First boat: C-22 or C-25?

[Slingerland]

Good afternoon! I am looking at purchasing my first sailboat, and after a lot of research I’ve narrowed the list to two: a Catalina 22 swingkeel and a Catalina 25 fixed keel. Both boats are in excellent shape, and each has advantages over the other.

As a first boat… and given that I live in Arkansas… the boat will spend almost its entire time with me on Lake Maumelle, a local lake. The lake is 15 minutes away from my house, with a sailing club and an ASA instructor. I want to learn to safely cruise, not race (my kids may have other plans, but it’s my money not theirs… they can buy their own Hobie Cat if they want to…)

I would like to ask a question if I may, to those people who have actually sailed both boats: how do the boats handle, relative to each other? In other words, how would the boats compare to each other? I’m looking for comparisons such as “the C-22 is faster and lighter, but the C-25 is more steady is wind” etc. Which boat is more stable at anchor? Which boat bounces worse? Sharper turns? Etc., etc….

Which boat would make a better “first” boat, a boat to learn to sail on?

Thanks!

Howard

 

[Stu Jackson]

Hi

Good choices to have. This topic comes up regularly. Here's a link to something akin to your question: http://forums.catalina.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?p=640366&highlight=c25

You might want to do a search on C25 and read some other comments. Mine were included in that link.

One other thing to consider is the value of the Association websites. Check them out, too. The C25 site is superb, I've heard the C22 is good, too, although the C22 Association website may not be as good as some of the individual skippers who have hosted their own websites.

http://www.catalina-capri-25s.org/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=3

www.catalina22.org, or dot com, check them both to see which works.

I've had both. Start bigger, save a step.:dance:

 

[philwsailz]

Owning both a C-22 and a C-27 and with a friend who has a C-25 let me share some insight.

The C-22 is a little more tender than the C-25 and heels quicker. By this I mean the C-22 moves to a heeled position more quickly. That can be a surprise for guests. The C-25 heels to the same angle, but gets to the heeled angle more slowly. Put another way, the speed of motion on the C-25 is slower; more graceful if you will.

The two boats "feel" evenly matched in terms of ultimate speed, but the C-25 delivers less bumps and motion of the sea round you. I.e. it is a smoother boat riding boat when there is a lot of chop due to stirred up water from power boats.

Systems-wise, the C-22 has a smaller mast that is a little easier to step and unstep. Its line loading is generally lighter. It takes less vehicle to pull the trailer and is a lot smaller when it feels like that big white thing is trying to run over you going down the highway, (if both are equipped with trailers, otherwise that comparison is worthless)

The swing-keel C-22 is going to be easier to launch at more ramps than the C-25 fixed keel. Outside of that, the swing keel has iits own list of particular maintenance related to the keel cable, winch, turning ball etc, (not a tough maintenance issue, but one to stay up on). The fixed keel boat will not have those maintenance issues, although one needs to be mindfull of what to be watching for with keel bolts, (I am learning on my 27). The fixed keel is obviously "set and forget"...


Despite only 3 feet of length difference the space and volume differences are HUGE. My C-22 always felt big and comfy until I first crawled ontoa C-25. Now the C-22 feels small. To that point, I agree totally with Stu. We all end up wanting larger boats, (to a point). Buy the C-25 and you will have it now. Buy the C-22 and you WILL be buying a larger boat later..

Good Luck!

 

[gdanza]

I agree with Phil... I went from a dingy.. International 420, to a Cat 22, which I love, then spent some time on my brother-in-laws Cat 30 down in San Diego this summer. While the 22 can out manuver the 30, the reason I went to a bigger boat was for comfort and to do something with the whole family, and their friends. We pile kids and dogs on the 22 and sail, swim and eat, and sometimes sleep on it, but no potty is a bummer. The 22 also does not have cockpit control lines for halyards (yet), and I need another crew to drive it and trim sails.
I don't think I would sink my 22, but when the opportunity to get a 27 or 30 comes up, I think I will dock one!!!