Our favorite feature is the HUGE cockpit! It feels like the same size as the 36 and is twice as large as most boats we looked at in the 30- to 34-foot range.
We installed a much smaller table at the settee—for “just us two.” This gives you much more room to walk around down below, and it holds two plates and two drinks.
Some of our other favorite features are the 5.8 cubic-foot Adler Barbour refrig/freezer, the hanging cup rack with Lucite pegs in the galley over the deep, double stainless steel sinks and solid surface countertops.
on the Gemini); hanging cup rack with Lucite pegs in galley over the deep, double stainless steel sinks and solid surface countertops. Below decks, the 6’ 3” headroom wins over tall friends, as well as the halogen lighting, cedar-paneled hanging locker, and rich combination of teak and hardwoods complimenting the durable laminate teak-’n-holly-looking floors. Hubby likes how easy it is to get to the engine, a Yanmar 3GM30F that burns just .52 gal/ hour at 2400 RPM. The other feature I couldn’t live without is the walkthrough transom so popular on Catalinas. With a husband with back issues, and a 42-pound dog, there is no way I could get them up and down into a dinghy on the stern of most racing boats. The hot and cold transom shower keeps sand off the boat and gives Breeze, our dog, her fresh look. The nav table is just a nook that is almost connected to the galley. This makes a lot of sense in this GPS world. Rarely did we ever sit at our old nav table, so why take up a lot of VISIT US AT THE ST. PETERSBURG BOAT SHOW NOV. 29-DEC. 2 BOOTH 132
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space? After being prior Catalina owners, it just felt like “coming home” again, with systems we knew and are comfortable with, bright finishes below that create airy spaces, and plenty of room to just “spread out.” We do not have a TV aboard yet. When my husband will cruise with me for a week or more, I will add one. A flat screen could easily be mounted on the wall to the V-berth, or it could just sit on the nav table. Until then, I enjoy music from our mountedbelow-the-princess-seat speakers. There are two additional speakers below. I call her a “racing boat for baby boomers!” Comfy, yet fast…it’s the recliner of sailboats. All lines are led to cockpit, and there are four self-tailing winches. Easy to operate! I sure wish I could release the jib sheet from the helm—but one cannot have everything, right? There are a few things I would change if I could redesign the hull mold, namely, the length of the cockpit seats is so long that it is difficult to walk around the 40-inch Destroyer wheel. Down below, it’s the same story where the starboard settee meets the aisle to the V-berth—very narrow, indeed. They could have cut off the curvy part and made it much easier to get in and out of the V berth. The V berth is “cozy,” and I miss the shelves on both sides as we had in the 36. The head is functional, but not much storage for towels. We do like the faucet that pulls out for the shower, and the separate sump pump, but you have to be really careful not to get water down the cabinet door. The mast is deck-stepped. We have not heard of any problems, but some folks don’t like this. When we are cruising, and the dodger and Bimini are both up, the boom bangs on the top of the Bimini when I trim the sail, and the winch handle rubs across the dodger glass window when grinding SOUTHWINDS
November 2012
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