out pretty frequently.

Edited by - on

Chip Hunt
Navigator

Members Avatar

120 Posts

Response Posted - 02/07/2004 : 00:48:34

i could be mistaken here, but i think that my sinks drain into my bilge (from where it is pumped out the back into the harbor). im pretty sure that only what goes into the head ends up in my holding tank.

Edited by - on

svmoxie
Past Commodore

Members Avatar

USA
331 Posts

Response Posted - 02/08/2004 : 04:08:07

Larry,

On the 350 that I was on, the shower has it's own small sump (roughly 10" X 12" X 6") that was pumped directly overboard with a 3500 Rule bilge pump. I did not track the sink drains but I suspect that they empty directly overboard. I will certainly look to see on my next trip.

I have never seen a boat that emptied gray water into the holding tank for the reason you described, but I have seen plenty that empty it into a common bilge and was then pumped overboard. I prefer a dry bilge so I would set up a separate sumps with discharges above the waterline. A bit more initial expense but worth it.

Edited by - on

Gloss
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1916 Posts

Response Posted - 02/08/2004 : 09:53:06

Hey Cliff

You mean that some boats dump sink and shower water in the bilge and then pump it out? YUCK. That would make for a smelly bilge after I take a shower, or after my cooking. Can you imagine hair clogs or scrambled egg spooge in your bilge on a hot sunny day.
Do any of the catalinas do that?
I think that feature would be a deal breaker for me on any boat.

Edited by - on

Captain B
1st Mate

Members Avatar

USA
88 Posts

Response Posted - 02/08/2004 : 13:16:13

A friend of mine is currently in the process of buying a 350. He's a previous 34 owner and was looking for another 34 until I showned him the 350. Turner Marine in Mobile has the best price I've seen on a new 350 $127K. But, that's about 21 times what I paid for Pearl.

Edited by - on

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 02/08/2004 : 13:45:49

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Captain B
 ...Turner Marine in Mobile has the best price I've seen on a new 350 $127K. But, that's about 21 times what I paid for Pearl.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

That's about 48 times what I paid for North Star!

Edited by - on

Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

Members Avatar

Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts

Response Posted - 02/08/2004 : 19:25:53

18 times what FellowShip Cost to buy, humm lets not talk about her cost to date!

Edited by - on

svmoxie
Past Commodore

Members Avatar

USA
331 Posts

Response Posted - 02/09/2004 : 09:42:31

You’re exactly right on both counts Frank. Fortunately I know of no new boats that do this but there are a lot of boats out there that do. In my experience dry bilges are definitely a minority.

Edited by - on

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.