I've put the new 385 side by side with the Catalina 36 MK II and found the results interesting. The attached picture is approximately to scale. Catalina 385 is the upper image and 36 is the lower.
- The head seems to have the same amount of floor space even though the 385 includes an enclosed shower.
- The forward cabin has more floor space, but the bed seems smaller and there is no hanging locker in the cabin. An island bed is very nice, but there is certainly a good deal of space given to that crash bulkhead, their new StrikeZone thing.
- The galley seems no bigger, but I think it may be more useful. The countertop in the aft section of the galley is pretty useless since there is so little vertical space over the counter. You cannot set a grocery bag down on that counter in the 36.
- The aft cabin is missing a hanging locker but seems to have a bit more floor space. It seems more like a real cabin since that excessively large bed in the C36 is hard to get sheets on and the distant corners of it are pretty useless other than a remote place to store cushions and sails. I do like that they have given up on the mattress in order to give more to the cockpit lockers.
- Nav station seems to reflect the trend toward depending on chartplotters. For 20 years I wanted to move up to a boat with a real navigation station. Then I got a Catalina 36 and I found I no longer look at paper charts. Between the 12" chartplotter, my laptop with OpenCP charts, and my Ipad, I have multiple sources of studying the charts and the paper ones stay in the emergency locker.
- Any other reactions? Anybody thought about moving up?
G. Jackson
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Greg Jackson
SV Jacqui Marie
2004 C36, MKII
tall rig, wing keel,
Very interesting.
I am not sure the 385 vberth would fly as it appears to be shorter than the 36 and I need every inch of that to be happy. When the boat is rolling around, it's nice to lean up against the bulkhead so I would miss that.
If I could change one thing on the 36, it would be to take the cockpit locker all the way down into the berth. Other than that, I have no complaints.
2000 C36 MKII 1825
Candidly, can't see any reason to spend 250k on a Catalina of that size. Island berth is nice, but, at 6'2 no way my wife and I can sleep head forward. Measure the width at bow and then go home and measure a pillow, room for 1 only. Stall shower is nice but I put one in my 36 with door and no curtain. Best thing about the 385 is the extra 3" of freeboard, it gives you more space in aft cabin. No thanks I'll keep my 36!!
chic
[quote=chic]Candidly, can't see any reason to spend 250k on a Catalina of that size. Island berth is nice, but, at 6'2 no way my wife and I can sleep head forward. Measure the width at bow and then go home and measure a pillow, room for 1 only. Stall shower is nice but I put one in my 36 with door and no curtain. Best thing about the 385 is the extra 3" of freeboard, it gives you more space in aft cabin. No thanks I'll keep my 36!!
chic[/quote]
I'm going to lay down on that bed in the January boat show and see what it's like. Luckily I'm only 5'9" and I should fit just fine. One of the best attractions is that the PHRF is about 40 seconds less than the C36. My favorite spot is an island 140 miles north of my dock. With a C385 I'd get there 1.5 hours earlier. New boats are expensive, but I've also been looking at X Yacht Xc38 and Tartan 3700. Both of those make the Catalina seem like a real value. Of course there's no better way to save money than the keep the boat you've got, which is what I should probably do anyway.
GTJ
Greg Jackson
SV Jacqui Marie
2004 C36, MKII
tall rig, wing keel,
Wow my Lake Ontario PHRF is 138 with fin keel and Maxprop hard to believe a 385 is under a 100 rating. I would suggest you check that out.
[quote=chic]Wow my Lake Ontario PHRF is 138 with fin keel and Maxprop hard to believe a 385 is under a 100 rating. I would suggest you check that out. [/quote]
I think the Catalina 385 comes in around 115 PHRF. My Catalina 36 is wing keel and roller furling main, which earned me a Lake Michigan PHRF of 153. All the reviews of the Catalina 385 mention moderate freeboard, but the profiles make it look higher than the Catalina 36. Maybe the mean moderate in comparison to the Winnebago styling of the C350 or other more recent models.that have way too much freeboard. If the freeboard of the 385 is much more than the 36 then I'm not interested.
GJ
Greg Jackson
SV Jacqui Marie
2004 C36, MKII
tall rig, wing keel,
Measure the width at bow and then go home and measure a pillow, room for 1 only.
This comment fascinates me. I always slept with my feet toward the pointy end. Why, because with the hatch open you get the air. I have heard of people sleeping the opposite way but did not understand it. Too claustrophobic for me! Course with the island birth I suspect you would be chasing your pillow to the floor all night, right?
Gary Bain
S/V "Gone With The Wind"
Catalina 36', Hull #: 1056, Year: 1990, Engine: M-35
Standard Rig
Moored: Boothbay Harbor, Maine
Home: Auburn, Maine
[quote=GaryB] I suspect you would be chasing your pillow to the floor all night, right?[/quote]
Exactly! :)
2000 C36 MKII 1825
Gary, the idea of an island berth is about access without having to do the 180 spin. But with this said, 38-42 feet just isn't big enough to pull berth aft far enough to make the head of berth wide enough for two pillows. As I said, friends have 355 and sleep that way but they are very short, 5'2"+5', so they pull pillows down. Works for them but would never work for us.
As for PHRF, here on Ontario, mine is 138, fin keel, furling main, max prop, and a 140 headsail. At 115, which seams pretty low, theoretically you save 25 seconds a mile. That translates into 25 minutes on a 60 mile crossing.
No one has talked about the cabin floor to ceiling height. Any dimension on that? I'm 6' 2" and would like more head room..
B Brooks
Bob & Maggie B. Hobby Time 1999 C36 MK II TM/Wing Hull #1796 Warwick, RI
I also think the whole "strike zone" concept is a bit silly - like really... I guess next they'll be installing airbags in the binnacle!
I think my wife might really like the front-loading fridge idea though...
---- Howard & Linda Matwick ----
--- S/V "Silhouette" - Nanaimo, BC ----
--- 1999 C36 MkII #1776 M35BC ---
[quote=HowLin]I also think the whole "strike zone" concept is a bit silly - like really... I guess next they'll be installing airbags in the binnacle!
I think my wife might really like the front-loading fridge idea though...[/quote]
I agree about the strike zone, although I know people who cannot sleep on overnight offshore passages for fear of hitting something. One safety feature I do like is the rudder design. I've seen several boats with rudder damage. Either they are left without steering because the rudder broke off on a shoal, or they are in danger of sinking because the transom cracks at the rudder bearing when hitting a shoal. The new 5 series boats have a rudder that is designed to break while leaving enough behind to retain steerage. That creates a more graceful mode of failure and allows limping back to port.
GTJ
Greg Jackson
SV Jacqui Marie
2004 C36, MKII
tall rig, wing keel,