2005 Catalina 350 "CAPT. NINI"

The Catalina 350 sloop won the Cruising World Sailboat of the Year award when she was first introduced. It’s easy to understand why because her design incorporates many great features usually only found in larger vessels.

These include a 13´ beam, making her feel like most 40´vessels inside, while ensuring easy handling for a couple. Her easy rig with all roller furling sails, self-tailing winches and sail controls which are led aft to the cockpit, seem to take the all the work out of sailing. A Large 7’ cockpit with the full enclosure, deep coamings and high seat backs make the cockpit another living room. She also has Catalina’s Trademark Wide weather decks, tall life lines and inboard shrouds allowing for safe movement on board in all weather conditions. A truly divided anchor locker has double rollers and an electric windlass.

The Catalina 350 interior offers 6’7” headroom, two private, large cabins with centerline berth forward. A double entry head with a separate stall shower, a spacious main salon with multiple table options that can accommodate three more overnight guests if desired and a true U shape Sea galley which will satisfy any cook. The air conditioning/heat will keep you comfortable in any climate and the generator will let you do it at any time. There is abundant storage which is great for extended cruising or a live-a-board.

Accommodations:

The Catalina 350 has one of the most logical and useful layouts of any boat under 45’. Her 13’ beam and 7’ of headroom make her feel like a much larger boat. Most people think she is 38-40’. Her interior is all teak. No mystery wood and a lot of the wood is solid teak: the tables, fiddles, companionway steps, trim and door edges are all solid teak.

All her upholstery inside is Brisa (off white) Ultra leather.   Her unique ability to have multiple table configurations in the salon showcase her flexibility.

First the starboard settee can be a settee/berth or has a game table set up. The huge port side dinette can seat 6 around it and has the factory optional dinette conversion kit. It can drop for a berth or lounge to watch TV or make a double berth, but the huge table can disappear to its area in the aft cabin where it is stored vertically out of the way against the hull and the smaller cocktail table can take its place. This option really opens up the interior.  The aft part of the starboard settee has the nav station and opposite is the U shape galley. 

The master cabin forward has a centerline berth, hanging lockers and drawer storage plus a private door to the oversized head that has a separate shower and push button electric head. Few boats this size have a really workable head with a separate shower stall.  

The aft cabin is equally as large and has its own storage, hanging lockers, aft access to the engine and transmission. Both cabins have mattresses.

Besides the obvious cabinets, Storage is everywhere. Behind the settees, under the settees, under the berths, under the cabin sole and even in the bilges. All the Drawers have slides and lockers have ventilated teak doors.

Well-equipped, U-shaped galley Right at the companionway where you can access it at sea or underway. Lots of counter space and storage.

• Propane 2 burner stove w/ oven and cockpit locker for 6 gallon tank and a second locker for a spare tank.
• Microwave
• Twin stainless steel DEEP sinks
• Pressure hot/cold water
• Seaward 6 gal hot water heater and waste heat from engine.
• 12 vt Adler Barbour refrigerator & freezer system 3cu ft each. Fridge has top and front loading doors and freezer is top loading. Foot pump for pumping out water.
• Multiple storage areas, drawers, cabinets, built in cutting board, and counter space. We in fact have/had a Keurig and 110vt icemaker in the galley and they don’t take up too much space.

• Standard Horizon VHF
• Xantrex battery monitor
• Poly Planer stereo
• Flat Panel TV
• Furuno Nav net plotter and radar
• Furuno Nav Autopilot
• Furuno Nav Net knot/depth

• Northern Lights generator new in 2010
• Battery charger
• Twin 30 amp 120VAC shore power. One is dedicated to the air conditioning, one to the house.
• twin 30 amp Shore power cords
• D.C. Electrical system w/safety switch & panel w/breakers as well as amp meters
• A.C. dockside power w/6 outlets, polarity indicator & breakers
• Anchor light on masthead
• Deck light & steaming light on mast
• Navigation lights.

Cockpit & Deck

• Transom Hot/cold shower
• Open transom with removable helm seat for easy walk through access
• Sugar scoop transom w/ seats/storage under (note later boats did not have this storage)
• Cockpit has two customized oversized seats on stern rail and built in outboard mount.
• Fiberglass Cockpit table with two wing leaves.
• Maxwell 800 electric windlass with foot switches.
• Split foredeck anchor storage
• Rocna anchor with back up danforth on bow
• HUGE cockpit storage. Starboard cockpit locker is huge and has two shelfs. Both stb and port has aft cockpit lazarette storage and there is also storage in the swim platform. (For example, the stb swim platform storage can hold three-four 6 gallon fuel or water jugs, later boats had no easy access to this storage).
• Outboard engine hoist
• Bimini, wheel covers, companionway cover.

Engine & Mechanical

• Dometic Marine Air Systems – 16K BTU Air conditioning w/ heat. Vents in Salon, aft cabin and forward cabin.
• 35hp Universal M35BC diesel engine. (700 hours). Great engine access from removing ladder and forward box and opening up the box from the aft cabin. Easily serviced.
• PSS dripless packing
• Racor fuel filter with clear bowl for viewing.
• Pedestal steering w/brake, Superb single lever engine controls. (Nothing is simpler to dock than a hand on the single engine control and one on the bow thruster)
• (2) Bilge pumps - one manual & one electric
• Bilge blower
• Gravity dump holding tank (no issues with pumps)

Sails & Rigging

• Air Draft under 52’. She easily goes under all the ICW bridges.
• Lines led aft to cockpit including mainsail furling
• In mast furling
• 135% genoa on Schaefer Roller furling
• Double spreader mast rig with flag halyards and rigging cleats
• Split backstay
• Garhauer cabin top 5:1 traveler w/ cam cleat lines led aft
• Solid boom vang
• Starboard side Two SpeedHarken 40 MAINSHEET WINCH
• Two Harken #44 self-tailing 2 speed genoa winches (the Catalina 350 was about the only model to have more expensive Harken and not Lewmar winches)
• Portside Harken #40 self-tailing 2 speed cabin top winches w/ 6 line stoppers.
• As with most Catalin all the deck and sailing equipment is oversized. For example, the halyard winches on a Catalina are the size of most builders smaller Genoa winches.

Brokers Remarks:

I have sold new and used multiple Catalina's and owned over 10 different models personally including a Catalina 350. So, the thoughts below come from an ownership perspective not a broker's perspective.

We owned our boat for about 3 years. Sailed from Texas to Ft. Myers. Florida. From there to Dry Tortugas then on to Key West. From Key West to Cuba and then on to the Bahamas and all the way back to Ft Myers.

What is the perfect boat? 

I would say one that is comfortable and provides good accommodations for the owners and occasional guests. Still manageable by one person under sail or while docking. And one that you can afford.

To me, the Catalina 350 has fit that bill better than any of the other boats we have owned. Having sold several of these new when they first came out, I loved the model from the first time I saw it. It was like getting a 38-40’ boat in a 35’ package. 

The cockpit is over 7’ long and is wide enough to sleep on. There are no hard corners in the cockpit. Everything is rounded. We have had 6 aboard for up to a week and a couple can live aboard superbly with her centerline queen berth forward. Although only one head, you have a separate shower and that makes all the difference in how the head functions during long term voyages or living aboard.

Also, the salon has a several table option set ups that makes it very versatile as noted in the above info. Our standard entertaining set up is the two smaller tables port and starboard and you can sit and entertain 6-7 people.  Keep in mind, there is also a full-size cockpit table in the cockpit for outdoor dining as well, which is also where we dine most of the time.

The galley is also oversized compared to most boats with refrigeration being the biggest shortcoming on other boats. The 350 has a top and front-loading fridge and a top loading freezer. Not the "drop in the hole", all in one unit everyone is using now. Both are 3 cubic foot. We have loaded up more than we could eat for a 3-week voyage.

The engine is also a bonus. While most boats this size have 27-30hp diesel, the 350 has a 4-cylinder 35hp. That extra 5-7 hp makes all the difference in world if you are loaded up for cruising and you’re motoring, and you WILL be motoring.

A luxury used more than a few times often becomes a necessity. So, that's how it goes with generators and boats. Once you have one, you will find it hard to live without it.  Once we left and started cruising the boat in Florida and the Bahamas, the generator was used a lot. It extended our season a lot because there never was an excuse of it’s too hot to anchor out. We did indeed run the gen and had A/C and had it whenever we wanted it. We also used it to make ice and charge the batteries faster than with the engine.

The generator also opens a lot of other possibilities to add more equipment later. You could add a way more efficient 110vt water maker or even a dive compressor instead of power hungry 12vt units. Also, you don’t have to run the engine to charge the batteries. If you’re cooling down the boat in the evening, just turn on the battery charger.

Also the Catalina 350s were one of the very few models equipped with the more expensive Harken winches. Not that there is much difference in winches - it’s the size of the winches that make a difference. Again, the halyard winches on the Catalina are the size of the primary winches on the other builder’s boats.  The deck house has 2-speed (again most are single speed).

THIS IS A ONE OWNER, WELL-MAINTAINED BOAT. SHE HAS MAINTENANCE RECORDS SINCE NEW. NEVER CRUISED, AND ON THE TEXAS COAST HER WHOLE LIFE.

Material Damage:

Vessel was in Island Moorings Marina in Port Aransas during Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Cosmetic damage was:

1. Minor hull damage-repaired and repainted
2. Bow Pulpit Damage - Replaced
3. Stern Pulpit Damage - Repaired and Polished
4. Lifeline Damage - Replaced Lifelines
5. Standing Rigging Damage - Replaced
6. Running Rigging Damage - Replaced
7. Mast was Scratched - Re-Anodized
8. Flag Halyards Damage - Replaced
9. Electronics Replaced: Radar, AIS VHF, GPS Antenna, VHF Antenna, Deck Light, Mask Light

The work was done by a local yard near the listing broker. The boat was in Port Aransas, Texas, 150 miles away. It should be noted that the boat was brought up to the boat yard on its own bottom to be repaired.

Listing MLS by Yachtr.com