# Catalina 380



## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

Any and all comments welcome - I''m looking at a 2001 380. Any owners out there ? Or people who have sailed on one ?


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## Denr (Feb 7, 2001)

I would NEVER own one but I have sailed on the boat several times. If you carefully scope out this boat you probably would not buy it either. On a quality scale of 1-10 it is no more than a 6. 

What I don''t like about the boat:

Jib sheet track is not long enough to obtain the correct sheeting angle for 100%

Telephone sized spar: what ever you decide, do not let them talk you into a in-mast furling unit. With the in mast unit you cannot have full batons, you will experience a lot of chafe furling and unfurling the sail, the sails actually have a hollow leach, bad for performance and last but not least when you want to reduce sail area you do not want all of that weight aloft.

Solid fiberglass hull not as stiff and light as a cored hull which translates into slow going for a boat of this size.

Turn buckles are cheaply made out of bronze bar stock, not forged as they should be for a boat this size. Also the Catalina''s have the cheesiest turnbuckle boots I''ve ever seen on a new boat. This is a cheap fix.

The stern is designed so wide, you cannot reach the wheel if you want to sit outboard and steer the boat, dumb design. This might be able to be corrected with a larger wheel, I''m not sure.

If one does manage to sit out board on the coaming, any big waves that wash onto the deck drain into your pants, the coaming is poorly designed.

Non-skid: Very poor and very slippery when wet, the non-skid pattern is almost non- existent. 

All Catalina''s come with a lot of the cheap Garhauer hardware. This should be replace with better stuff. All of the stuff with the exception of the winches is inferior, from the rope clutches to the cleats.

Engine controls - throttle and gear are easy to mix up, as they look identical. This is a problem on many new boats.

The design and installation of stanchions, pushpit and pullpits are very poor, they begin to leak shortly after the first year.

No grab rails or anything of substance to hang onto in the cabin when in a seaway.

Several voids in the gelcoat, poor job cosmetically.

Catalina is big on mounting everything except the galley sink on the binnacle. Only the helms person can see them if mounted in this location. A better solution would be to mount them over the companion way or on the bulkhead.

In closing, this is a very comfortable boat at the dock to live in but it has way too many quirks for my liking especially if you like to sail more than sit at the dock. Sure these boats are "value priced" for their size but you really do get what you pay for in these boats. Take a look at the number of used late model 38''s on the market, people don''t own these for a very long peroid of time. Take an equivalent amount of money and buy a 5-10 year old pre-sailed high quality boat, you''ll be much happier.


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## Guest (Jul 13, 2001)

I am not all that familar with the 380 but I lately I have run into a number of individuals who have purchased new Catalinas in recent years. They described a list of manufacturing problems that were far more extensive than I would have found acceptable including one boat that the owner described as having almost every piece of deck hardware installed without caulk. He discribed a nightmare like experience of trying to Catalina to cover anything under warrantee. He personally spoke to Frank Butler, owner of Catalina, who he felt was personally blocking the warrantee approval. 

After that conversation I began to talk to other buyers of new Catalinas to see if that was an isolated incident and the owner mentioned above had a more extensive list of warrantee items than the others they all reported the same difficulty with getting warrantee work and having it denied at the factory. In two cases the dealer said that work was under warrantee but after the work started they said that the warrantee claim was denied. 

I would love to hear otherwise from people who have purchased but based on what I heard in those three conversations, the warrantee problems alone would be enough to prevent me from buying a new Catalina. 

Respectfully
Jeff


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

denr,jeffh;

Thought I might find you bashing Catalina''s.
It''s good to know some things never change.

Once again the 38''s in local charter have held up very well. Are there better boats? Of course. Are there better values possibly not. I''m also impressed by their performance,even with "wing dings". It''s nice to be back. 

Waternut.......


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## Denr (Feb 7, 2001)

Welcome back Waterguy. I forgot to mention one more thing I didn''t like about the 380, it has a picnic table in the cockpit, this is beyond dumb for a boat that was meant to be sailed, but then again most people that buy these use them at the dock as floating condominiums.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

Im another schlep looking at production boats. I''ve heard the Catalina horror stories. Im curious if the bashers/unbiased commentators have opinions on Beneteaus and Hunters?


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## Denr (Feb 7, 2001)

The Bene''s and Hunters have many, if not most of the same short commings that Fatalina''s have. This is easy to understand as they are all after the same uninformed group of buyers looking at price only. Just as you can''t get a BMW for the price of a Lumina, you won''t buy a Tarten, J-Boat, Dehler, Island Packet, Sabre, Alden, Hinckley etc. for the price of a Hunter, Catalina or a Beneteau.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

I must agree with Denr and Jeff; you will be much better off with a 10/15/20 year-old quality boat than a brand new Benehuntalina. Don''t be seduced by the superficial: the sparkling gelcoat, fresh cabin upholstry, clean bilges, and dealer croonings are just that - superficial.

On the other hand, if you have the green for a brand new *quality* boat (Tartan, Cabo Rico, Sabre, Passport, Caliber, etc), go for it! _Somebody_ has to keep supplying the used-boat market with good boats for me to buy in the future!


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## Denr (Feb 7, 2001)

Divad:
I really love the word "Benehuntalina". This word really defines the essence of these mediocre boats. You must be a very smart dude/dudette. Would you like to go sailing sometime? I''m in the Chicago area.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

Hey Denr, if I''m ever in the Chicago area, I''ll take you up on that! (I sail Long Island Sound). I''m having serious sailing withdrawal right now, with my baby up on the hard (through no fault of hers).


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

Any opinions on Jeanneau, Dufour and Bavaria?


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

I currently own a 1990 Catalina 22...fairly happy with performance, however, Catalina (the factory in CA.) SUCKS!! I ordered a slide-hatch and it took 2 months to receive it here in Florida after their rep assured me it was in stock and ready to ship via UPS. After the long wait, the thing arrived poorly packaged and poorly finished. The inside finish was actually hand painted with a brush and the laid glass looked like it was done either on a "Friday" or "Monday".

First and last time I''ll purchase a Catalina!

Jamie


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

I did not know Catalina''s are that bad. I will have to hear more before I decide. I do think that the Catalina 380 sails quite well. I get this from an couple of informal races with them.

New boats in general are not a good deal however.


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## Herbwitt (May 11, 2013)

Denr said:


> I would NEVER own one but I have sailed on the boat several times. If you carefully scope out this boat you probably would not buy it either. On a quality scale of 1-10 it is no more than a 6.
> 
> What I don''t like about the boat:
> 
> ...


So I'm not sure why anyone would put a 100% Genoa on a masthead boat but it takes all kinds. I purchased a 2003 sailed it from Daytona Beach to Tampa Bay and is sailed very well in 20-25 kt wind, close hall at 7 to 8 kt. The joker that owned the boat had know idea of single line reefing so reducing sail on the Genoa worked out pretty well on that voyage. As far at the Garhauer hardware I'll take their EZ Glide Genoa Cars and main traveler over the Harkens and Schafer I've sailed every time. If you ever have to replace the Schafer genoa furling line guides you'll defiantly be looking for a lower cost alternative. It is defiantly not a race boat, I've owned three Catalinas each larger and newer, I've sailed several Beneteau, Hunter, Oday, Irwin... I like Catalina and have a few Trophies sailing them in class. As far as Cored Vs Solid I would only by a cored boat if all I was doing is racing. Having done a good bit of glass work on crashed boat, I'll lean on the construction that suits my use which is offshore and off grid. Whether it is the boat for you depends on you more than the boat. I looked at 7, 380s before paying way to much for this one but thinking about the work the others needed I'm not sorry I did.


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## mal5033 (Apr 3, 2001)

We own a Catalina 320 (one of the first hulls actually). We love the boat from stem to stern.

I was warned away from the "Benehuntalina" class of boats. I was told they were "Chevys" and to be avoided. I also own a Chevy....

The bottom line is that the Benehuntalinas get people like me sailing (and we sail a lot). My boat is paid for and that matters when you are retired in this economy.

Our boat cruises well (mostly near shore stuff in Northern Michigan), races well enough to win an occasional flag in the local beer can series and we day sail whenever our short summers allow. I would recommend Catalinas to anyone. Yes, there are higher quality boats around if you have fat bank accounts (or as is more common, good credit)

I also don't/won't drive a Mercedes....just sayin.


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## SchockT (May 21, 2012)

Wow! A 21 year old thread! Reading through the thread people were really into trash talking all the major production boats. Some serious snobbery going on too! 

It is interesting though, here we are 21 years later and the boats, and builders they were trashing have stood the test of time. 

Sent from my SM-G981W using Tapatalk


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## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

SchockT said:


> Wow! A 21 year old thread! Reading through the thread people were really into trash talking all the major production boats. Some serious snobbery going on too!
> 
> It is interesting though, here we are 21 years later and the boats, and builders they were trashing have stood the test of time.



Yeah, its a bit amazing.
Reading very old threads some might wonder about the prolific member 
*TSOJOURNER *
somewhere along the line of software changes that user name got spread across a lot of disused user names. Dunno how and its not reversable.

Not only were those that slagged some boat brands clearly wrong seeing developments over the last 21 years, but they were wrong then. 
We have implemented a new rule for members not to slag other people boats. Critique if asked, comment in a design thread, but in a general thread remember everyone loves the boat they have invested a _lot_ of money into. We don't insult their choices anymore.  




Mark


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## SanderO (Jul 12, 2007)

SchockT said:


> Wow! A 21 year old thread! Reading through the thread people were really into trash talking all the major production boats. Some serious snobbery going on too!
> 
> It is interesting though, here we are 21 years later and the boats, and builders they were trashing have stood the test of time.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G981W using Tapatalk


What does "stood the test of time" mean? I would expect almost any boat to disintegrate to the point where it was no longer able to be used. BRP boats, especially, are rather indestructible... and this can be a problem too... When they are no longer wanted...how DO you get rid of them? Cars can be crushed and recycled. Are GRP hulls an "environmental liability"? But sure, they can be used with renewed systems and sails... for quite some time.


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