Catalina 30

The Catalina 30 is a 29 ft 11 in masthead-sloop fin keel family cruiser built by Catalina Yachts from late 1974 to May 2008, with 6,454 hulls making it the most-built 30-footer in America. Very beamy and stiff for its era, it was sold in standard and tall rigs, with deep, shoal or wing keels, with or without a bowsprit, and evolved through Mk II (1986–1993) and Mk III (1994–2008) generations that kept the same hull dimensions.

Introduced in December 1974 as the company's third model, the 30 won its class in the Newport–Ensenada race and sold in volume from the start; hull #5,000 was finished in October 1987 and #6,000 in September 1990. The International Catalina 30 Association formed in 1974 and the boat was inducted into the Sailboat Hall of Fame in 2001. Production slowed to roughly a dozen a year at the end; the last hull, #6454, left the factory on 15 May 2008. Its successor was the Catalina 309.

Solid hand-laid fibreglass hull with a balsa- or plywood-cored deck fitted shoebox-fashion and fastened with self-tapping screws through an aluminium rub rail. The external lead fin is bolted on with stainless bolts; the rudder is an internally mounted spade. A deck-stepped masthead rig with single spreaders and split backstay drives a boat whose 0.42 ballast ratio and 10 ft 10 in beam make it stiff but, with SA/D 15.1, under-canvassed in light air unless it has the tall rig. Practical Sailor found play in the rudder stocks of every boat examined and cabin-top deflection at the mast step.

The family is recorded as a parent (the original 1975–1986 boat, commonly called Mk I) plus two generation models, because buyers search for 'Catalina 30 Mk II' and 'Mk III' by name and the cockpit, steering, engines and transom differ. Mk I: straight cockpit, tiller, end-boom sheeting, external wire halyards, Yanmar, Universal 5411 or Atomic 4 engines. Mk II (September 1986–1993): T-shaped cockpit with pedestal wheel, internal halyards, Universal M-25 diesel as the only engine from October 1988, wing keel offered from November 1986. Mk III (1994–2008): hull widened slightly aft of station seven for a walk-through transom and boarding platform, hull-side ports, wider coamings. Tall rig, bowsprit and keel choices span all three marks, so they are options rather than generations. The association gives Mk II as 1986–1993; some owner-forum sources say 1986–1991 and place the Mk II start around hull #3300 and the Mk III from about #5820.

SpinSheet's survey list: deteriorated deck core, compression fatigue at the mast step, failed wooden spreaders, lower chainplate attachment failures on older hulls (reinforcements should be fitted), leaks and separation at the keel-to-hull joint, hull-deck delamination from docking knocks, awkward exhaust runs and machinery exposed to bilge water. Practical Sailor adds stanchion leaks and a hairline crack at the hull-ballast joint on many boats.

Confirm the chainplate reinforcement has been done and inspect the mast step, keel joint and deck core before anything else. The Atomic 4 is adequate but petrol; the 11 hp diesel of the mid-1970s is marginal, and the three-cylinder Universal M-25 (23 hp) fitted from the mid-1980s is the engine to look for. Mk II and Mk III boats carry a premium for the wheel, T-cockpit and finish; a tall rig is worth having outside windy venues.