Catalina 385: A Return To Reason

The forepeak berth has a clever lifting bed-head that allows one to relax and read comfortably in bed. The stowage is large and easily accessed.
The saloon has an L-shaped settee surrounding an attractive four-leaf expanding table. The end of the port settee acts as the nav-station seat. Across to starboard, twin captain’s chairs sit fore and aft of a cocktail table that drops into a sea berth.

The galley is safely enclosed for cooking under way. It includes a two-burner stove, a microwave, a refrigerator, a large sliding trash bin, two deep sinks, and an opaque splashboard that separates the galley, but not the cook, from the main saloon.

Catalina gets so many small things right—the little makeup table in the forepeak, a large bank of drawers, a huge hanging locker, lifting pistons on locker lids, to name but a few.

Engine access under the companionway ladder is excellent. The bilges are well laid out, and absolutely everything is labeled. While we found a couple of nicks to grumble about in this boat, which is hull number one, I believe that Catalina’s usual attention to detail, up front and backstage, will be found on subsequent hulls.

Gerry Douglas has tacked off from the main fleet, so to speak, in two other directions. First, he says he wanted to “de-content” the boat—that is, not crowd it with a boatload of modern accoutrements and gadgetry. Secondly, he’s purposely allowed some financial daylight to appear between Catalina and lower-priced models in this class. He believes that this upward repositioning in quality and cost will help keep Catalina commercially viable in today’s market.

In short, the 385 should appeal to sailors who plan to spend a good deal of their time off the dock and actually out there, where these modest changes toward traditional lines will pay more than modest dividends.

View more photos of the Catalina 385 here.

LOA    39’ 2”    (11.94 m.)
LWL    35’ 5”    (10.80 m.)
Beam    13’ 1”    (3.99 m.)
Shoal Draft    4’ 8”    (1.42 m.)
Fin Draft    6’ 10”    (2.08 m.)
Sail Area (100%)    675 sq. ft.    (62.7 sq. m.)
Ballast (shoal)    6,200 lb.    (2,812 kg.)
Ballast (fin)    5,200 lb.    (2,359 kg.)
Displacement    15,500 lb.    (7,031 kg.)
Ballast/D (shoal)    .40
Ballast/D (fin)    .34
D/L    156
SA/D    17.4
Water    100 gal.    (379 l.)
Fuel    40 gal.    (151 l.)
Holding    30 gal.    (113 l.)   
Mast Height    54’ 0”    (16.46 m.)
Engine    40-hp. Yanmar
Designer    Gerry Douglas
Price    $208,495 (base)
Catalina Yachts
(727) 544-6681
www.catalinayachts.com

Alvah Simon, a CW contributing editor, is a veteran Boat of the Year judge.