Catalina 34

The Catalina 34 is a 34 ft 6 in masthead-sloop fin keel coastal cruiser with a spade rudder, built by Catalina Yachts from 1985 (model year 1986) to late 2008 in roughly 1,800 hulls. It was sold in standard and tall rigs with a fin keel or, from 1987, a wing keel, and evolved through a closed-transom Mk I, a walk-through-transom 'Mk 1.5', and a wider-sterned Mk II from 1996 that kept the same underwater hull. Practical Sailor rated it among the most successful production boats of the 1980s, with more than 1,000 sold in its first seven years.

SAIL reviewed the boat in December 1985 as the latest of Catalina's seven models, priced at $45,995 less sails; the association dates the first hulls to 1985 and the introduction to 1986. The 1987–1990 boats received the 23 hp Universal 25XP, the 30 hp M-35 became an option in 1990, and the closed transom gave way to a sugar-scoop swim step in 1989 and a walk-through transom from 30 November 1989, with an aft-deck shower (March 1990) and single-line reefing (December 1991) following. Only two boats were built in 1995, the Mk I moulds reportedly having been lost in a fire at the California plant, and the Mk II was rolled out at the 1995 Atlantic City Sail Expo as hull #1295, with Catalina's own timeline dating its introduction to February 1996. Wikipedia's Catalina Yachts model list records the 34 as discontinued in late 2008 and thereafter available by special order.

Solid hand-laid fibreglass hull of polyester resin with a one-piece deck fitted shoebox-fashion on flexible adhesive and stainless screws; the deck is balsa-cored with plywood in high-load areas (the 2015 Practical Sailor review calls the core plywood and notes more flex than balsa or foam). An external lead fin is bolted on with stainless bolts, a moulded structural hull liner and stainless tie rods carry the rig loads to the keel, and a stainless truss supports the mast step; the rudder is a balanced spade, later replaced by a longer elliptical foil Catalina also sells as a retrofit. The 1986 brochure and SAIL credit Frank Butler; the association's tech wiki credits Gerry Douglas, Catalina's long-time chief designer whose credited work begins with the 1982 Catalina 36, so both are listed here. With a 0.42 ballast ratio, SA/D about 16 and D/L about 200 the boat is stiff and quick for a cruiser; SAIL noted the hull, keel and rudder were reshaped for performance compared with earlier Catalinas.

Reviewers agree the 34 sails well on all points and is a good light-air boat, pointing to about 35 degrees apparent and making close to 6 knots on a reach; PHRF is around 144 for a standard-rig fin keel (about 150 for the wing keel, 141 for the tall rig). Weather helm builds when the wind rises or the main is over-trimmed, so reef early; the elliptical rudder fitted to late boats and available as a retrofit reduces helm load and prop-wash. Off the wind without a spinnaker or asymmetric it is somewhat sluggish. Practical Sailor put it in the middle of the speed range for its size — well behind a J/35, well ahead of a Crealock 34.

Head and galley are aft, which SAIL praised for short plumbing runs and for keeping the saloon and V-berth stateroom forward; the L-shaped galley has a deep double sink, icebox and two-burner stove with oven, and the aft cabin holds a full-width athwartships double under the cockpit reached through a door beside the galley. Headroom is about 6 ft 3 in. There is no proper sea berth and counter space is limited. Tankage varies by year and source — the association wiki gives a 25 gal fuel tank; owners report 28 gal starboard plus 43 gal aft water tanks on Mk I boats, and 25 gal forward plus 30 or 42 gal aft on the Mk II depending on manual revision — so the water figure is left unrecorded here.

The family is recorded as a parent (the 1986–1995 boat, which the market calls Mk I) plus one generation, the Mk II, because buyers search for 'Catalina 34 Mk II' by name and the Mk II has a different deck and hull mould above the waterline, a stern more than 2 ft wider, and a deck-stepped mast. The Mk 1.5 (walk-through transom, 1990–1995) and the 1989 'Mk 1¼' sugar-scoop boats are the same hull mould and are treated as aliases of the Mk I rather than generations, as the association does. Tall rig, wing keel, the early shoal keel and mast stepping are options because they were offered alongside each other on the same hull. Hulls built in the 1995–1997 transition with the wider stern are considered Mk IIs.

Practical Sailor's 2015 survey of owners lists slop in the rudder bearing, a loose steering post, leaking ports on pre-1988 hulls, blisters, messy early wiring, two-blade propeller vibration and limited propane stowage; Good Old Boat singles out chainplate leaks and resulting deck-core damage as common, plus water in the rudder and separation of the keel fairing from the lead. The association's tech wiki carries factory fixes for the 'Catalina smile' crack at the keel-stub joint and leaking bilge keel bolts, and for removing the wood plank in the keel stub of pre-1988 boats. Practical Sailor also found the foredeck a little spongy and the chainplates small for the boat.

Check the keel-stub joint and keel bolts, the chainplates and the deck around them, the rudder bearing and stock, and whether the pre-1988 keel-stub plank fix has been done. The 21 hp M-25 of 1985–86 is the weakest engine; the 23 hp M-25XP is adequate and the 30 hp M-35 (standard on the Mk II as the 4-cylinder M-35, later M-35B) is the one to look for. Walk-through-transom Mk 1.5 boats (1990 on) carry a premium over closed-transom Mk Is, and Mk IIs a further one; Practical Sailor quoted 1986–1991 boats at $34,400–$44,900 in 2015 and Good Old Boat an average asking price of about $44,000 in 2012. The Catalina 34 International Association, Catalina and Catalina Direct give unusually good parts and technical support.