Soon!

[Chesapeake Gypsies]

Hello everyone! My wife and I have been sailing Catalinas for over a decade now and love the brand. Our current boat is a crusty old '78 27 which has served us very well for the last 7 years. Our first boat was an '81 22 which is still in the family. When I discovered the 310 a few years ago it was love at first sight! I knew intrinsically this was our dream boat and have been researching and ogling for the last 2 years. This past week for our 20th anniversary we chartered one for 6 days out of Rock Hall, MD. Bottom line, both my wife and I fell head over heals for this boat and are now seriously considering an upgrade in the next 2 years.

The one we chartered just went on the market(cheap) but after 6 days on her we discovered a plethora of issues(including a boom that separated from the mast while tacking in 15 knots. Sheared cotter pin but that's another story) that made it clear this boat had not been well maintained and would require a major overhaul and substantial upgrades to suit us.

Prices for 310's are all over the board depending on age and features. We're looking to spend in around 50K and have a list of must haves and wants as follows:

Must haves:
Auto pilot
RC Heat/AC
Electric Windlass
Stereo/CD/Bluetooth
Upgraded battery bank with separate starter battery

Wants:
In mast furling
Chart plotter
Yanmar diesel(we have been told they are much quieter than Universal. Jury still out)
2003-2005(seems some early models have a lot of bugs. Hopefully you all can clue me in as I've gotten mixed info on this)

It seems that a lot of the boats I've looked at that are desirable are unrealistically priced and have sat on the market for a while. Not sure if this is because of the price though. So, any help I can get from the forum would be most appreciated. Am I being unrealistic as to my budget and what I want on the boat? Or am I correct in that a lot of 310's are priced beyond what the market will bare? Your thoughts are most appreciated!

 

[valcour]

Consider evaluating the canvas (bimini or dodger, etc.) as well. If the existing canvas is in good shape it could last another 10 years, and is likely quite a bit more expensive than a modest chart plotter or heat/AC. The windlass was standard equipment. Upgrading the battery bank, once the existing batteries reach 5-6 years old, is not that difficult, and there are many posts on this group of folks who have done so. I wouldn't let that be a deal breaker as long as you factor in the cost of the batteries and wiring. Depending on how you plan to use the boat, the need to upgrade the OEM charles 20 amp shore power charger might be something to add to your list as you are evaluating boats. Also see of the ST4000 autopilot has been replaced.

 

[marchem]

Ours is a 2000, #31. We bought it 2 years ago. Not sure what bugs you’ve heard about, but we haven’t seen many. I added an autopilot to our C310. Pretty easy to do. Same for a stereo. If there’s one already there it’s probably an older unit. Just replace it and maybe the speakers.

I second replacing the charger, if it’s not a quality smart unit. No point in having nice batteries if the charger is abusing them.

Not sure what to tell you about price. There aren’t a lot of 310s out there, so comparable sales are hard to find. Anything you buy will need some work. Either you spend the time and money or someone else does/did and you still end up paying for it.

 

[leo310]

We have #44 and not have any problems other than the ones we made. So far we have replaced the batteries twice and starter motor, life lines, chart plotter, autopilot and now sails over the last 15 years. Now if you find a 310 that you like with your wish list it price could be more than 50K or let say you pick up the boat you rented and drop the price by let say 15K saying for required repairs from lack of maintance you'll end up with a great boat as half the fun is setting the boat the way you want.

 

[Chesapeake Gypsies]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I did forget to put bimini and dodger in good condition as a "must have" as well Valcour. Thanks also for the tip on the smart charger, a definite must have or upgrade post purchase. As far as bugs that I've heard about, all have come from brokers who were offering later model boats so I suspected it didn't have much merit. Glad to hear early models didn't suffer from first run design flaws. I know the windlass is a stock item but the boat we chartered didn't have a functioning one so it was hand over hand when pulling up which is fine for me but not my wife who likes to single hand. I'll most likely purchase a small "lunch" anchor for her since she only goes out by herself in light weather. So I guess the search is on! Thanks again everyone and I look forward to gleaning a lot of knowledge from this forum. Also, very glad to hear S/V Smitty survived Maria. I've been following Jesse's blog from the beginning and was waiting for an update but found it here.

 

[marchem]

I agree with Leo. The boat we bought was originally listed for sale for $80K. It had dropped some when we looked at it, and we offered less, contingent on a survey. We had a great surveyor who had surveyed the boat when the then owner bought it, so he knew a lot about it. Based on his survey we offered even less money, justifying what needed to be done, and got the deal. Asking price is just that... And every thing can be fixed/upgraded-either by you or someone else.

 

[Alansails]

Welcome!
We love our 310 and moved up from a Catalina 25, ours is a freshwater used 310 the we bought from Green Turtle Bay in KY. Like the others have said, we had her surveyed and agreed on a lower than asked price
and we have since "Made her our own" by modifying/adding/taking away.
We bought a new headsail and this year added a dodger and a new bimini replacement, bimini was more than 10 years old and we had patched holes.
If you get good bones you will make her yours a little at a time. It is easy to get carried away until you get the bill . We have a great association and there is lots of help here and No dumb questions!
Again welcome!

 

[AllenC57]

The 310 is a great boat. All of your wants and must-haves can be easily added and factored into a lower price except the in-mast furling and engine, and you'll end up with new stuff that you get to choose. Also, location of the boat is important because you'll be adding the cost of mast stepping/packing and transport into the price if you can't sail the boat home. Timing is also important... I had a chance to buy a 310 a few years back, that I could have sailed home in a couple days... but we weren't ready financially. Recently, we became financially able, but ended up buying a boat that had to be transported, adding about 5k to the cost and are having to spend another few thousand to add A/C, but it will be a new unit with two year warranty, not a 12 year old one. We factored in transport costs and adding the A/C unit into the deal when we made our offer and feel we did Okay. Good luck!

 

[Lisa]

We just sold our 1988 Cat 27 a week ago and already have papers signed on a 310. Closing is supposed to be this weekend.

We have one small hick up to get over before we can finalize but hopefully everything will work out.

We will be the second owners, 11 year old boat, low hours Only thing it didn’t have that we wanted was AC. But easy enough to fix that. It was on the market since July. Winter is coming, now is the time to make an offer. One just sold in Annapolis that was on the market for 5 days. They were asking $59k, sold 5 days later for $55k. In our searches we haven’t seen any 310’s for $50k, but would have certainly considered one.

Like someone said, location is important. The one we found is literally 2 miles from our marina. Oddly out Cat 27 was about 5 miles away. We have looked at the 310 3 times before we committed. Good thing it is so close.

 

[Alansails]

Sounds great keep us informed, exciting times!
Does the boat have a name?