Sailing
Catalina 28
The Catalina 28 underscores why Catalina has built more sailboats than any other American builder—more than 60,000 and counting. This versatile sloop is easy to handle and sails surprisingly well. There is nothing extreme about the design and it's relatively simple to maintain. The high-volume interior has more room than many 32-foot boats. There is excellent factory support, an active owner's group and parts and services are readily available. The 28 is affordable to buy and to operate. Furthermore, when you want to move up or down there is a well defined market for selling the boat. This adds up to a formula for success in an industry where failure can be the norm.
Catalina, based in Southern California, is famous for long production runs. Introduced in 1991 the 28 (and with the 270 that was launched a year later) replaced the legendary Catalina 27 as the all-time best selling keel boat. An updated version in 1995, the 28 MK II is still in production. If you're looking for a first "big" boat to introduce your family to sailing, or simply looking for one of the best values in the 28- to 30-foot range, you owe it to yourself to look closely at a used Catalina 28. With prices ranging from less than $30,000 for an older model to just under $60,000 for an almost new boat, the 28 is a lot of boat for the buck.
First impressions
Designed by Gerry Douglas and his in-house design team, the 28 sports the distinct Catalina profile. The sheerline is flat, the bow overhang is moderate, the broad transom is reversed and there is ample freeboard. The sloping cabintrunk extends well into the foredeck and the dark portlights are vintage Catalina. This is a big 28-foot boat, and not just because the LOA is actually 28 feet, 6 inches. The beam is a healthy 10 feet, 2 inches and it's carried well aft, especially in the MK II, and the bilges are full, creating a voluminous hull.
Below the waterline, the forefoot is relatively shallow, the fin keel angles aft and the rudder is balanced, another example of Catalina's well-honed hull shape that provides decent performance through a range of conditions. The standard draft is 5 feet, 3 inches, however, the 3-foot, 8-inch shoal-draft wing keel was a popular option and seems to be widely available on the used boat market. The iron ballast weighs in at 3,200 pounds for the standard fin keel model, the wing keel is slightly heavier. The fin keel model displaces 8,300 pounds. A double-spreader sloop, the 28 was offered with either a standard or a tall rig. By most accounts the boat is stiff in a blow, and unless you sail on San Francisco Bay, the tall rig, which has an air draft of 44 feet, 4 inches, is the preferred option. The fin-keel standard-rig 28 has a sail area-to-displacement ratio of 14.21, while the tall rig bumps it up to 15.46. Either way, the 28 will not be a demon in light air. [Continue Reading At]:
http://www.sailingonline.com/UBN_0204.html
Catalina Yachts - http://www.catalinayachts.com/
Catalina Yachts at Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalina_Yachts
