Frank Butler and Catalina Yachts

[jsalley]

I went to the show in Annapolis on Thursday. Spent quite a bit of time looking over the new 5 Series at the Catalina display. While there, I ran into Frank Butler and Gerry Douglas, and spent some time talking with them. During the conversation, I mentioned that one of the bulkheads in my boat had shifted about 1/2 inch and pulled loose the caulking between it and the cabin ceiling liner. Gerry said it was purely cosmetic, and could just be recaulked (I had already done that). Frank was concerned, and asked me to send him before and after pictures; he said he would have had it repaired had I not done it already (the boat is a 2006 and is out of warranty). It's pretty unusual these days to have the CEO of a company take a personal interest in a single customer, and willing to fix an admittedly minor problem on an out-of-warranty product. Not surprising that Catalina has so many repeat buyers.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Frank's been doing that for years. Great company.

 

[mortyd]

out of warranty? three years ago frank butler read the riot act to seaward over my 1991 catalina 30. that's out of warranty.

 

[rpell1@msn.com]

I guess I'm not as lucky as you guys with out of warranty repairs.

In 2010 I contacted Catalina about the 26 hull blisters I discovered on my '90 Cat.30...that were not there the year before.

I was concerned that this might be a defect and was just the beginning.

All I got as a response was a reference to a link on how to repair them properly and a guestimation on how or why this might have happened. Nothing after that.

I truly did not expect Catalina to make good on any of the repairs, but was simply curious as to what may have been the cause.

Oh well, maybe next time.

out of warranty? three years ago frank butler read the riot act to seaward over my 1991 catalina 30. that's out of warranty.

 

[mortyd]

did you contact catalina customer service or frank butler? try frank direct, he answers his phone.

 

[rpell1@msn.com]

If the blisters reappear, I'll give your suggestion a try. Thanks.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Blisters? What kind, How many? What size?

I had a few less than dime sized ones on our boat when we bought it in '98. The yard guy said "No problem - drill 'em out, fair them and keep sailing."

Could also be a bad paint job. With small "bubbles."

We need more info from you before one "crucifies" CY.

I've had four haulouts since, no change, no issues.

 

[rpell1@msn.com]

Hi Stu,

The 23 or so blisters I had were gelcoat deep, averaged 3"-4" in diameter. These were not paint bubbles. I had them on the hull and rudder.

I punctured them, dried them out for 3 months, ground them out down to the glass and followed standard procedures for repair.

When I do a short haul next spring, it will be the first time in 2 years that I will re-inspect them and the rest of the hull.

Believe me, I am NOT out to crucify CY. As I said, I truly did not expect any compensation. I just wanted to make sure there was no other underlying potential problems they might be aware of.

Happy sailing.

Blisters? What kind, How many? What size?

I had a few less than dime sized ones on our boat when we bought it in '98. The yard guy said "No problem - drill 'em out, fair them and keep sailing."

Could also be a bad paint job. With small "bubbles."

We need more info from you before one "crucifies" CY.

I've had four haulouts since, no change, no issues.

 

[Stu Jackson]

C34 blisters

Thanks, those were pretty big. There were reports of blistering on older late 70s and maybe early 80s Catalinas of all sizes. Some "blamed" the hull build, some the thin factory-installed barrier coat. I haven't heard reports of blistering on many, if any of our C34s, except for this: http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,2939.0.html

If you go to our C34 message board and type in blister in the search box, there are more you can read about.

Reply #5 here, too: http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,2607.0.html

Good luck.

 

[rpell1@msn.com]

Re: C34 blisters

Thanks for the info Stu. The strange thing about my blistering is that it took 17 years for them to materialize and they all seemed to appear at the same time?

IF......more show up next time, I may just have to strip and re-coat the entire bottom with a barrier. Hopefully, I won't have to.

 

[Escapade II]

NO,that response from Frannk does not supprise me. It's that attitude that got Catalina to where they are today.
Four or five years ago I talked with Catalina customer service regarding a problem I found on an '81 C27TM - 25 years old and I was the third owner. The next morinig I got a call from Frank at about 7 AM EDT - 4 AM PDT ! He just wanted to be sure that I felt I had been properly taken care of ! I'm sure Frank understands that that's the way to build a business because I tell my friends and they tell theirs and we all look seriously at Catalina for our next boat.
Gene Fuller / ESCAPADE II

 

[Witzend]

I tried to track them down, but they were not at the booth at the time. As some of you are already familiar with my posts my boat was a lemon. I had contacted Frank about my damper issue, which caused a major problem, but no response.
Other latent factory or design defects were:
Strut significantly out of alignment.
Fuel tank set down into a preformed basin which set up the possibility of water collecting and causing tank failure. Then designing the area so you can't get the tank out when it fails.
All of these problems were major bi@#h problem, when took significant amount of ingenuity to solve without bankrupting me!
I will never purchase a Catalina again.

 

[NC-C320]

Now for the other side of the coin.....

I have had two Catalinas. I bought my 2000 C-320 new and, while I am critical on details on most big purchases, I have to say that it is the only big item that I ever purchased with which I was completely satisfied. I have not had any serious problems with the boat thusfar in the 12 years that I have owned the boat. I'm mostly a day sailor, so the boat hasn't been treated roughly, but it has been through a number of huricanes at the pier in a somewhat exposed area, so it has also been slammed around a bit. Now, it's not perfect, and if you put it against a high end boat costing twice the money, you can see differences. After all, for double the money, you should get something. I would buy this same boat again in an instant.

My son and I also bought a new 2001 C22 MKII together. This second boat did have a problem (seal between keel cable tube and hull) which dealer and I had trouble locating. I contacted Catalina by email. Frank Butler personally called in reply. In fact he had to make several calls to get me regarding the issue. He assured me that the problem would be fixed properly, and if I thought it wasn't, to get back with him. Then, he followed up with a letter saying the same thing. And as promised, the problem was fixed. For any of you who don't know, Frank Butler is the owner of Catalina Yachts. How many other companies do you know of this size that the top guy will get involved in such issues? (Contrast that with my new Jeep that has been making some strange noises...dealer's response is "some have the problem, some don't, and we don't know how to fix. We'll check with factory", but thusfar, they haven't done anything.