Catalina Status

[BigEasy]

So what’s the current status of Catalina Yachts? Last I read was that molds & tooling were being auctioned & that there was a “group” that was going to acquire as much as possible, obtain capital, bring back some former employees, and try to make a go of it on a downsized level. Sure hope they can resurrect the brand. It is a damned shame to let such a successful company die because of an inept owner who didn’t know what he was doing.

 

[dlochner]

Perhaps we should refer to the new Catalina Yachts as Lazarus Yachts.

Catalina Yachts – Owned. Designed. Built in America.

 

[rgranger]

Perhaps we should refer to the new Catalina Yachts as Lazarus Yachts.

Catalina Yachts – Owned. Designed. Built in America.

I’d buy a Lazarus Yacht. I might pass on a Job Yacht. Or an Icarus Yacht.

 

[jaysweet]

I don't know the answer to your question. But Good Lord: Hunter, Catalina, possibly Tartan (it's really not possible to know), Performance Cruising/Gemini Catamarns (e.g. the Gemini 105mc catamarans, made here in Annapolis, but apparently not since COVID). We didn't even hit a major recession, and all of these companies are now gone, except possibly Tartan.

I'm going to assume that Catalina actually made money up until the death of Frank Butler in 2020. So yes, it's a huge shame that American sailboat manufacturing has apparently almost completely died, without even a major recession to point to as the cause.

 

[jaysweet]

It's also amazing how hard it is to find any concrete information about the death of all these companies. Most of what you can find is maybe 1 or 2 articles, repeated in several places.

 

[shemandr]

The list is longer than that and it has been going on for longer. I'm thinking in particular of my beloved Ranger line designed mostly by Gary Mull. The molds went through a succession of builders with mergers and reselling. The end result, in my opinion, is that the product got so far away from the creative passion of the designers and original builder that as soon as economic conditions got bumpy, they bailed.
I think that what happened with the sailboat industry in the 80's and 90's should constitute a course in business schools. Sometimes there is more to be learned from what went South than from what worked.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Hmm, venture capitalists not enough for you?

without even a major recession to point to as the cause.

 

[jssailem]

What happened to Catalina
Frank Butler founded Catalina in 1969. The company became the largest U.S. production sailboat builder, launching on the order of 80,000–85,000 boats (Catalina 22, 27, 30, 36, 42 and others). Butler died in 2020; longtime designer Gerry Douglas later retired. The family members did not have the passion for boat building that Frank possessed. The company was sold in April/May 2025 to Michael Reardon of Daedalus Yachts. ⁠Wikipedia

Reardon defaulted within months on the purchase note, payables, and rent for the Largo, Florida, plant still owned by the Butler family. Production paused in October 2025, citing “short-term financial challenges.” A court evicted him later that month. Workers went unpaid; a wage-theft finding followed. Assets, molds, and unfinished hulls were auctioned in June 2026. LAWSUIT-1-OF-5-CATALINA-YACHTS-VS-MICHAEL-ALEXANDERREARDON-of-Edenton-NC-1.pdf

There is hope. In July 2026, Florida composite firm C&T Composites (CEO Patrick Turner, Catalina’s former president) acquired the Catalina and True North brands.
important-milestone-for-catalina-yachts

Is this the end of US yacht building
I do not see this as the end of sailboat building. The age Catalina's mass boat production business model with fiberglass boats lasting longer than expected, more buyers are aquiring used boats than the new small entry level yacht. It is the end of the mid-20th-century American model of high-volume, relatively affordable fiberglass monohull production. What I expect will survive is the lower-volume, higher-spec, or niche work sectors. We will have to see how the Catalina 2026 restart goes.

 

[shemandr]

Sailboat building in the US: Not looking great. More and more we see new builds from South Africa, Slovenia (Or is it Slovakia), Turkey and other nations with cheaper labor and governments eager for the revenue.
Another problem is that waterfront real estate in the US is so valuable as other than boat shed use, that economic pressure is on builders property in property taxes and generational taxes.
Could it come back? I don’t know. It would take government subsidies and tariff type protections to attract the volume of capital to make a go of it. And the market isn’t that big.
There are still success stories in the smaller builds. Flying Scot is still selling new builds. Prolly Lasers, 420’s and a host of other club favorites.
The wooden boat builders are growing but are still a niche market.

 

[jaysweet]

Regarding the collapse of the new boat market: I know certain manufacturers have done quite a bit of refurbishing of their own boats. But maybe someone could run a factory that does nothing but refit older sailboats? They could do 2 slightly different types of work: 1) refit boats brought to them by current owners, and 2) buy boats for very cheap, refit them to a high standard, and sell them for nearly new prices. Presumably #1 could be done more efficiently in a factory and #2 would avoid one of the most difficult parts of new boat manufacture, which is laying up the hulls and decks. Maybe #2 would also help to fill in the down times when #1 gets slow, so they can keep their workers employed on a steady basis.

Also: add Caliber to my initial list of (more recently) failed US sailboat makers.

 

[shemandr]

There is a company on LI that re-furbished a Bertram 31. Did a beautiful job. This was a labor of love and not profit driven - I don’t think there was a whiff of profit. Soundings did an article on the re-fit. It was a good read for a boat I’ve always had an interest in.
I guess it doesn’t relate directly to jaysweet’s post but restorations can happen if someone has the passion for the boat - A trust fund would help. Someone, maybe Mainesail, posted major re-works of older production sailboat transforming them into a completely different vessel. I don’t remember the company but it was amazing what they could do.
Nevertheless, I’m not aware of anyone making a sustainable business out of refitting older sailboats for a mass market.

Bertram 31: The Ultimate Refit

A father and son devote a decade to the restoration of a classic Bertram 31

soundingsonline.com

 

[Davidasailor26]

Regarding the collapse of the new boat market: I know certain manufacturers have done quite a bit of refurbishing of their own boats. But maybe someone could run a factory that does nothing but refit older sailboats? They could do 2 slightly different types of work: 1) refit boats brought to them by current owners, and 2) buy boats for very cheap, refit them to a high standard, and sell them for nearly new prices. Presumably #1 could be done more efficiently in a factory and #2 would avoid one of the most difficult parts of new boat manufacture, which is laying up the hulls and decks. Maybe #2 would also help to fill in the down times when #1 gets slow, so they can keep their workers employed on a steady basis..

I love this idea, but do you think it’s possible to make the economics work? One of the oft repeated statements on forums is that rejuvenating an old project boat only makes sense if you are doing it at least partially for the fun of the project itself, and not counting your time as part of the expense.

The largest “restoration” I’ve done was of a 9’ sailing dinghy. I spent about $700 on that (not including reusable tools, and things like test lumber to prototype replacement parts), and I got the hull for free from family. A brand new model runs about $4500 (including the sail and mast that I didn’t need to do any restoration of). At first that margin doesn’t sound too bad, but if I were paying someone to do the work I’d have to pay for their time too. I spent about 250 hours on the project. Maybe an expert who does it everyday and doesn’t need to spend time doing things like building jigs could’ve done it in 100 hours. Still, that means a company couldn’t pay more than $40 per hour, just to break even, ignoring any other business expenses.

Taking another example, look at a refit like Mads on the Sail Life YouTube channel did of a Warrior 38 - I don’t think Mads has ever given exact costs or hour counts, but it was about five years of full time work. If a company were paying someone to do that work there’s no way to come out ahead compared to a new boat. All the time spent disassembling parts, repairing blisters, fairing and re-painting oxidized gelcoat, and tasks like that overcomes the value of the hull. After Mads finished that refit he went and bought a catamaran to do it all again, but still that only makes sense for him because his time is essentially free, or even “paying him” in the form of providing him monetizable content.

 

[dlochner]

Taking another example, look at a refit like Mads on the Sail Life YouTube channel did of a Warrior 38 - I don’t think Mads has ever given exact costs or hour counts, but it was about five years of full time work. If a company were paying someone to do that work there’s no way to come out ahead compared to a new boat. All the time spent disassembling parts, repairing blisters, fairing and re-painting oxidized gelcoat, and tasks like that overcomes the value of the hull. After Mads finished that refit he went and bought a catamaran to do it all again, but still that only makes sense for him because his time is essentially free, or even “paying him” in the form of providing him monetizable content.

The bigger YouTube DIYers are getting a lot of free or deeply discounted product. TotalBoat provides lots of paint, resin, and glass in exchange for prominently displaying TotalBoat products. They need that level of support to make their projects financially viable.

 

[shemandr]

An example is the venerable Acorn to Arabella series. This isn't criticism of the principals business decisions. But with the viewership numbers they had, industry representatives were beating a path to their project with free or steeply discounted systems. And the videos featured those systems. (I think that fitting all those systems into what was supposed to be a simple boat was a mistake). Nevertheless, the project was successful and I congratulate the principals.
I had never heard of Nanni diesel engines. Now every glossy boaty magazine has ads for them. Who am I to judge?

 

[BigEasy]

With the right leadership & financing anything is possible. Darrell Allen has been able to transform Island Packet Yachts into a very successful company. Of course we’re talking about a different niche.

 

[dlochner]

I had never heard of Nanni diesel engines.

Nanni was well known in Europe and not so well known in North America. They are a competitor to Beta and use the same Kubota engine blocks.

 

[rgranger]

... But maybe someone could run a factory that does nothing but refit older sailboats? ...

Stan Spitzer (founder of General Boats, now deceased) employed a similar strategy. He built one of the finest pocket cruisers of its era, the Rhodes 22. After several decades in business, he launched a refurbishment program that allowed owners to bring in their older Rhodes 22s for a complete overhaul and modernization. Over time, this restoration and refurbishment work grew substantially, and by the time of his passing, it had become the primary focus of the business.

Personally, I think it would make a great retirement gig. I love restoring old sailboas (and I'm obviously not alone). I've done seven so far.

Macgregor 21 (2x)
Macgregor 22
Coronado 23
Coronado 25
Balboa 26
Hunter 26

 

[pgandw]

Regarding the collapse of the new boat market: I know certain manufacturers have done quite a bit of refurbishing of their own boats. But maybe someone could run a factory that does nothing but refit older sailboats? They could do 2 slightly different types of work: 1) refit boats brought to them by current owners, and 2) buy boats for very cheap, refit them to a high standard, and sell them for nearly new prices. Presumably #1 could be done more efficiently in a factory and #2 would avoid one of the most difficult parts of new boat manufacture, which is laying up the hulls and decks. Maybe #2 would also help to fill in the down times when #1 gets slow, so they can keep their workers employed on a steady basis.

As was already said, General Boats did this with the Rhodes 22 when the new boat market for trailerables disappeared. However, the market for restoration was declining rapidly, and almost completely disappeared during Covid. There are literally over 50 Rhodes 22 hulls and topsides (not all of them together) laying around the property now.

Stuart Marine is another example - Stuart eventually took over the Rhodes 19 and Mariner molds - both use the same hull - when ODay modernized their production. Stuart rebuilds old Mariners. He'll also sell you a new one, but a new Mariner costs 10X what a good used example costs, so the market just isn't there. Even rebuilds cost 3X-4X what a used Mariner costs. Thankfully, new Rhodes 19s are still a market big enough to carry a small yard.

My Mariner is an example of this. Built by Stuart in 1989, he found it as a derelict wreck in Lake Winnipesaukee, NH, got a salvage title, and hauled it to Maine. Previous owner to me paid Stuart to rebuild it, which was completed in 2019. I bought it in 2021 when PO was moving from Chicago to Indiana. Previous owner sold it to me for less than 1/2 of what he paid for the rebuild.

It is possible for a small yard in more remote locations to make a go of the rebuild process, but rebuilding in general costs too much to be able to sell enough rebuilds to support the yard. The number of used models for your own rebuild drives the market for professional rebuilds under. There usually has to be some other means of support for the yard to stay afloat financially.

Fred W

 

[Calif. Ted]

When Pacific Seacraft of Fullerton, California closed it was sold to South Carolina in 2008 and they did try to do refits for existing boats. I saw a 31 they had rehabbed and it was like a new boat, unfortunately so was the asking price. I believe they are no longer in operation, the webpage is still up of course. I grew up in Wilmington and Harbor City at a time when you couldn't swing a cat without hitting a boat yard. Everything from Tuna trawlers, luxury yachts, more sailboat builders than I can remember, all long gone. Decades ago I was introduced to the New (LAST) owner of International Marine, (WWP et al). and could only wonder WHY would someone buy a boat builder when the market no longer exists ?
Pacific Seacraft : About Us : Now

 

[jaysweet]

There is a company on LI that re-furbished a Bertram 31. Did a beautiful job. This was a labor of love and not profit driven - I don’t think there was a whiff of profit. Soundings did an article on the re-fit. It was a good read for a boat I’ve always had an interest in.
I guess it doesn’t relate directly to jaysweet’s post but restorations can happen if someone has the passion for the boat - A trust fund would help. Someone, maybe Mainesail, posted major re-works of older production sailboat transforming them into a completely different vessel. I don’t remember the company but it was amazing what they could do.
Nevertheless, I’m not aware of anyone making a sustainable business out of refitting older sailboats for a mass market.

Bertram 31: The Ultimate Refit

A father and son devote a decade to the restoration of a classic Bertram 31

soundingsonline.com

Two points: first, I've never run a factory or a business, so this is all just blue sky BS from me, without enough background to know if it's a workable business model. Secondly, though: suppose you could choose between producing new boats completely from scratch, or buying good condition, but drastically underpriced boats that no one wants, and refitting them. It seems, naively, like you'd avoid a huge part of the cost by starting with a sound hull and rig, and handling the refit in a production-line fashion. Maybe you could sell one of these 40 footers for $250K or $300K, and compete in the new boat market? We're talking either a semi-custom boat or even a custom boat, without having to lay up the hull. It seems (naively) like there should be money to be made there. The point (or the hope) would be that the work could be done much more cheaply in a factory-like setting, where the labor is kept 100% employed all the time, compared to the DIY situation it's getting compared to, where someone takes 7 years to refit a boat in their spare time.