Catalina 387 Review – Boatpoint Review (May 2004)
Words – Geoff Middleton
Catalina Yachts recently released its latest cruiser, the 387, and Geoff Middleton slipped into cruise mode for a day of R&R. In the hybrid world of yacht marketing, it’s easy to get confused. Marketers and salespeople like to spread their message to all parts of the yachting fraternity to get the biggest bang for their marketing buck.
Consequently it’s sometimes hard to get a clear idea of what the designers originally intended the boat to do. Some boats are called racer/cruisers and some are cruiser/racers, while others call themselves racers with a cruising fitout – the list goes on. But not at Catalina.
Catalina yachts, according to Pier 35 Boatsales’ Tom Clynes, are neither racer/cruisers nor cruiser/racers. No sir, Catalinas are cruisers and proud of it.
And when the hype and marketing rhetoric is gone, it’s refreshing to have a salesperson look you in the eye and say: “We build cruising yachts – and damn good ones.”
Clynes maintains that because Catalina concentrates on the cruising market, it is better able to focus on what constitutes a good cruiser. It has to be seaworthy, it has to be well equipped and, above all, it has to be comfortable. The new 387 is all of this.
Tom and I picked an absolute cracker of a Melbourne day to put the Catalina theory to the test. We both made no plans for the afternoon and took the 387 out for a cruise to nowhere. The only plans we had were to hang around long enough for Trade-A-Boat’s photographer Ellen Dewar to take some pics and then we could do as we pleased.
Unfortunately, Hewie the weather god didn’t quite see it our way; the seabreeze didn’t kick in until the photo boat was docked back at Pier 35, so the photos don’t really indicate what a great sail we had – but suffice to say our day just kept getting better.
HIGH VOLUME
The 387 is a big-volume boat. The name bears scant resemblance to the actual dimensions of the boat, which give its LOA as 39ft 10in or 12.14m. It has a 12ft 4in or 3.76m beam that it carries well aft, allowing for a big owner’s cabin below the cockpit.
The jury’s still out on the aft cabin, which – although it gives room to sit up in bed to read a book – is still low. There is an access door from the cabin to the big central bathroom that includes a full shower stall, electric loo with macerater pump and holding tank as well as a vanity and sink. The bathroom can also be accessed from a door opposite the galley.
The galley itself is a very workable affair with a stainless-steel double sink, three-burner gas stove, front-opening fridge that can also be accessed from the top, and plenty of cupboard space.
Throughout the galley, saloon and front cabin, there is 6ft 9in of headroom, which enhances the feeling of spaciousness.
To port in the saloon is a comfortable lounge with a good-sized table that doesn’t intrude past the centreline of the boat. To starboard there are two lounge chairs with a table between them. This can be lowered and, with an infill cushion, can be converted into a bed or full-length lounge. The forward cabin is light and airy thanks to the good use of hatches and ports.
The overall feeling down below is of space and light, with good use of soft colourings and light teak finishes.
ON DECK
Up on deck, space is also abundant. The cockpit is big enough for five or six and the integrated pushpit seats will cater for two more.
Two very deep lazarettes will swallow all the gear you need to take for a holiday and would be the perfect spot to store your deflated tender, while the standard outboard motor bracket further points to the cruising heritage of the Catalina.
The big Edson Diamond Series pedestal houses all the instruments including the optional chartplotter on the test boat and a full set of engine gauges – a most welcome addition.
I paid particular attention to the deck hardware, which was all top quality and very strong. A stainless solid boom vang and a lovely traveller system came in for plenty of discussion.
The rig is masthead with a tallish (17.07m) twin-spreader mast. A fully-battened main and 135 per cent genoa are the standard sails.
All halyards and lines lead aft and are housed in cabin-top bags. Halyard winches are Harken B32.2 self tailers with the option of a Harken electric winch in lieu of the main-halyard winch on the port cabin top.
The primaries are Harken B48.2 self-tailing, which makes fairly light work of getting the big headie in.
There’s no spinnaker winches but the boat does come with a kite halyard that Tom says he’s going to employ for a genniker.
SOME BREEZE, PLEASE!
During our period of virtually calm conditions, we got to give the engine a good workout. Standard fitment is a 40hp three-cylinder Yanmar that will go through about 2lt/h at 2000rpm or 2.7lt/h at 2500rpm. I found that 2000rpm was fine, and it pushed us along at around five knots. At that speed you’d have a cruising range under motor of nearly 350 miles.
Incidentally, access to the engine from the front or rear is excellent thanks to a dual engine-box setup that can be lifted off from the saloon at the front or the aft cabin at the rear.
We stuck the main up and motor-sailed for a while, which was comfortable and quiet, but we really wanted to get the boat sailing properly. Therefore, we were pleasantly surprised when the breeze picked up to 11–12kt.
Under full sail, we could now kill the diesel and let the 387 glide along at around 35° to the wind and a bit over five knots of boat speed. It took me quite a while to figure out that I was over-sheeting the boat and pinching too high. It’s a cruiser, dummy!
We cracked the sheets a bit and headed down by about five degrees, and bingo – 6.4kts SOG.
The Catalina seems to find its own grove pretty easily and we had a great time sipping Coke and eating up the miles.
The boat was really in its element now and we had it in lovely trim, but not a photographer to be seen… oh well, we just had to make the most of it. Tom was musing on what he should tell his wife: “She’d be loving it out here,” he said.
We slipped the Catalina into a tack before I ran it aground off Green Point, and I was surprised at its manoeuvrability. It will just about spin on its own length and it held speed nicely through the tack.
Tom reminded me that this was the wing-keel version and only drew 1.47m, so I didn’t feel so bad about the shallow water. (The Catalina 387 can be ordered either with this shallow-draft wing keel or the deeper 2.18m fin keel.)
We worked our way along the Melbourne shore and I was pleased with how easy it was to sail the 387 with just the two of us. There’s a lot to be said for just cruising along without having to be in perfect trim for the absolute optimum speed. Any more relaxed and we would have started decomposing…
Eventually we decided that it was high time we spun around for the run back home.
I was a bit disappointed that Tom hadn’t invested in the genniker yet but the 387 cruised along nicely at around four knots with the breeze right behind us.
We got a couple of friendly waves from fellow cruisers as we headed back in the afternoon sun, and with the West Gate Bridge looming large before us, I realised our day was coming to a close.
We rolled in the headie as we neared the bridge (God, I love furlers!) and I spun the Catalina around so Tom could drop the main. With the Yanmar purring away, we slipped back into the marina with hardly a scratch and I bade farewell to Tom and the 387.
In all, it was a great day on a lovely cruiser that was well suited to what we did.
The Catalina is a well-appointed and very comfortable yacht that is designed to do a job, cruise, and do it well.
It is also comparatively inexpensive. At $275,000* for the base boat, it’s a good deal. Add some more electronics, the factory cockpit cushions (about $700), perhaps a dodger, certainly a barbie on the pushpit, a genniker and that’s it!
You’ve got yourself a great cruising boat, and if you don’t tell the manufacturer that you’re actually racing their cruiser, you probably won’t embarrass yourself around the cans on a midweek twilight either.
HIGHS
Deck hardware is of particularly high quality
Standard features abound and are well suited to cruising
Interior volume and storage belie the boat’s length
LOWS
Lack of in the owners’ aft cabin
Fit and finish not to Euro standards
Don’t expect to point as high as a racer
CATALINA 387
PRICE AS TESTED $290,000*
OPTIONS FITTED – Chartplotter, cushions, canvas pack, safety gear, TV antenna
PRICED FROM $275,000*
GENERAL
Hull type: Monohull cruiser
Material: Fibreglass
Length overall: 12.14m
Length at waterline: 9.88m
Beam: 3.76m
Draft: 2.18m (fin keel) 1.47m (wing keel)
Displacement: 8618kg (fin keel) 8845kg (wing keel)
Ballast: 3084kg (fin keel) 3311kg (wing keel)
CAPACITIES
Berths: Four to six
Fuel: 139lt
Water: 368lt
ENGINE
Make/model: Yanmar 3JH3BE
Type: Three-cylinder naturally aspirated diesel
Rated hp: 40
SAIL AREA
Main: 32.14sqm
Total (100% foretriangle): 66.8sqm
* Prices & data correct at time of publication