Thanks for your reply JA. Good information. Last night I bought a 2003 Catalina 18 from a private owner. I had been looking for a smaller boat that I could sail in protected waters closer to home and looked at a Precision 18 and a West Wight Potter 19. Not sure why I looked at the Potter but owners rave about them and so I had to take a look. For my preferences the Catalina 18 stood out way beyond the other two. I owned a Cape Dory Typhoon a couple years back and was thinking that I should probably get one of those again. But when I got a close up look at this C18 I found it to be a lot more roomy and the quality of the boat seemed very, very good, very stiff and overbuilt, which is a comment I see from many other owners of the C18. So I'll be waiting until next spring to sail her but I'll enjoy getting all the info I can about it. One thing I have to change is the traveler the PO put in the cockpit across the seats. Gets in the way of moving around the cockpit. I've seen comments that the stock system is not totally appreciated, so, initially I'm thing of a simple Crosby set up. I've used that system before and it works well. Maybe in my reading I'll find other owners with a good system.
