Cruiserr

Catalinas are designed by an in-house team that by all available evidence has truly tapped into the psyche of the American cruising family. Look at the numbers of boats they produce. That should be evidence enough. I have given talks to Catalina owners' groups and I can't think of a more satisfied bunch of owners. In fact, some of them have only owned Catalinas. In this new Catalina 350 I see a perfect example of the synthesis between the Euro approach and the American approach, although to my eye they have swayed this new Catalina a little too far toward the Euro side of the design coin.

With 13 feet of beam on a 36-footer we have an L/B of 2.77. From any point of view you have to see that as fat. If I do some quick scaling I get a beam at the corners of the transom of 11 feet, four inches. I can think of older 36-footers that had less than that. But all this beam has a purpose-volume below and cockpit volume on deck.

In defense of this type of hull form you should also remember that beam adds stability and we all like a stable or "stiff" boat. Stability equals sail carrying power and affords the option of sailing comfortably without having to reef or change sails frequently. You can get a fin keel drawing 6 feet, 8 inches or a wing-type keel drawing 4 feet, 6 inches. My guess is that while 4 feet, 6 inches of draft may sound nice, you will give up a lot of performance with this shoal keel no matter how big those wings are. The D/L is 199.

If when you go below you like a boat that smells of diesel fuel, fried bacon, wet wool and old cordage I don't think you will like the Catalina. This sparkling interior is all gloss varnished teak and sumptuous upholstery set off by a clean white molded headliner. There is enough teak detailing in this interior to make you forget you are looking at a molded interior liner boat. The layout is focused on two-couple cruising with comfort to burn. There is an athwartships double quarterberth that looks huge. The nav area is neatly tucked outboard of the aft leg of the port settee. A generously large television is mounted over the chart table ("Where are we?" "I don't know but come below, the "Anna Nicole Show" is about to start.")

Speaking of Anna Nicole, the galley looks great with plenty of stowage and a microwave mounted directly above the range.

The rig is pure American classic masthead type. There are fore and aft lower shrouds and a split backstay to ease access to the swim step. The mainsheet is once again too much midboom for me but this placement of the mainsheet opens up options for the dodger while eliminating clutter from the cockpit. The SA/D is 17.18.

The beam of the 350 allows for wide, unobstructed side decks with the chainplates and genoa track well inboard. Halyards are lead aft to winches at the companionway and there is even an electric main halyard winch available. Halyard bags are provided to keep the lines from spilling into the cockpit.

The cockpit itself is huge. It's wide enough so that there is room for a drop-leaf table in the middle. It's fun to eat in the cockpit, so a permanent table there is great and on a boat this beamy it helps break the wide open spaces of the cockpit up into more secure spaces. I'm not keen on those robotlike steering pedestals. Why does all the nav gear have to be repeated right at the helm? You can only see it when you stand directly abaft (I love it when you talk like that) the pedestal. This pedestal has room for a chartplotting screen, all the sailing instruments, the engine instruments, engine controls and a compass. It's a wee bit on the bulky side for my delicate eye, but I'm confident it's exactly what the buyers want.