Owner thoughts?

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Capt Jack
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Joined: 2/11/17
Posts: 8
Owner thoughts?

   Hello all,
I would love to hear this from the owners of a Cat 36 thus is why I am posting on the forum. This is my dilemma,  I am 11 months out of the purchase of my retirement boat and I am 95% on the Cat 36 as my boat of choice. I have only really  issue left to be sure I am 100% positive on my choice of boats and where best to get advise but from the owners of this boat. The one issue I have with this boat and with many others is the spade rudder and accidental  grounding's. I am hoping the the wing keel will ground before the rudder and if so what is the depth distance between the bottom of the keel vs the rudder. Living in Florida the shallows can jump out of no where and would hate to think I will damage the rudder when I ground not if I ground :)   other than that I believe that is my last concern with this boat. So your thoughts from the ones with experience owning these boats I will get the best response. I have become interested in posting questions on SailNet do to so many responses from people that do not own or have first hand experience with the boat or the item in question. So I look forward to hearing back from as many as I can.
Thanks James

knotdoneyet
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Joined: 7/27/12
Posts: 253

2000 Catalina 36 MKII wing keel out of Clearwater, Fl.  Most important is being under 5' - I'm 4' 5" and don't worry about tides for going in or out.  5'+ do..  My rudder is shorter than my keel.  There are threads discussing years where it's not.  It can be replaced.

We just got back from a Keys / Dry Tortugas run with a family of four.  We just keep piling up the memories.

Good luck on your search!

2000 C36 MKII 1825

caprice 1050
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Joined: 7/1/07
Posts: 345

My rudder depth is about the same as my wing keel. If you are new to the boat be sure to pull into slips that are up against the land or sea wall,  bow end first because  when the slips are dredged I have found often the slip depth is much shallower at the land end than in the middle where the keel is or at the outer end of the slip.  Power boats have small rudders and don't have to be concerned about this problem, but  sailboats with much deeper rudder depths it  can present a problem with the rudder hitting the ground.

__/)__/)__/)__Capt Mike__/)__/)__/)__
Punta Gorda Florida
1990 Std WK M35 Hull #1050

TippingPoint
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Joined: 8/11/16
Posts: 46

Capt Jack,   4 years ago... What did you do?   Did you retire?

Ed Dewsnap
Marion, MA
1984 Catalina

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