Catalina
320-Rendezvous Factory Tour – August 2004
As
part of the C320 Rendezvous in Marina del Rey, CA,
Orlando Duran, the very capable host for the Rendezvous, arranged a tour of the
Catalina factory in Woodland Hills, about a 30-minute drive away from the
While
pictures were not allowed, and free samples are not given (much to our
collective chagrin) I did take notes throughout the tour that I would like to
share with the newsgroup. Mr. Douglas
has been gracious enough to review these notes to ensure that I am not passing
along inaccurate information. Following,
in no particular sense of order, is a summary of what I heard. Warning: this is a long e-mail but hopefully,
there will be something for everyone by the end!
All
320’s are made in CA while the “big boats” are made in FL. The company is vertically integrated meaning
that virtually everything either is or can be made in-house. For example, while spars may be outsourced,
they also can be made in-house. For the
320, the boom is made in-house but the mast comes from
Replacement
sails are available from Catalina.
New
320’s come with an inner spring mattress in both the
forward and aft cabins. These mattresses
also are available for purchase for about $350.00 and colors can be coordinated
going back to about 1999.
On
average, between 2 and 2.5 320’s are produced each week. Depending on the production
schedule, 320’s take anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months to completion.
A
new boat – the Catalina Morgan 44 – will be introduced at the Annapolis Boat
Show. Mr. Douglas plans to be at the
Show to show his new baby. The boat will
have a 55-gallon holding tank and 170-gallon fuel and water tanks. There will be a separate refrigerator and
freezer on board. Headroom will be
6-feet, 5-inches.
Replacement
hatches and rudders are available for just about every boat Catalina has ever
made. There are 6 molds for the Aqua
Lift muffler therefore Mr. Douglas strongly encourages that when ordering a
replacement, send the old one in and Catalina will send you a match. For Sea
Shadow, we probably will remove ours over the winter, send it in, and keep
the new one for when and if needed.
The
new Catalina’s come with a Yanmar 3Y series engine, the 4th type of
engine to go into the 320. In response
to a question regarding hot water heater failures, Mr. Douglas states that 90%
of the failures are due to poor winterizing.
The question was 2-part with the second part being the failure rate of
the ProMariner chargers but I did not note the
answer. In talking with virtually every
Captain at Rendezvous, the opinion on the ProMariner is very mixed. For every Captain that leaves the charger and
refrigerator on 24/7 and has no problems, there are an equal number who have
gone through at least one ProMariner and a battery bank – yours truly has been
through 2 ProMariner’s and 1 battery bank.
There
was much discussion regarding the rigging.
Most standing rigging failures occur about one-half inch below the
swage. In southern CA, Mr. Douglas
recommends replacing the standing rigging every 8 years. However, washing the salt off after every
sail will increase the life expectancy.
By contrast, in the mid-west on fresh water lakes, rigging will last
20-30 years. Catalina expects to do away
with the lifeline cover in the next few years.
The
factory runs 3 shifts. Gelcoat and
keeling are performed at night due to a desire not to offend the rest of the
businesses in the area (most of whom are closed at
night) with these noxious odors. While I
saw #1023 in production, others saw #1030.
Care
of the galley counter tops is the same as for the gelcoat – compound, buff and
wax to get the shine back. When
replacing the galley flooring, call Catalina for the new replacement material
that is much easier to clean than that on the older boats.
Since
Catalina has been using the vinylester layup (1995), there have been virtually
zero blisters. Any that have occurred
have been at either the keel to hull joint, where the shaft exits the hull, or
on the rudder edge. Knit laminates,
versus roved, are used on the Catalina’s.
The
lower 30% of the rudder is designed to breakaway in a hard grounding; the
remaining stub should get you home. Keel
bolts should be torqued to 105 foot pounds after the first year, then left alone.
The
infamous Catalina port list was discussed.
According to Mr. Douglas, the narrow water line at the beam makes for a
faster boat with the downside being that the boat is sensitive to weight
distribution. His recommendation is to
keep the weight down to control the list.
The
port side cockpit locker was designed to take a 10-speed bike in storage with
the wheels off! A yellow thong to anyone
on the list who knew that little factoid already!
This
was our second 320 Rendezvous and something that Linda and I intend to keep on
our schedule for the years to come.
While the opportunity for such an extensive tour of the factory made the
trip worthwhile in itself, the other owners we met,
the ideas we came back with from roaming through other 320’s, and the
opportunities to sail in an area normally out of bounds to us, made the trip
absolutely incredible. I would strongly
encourage all who can to consider the annual Rendezvous as part of their
schedule. I cannot imagine anyone
returning home the least bit disappointed!
Allan
S. Field
Sea
Shadow - #808
Herrington
Harbour South