Catalina 270

Feb 17, 2018
1
catalina 270 Fren Ridge
I am making some plans for the future. This will include a Catalina 270 on a trailer I can pull behind my truck.
This will be new for me, today I sail a Catalina 22.

Any feedback on:
Is a 270 difficult to trailer?
Is the mast hard to step?
Any lessons learned / thing to avoid?
Any feedback would be appreciated.
 
Jun 9, 2004
615
Catalina 385 Marquette. Mi
My first boat was a C-22, then I bought a new C-270. It was on a 2 axle Trailrite trailer.
I did not have a tongue extension. The boat floated off, but we had to crane/ Travelift the 270 onto the trailer. The 270 doesn't come with a tabernacle, so you must crane to step. Not hard.
The 270 had tons of room for a 27.
 

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Kermit

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Jul 31, 2010
5,657
AquaCat 12.5 17342 Wateree Lake, SC
@Meriachee is your man. He knows everything there is to know about trailering y’all’s boat.
 

catss

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Aug 19, 2015
1
Catalina 270 Olympia
Howdy - we have a 270 we bought 2 years ago and really like, especially the open scoop transom. You can step into or out of your dinghy, go swimming easily, or sit there with you feet in the water on a hot day. I bought a trailer and brought it up to Olympia WA (Swan Town Marina) from Newport OR. Towed great, very stable. Our boat has the 5' draft, so it really needs to be craned into the water, but the winged keel has less draft and maybe could be trailered into the water??. We do not have a hinged step, but we are leaving the boat in the water now, so no big deal. Easy to step with the lift crane, but also easy to get a hinged mast step arrangement if you wanted to trailer it more (our original plan was to store it on the trailer in the winter, but we found we like to use it whenever, so we keep it wet all year long). -- I probably still prefer a steerable outboard and a tiller, like our previous Cat 27 had, it just seemed more maneuverable, but I am getting used to the diesel inboard and the wheel (boat just seems small for a wheel...). -- My only advice would be to have any boat you want to buy properly inspected and especially go over the standing & running rigging, furling, sails, engine, plumbing, wiring, electronics, batteries, thru hulls, bottom condition, really every detail, and overall condition, etc. I love our 270, great size for 2 or 3 people, but it needed way more work than we thought when we bought it...
 
Jun 9, 2004
615
Catalina 385 Marquette. Mi
I might add that the 270 extrusion is heavy, especially with a furler attached.
You would almost certainly have to crane it to step.
As far as sailing, the only bad trait was the boat tended to round up in puffs if over canvassed. I reefed early. Maybe is was my bad trim job. :)
Great boat.
 
Aug 1, 2011
3,972
Catalina 270 255 Wabamun. Welcome to the marina
Yeah the furler is a little unwieldy, and the mast is a bit heavy, but an adaptation of the raising system from an earlier boat makes it quite easy.
Maybe not a universal sentiment, the process seems to always s draw a crowd.
 
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Likes: Doug4bass
Jan 17, 2019
2
Catalina 270 Elizabethtown
We are looking at buying a 270 with wing keel. We would want to trailer. Why did you go with triple axle? How much was your trailer and who was the manufacturer?

Thanks,
Ron
 
Aug 1, 2011
3,972
Catalina 270 255 Wabamun. Welcome to the marina
Hi Ron,
Welcome to SBO. If you have a look at the WordPress pages as listed at the bottom of this message you will see some pages about the trailer, the modifications and the migrational upgrades. I specifically bought this boat as it had a trailer. I did not think it would be like starting from scratch. It was essentially home made, and has been considerably re-worked, inspected and properly documented since. It sports three 6000lb axles with full electric brakes for a couple of reasons, firstly, the boat on the trailer tips the scale at just over 11,000 lbs. Two 6000 lb axles would be under capacity for the recommended distribution of 3/4 the total weight. Secondly, the safety and security consideration of blowing a bearing in the middle of nowhere is significantly reduced, as it would be relatively easy to jack up, then strap up a single wheel and carry on, particularly in the case of driving over some of the nastiest mountain passes on the continent.
The "usual" argument about three axles and the turning overhead was taken into consideration. With a long wheelbase, full size diesel truck, it takes a whole fleet of Honda Civics to get this rig into a parking spot anyway, so turning radius isn't of much concern.
p.s. Not to take anything away from the fine folk at SBO, but we also maintain a groups.io page for just the 270 folks.

cheers
Gary
 
Jan 17, 2019
2
Catalina 270 Elizabethtown
Thank you Gary for the good info.

Does anyone know of a trailer for sale that is large enough for a 27 foot Catalina?

Thanks,
Ron