Hi,Hi Mike,
Just found this thread. I am going to take a look at a couple of boats this weekend, been one a Catalina 34 and one an Irwin Citation 38.
I would like to hear your thoughts about it, since you just went from a Catalina to a Citation, can you help my family decide?
Thank you
I did not own a Catalina. when we originally started looking this was the boat were were considering and looked closely at a 34. What swung us to the Irwin? 1. Citation 38 is a good looker. 2. She is VERY roomy with a huge aft cabin and lots of storage space (I mean a LOT!). 3. Sails extremely well - balanced, zero weather helm and fast. 4. Opening back with fold down swim ladder (we swim off the boat a lot in Florida to cool down!).
Downsides : Depending on the year you are looking at? Please send me a the URL for the listing....? The later models had a slightly cheaper interior. Our boat had several leaks into the cabin, 2 from loose stanchions and some from deck hardware - think we have now fixed them all, but will see in the next heavy rain. No anchor windlass - pulling up the anchor on a heavy 38 footer can be fun!
Are we glad we bought this over the Catalina 34 - most definitely yes! We also considered an O'Day 35, but felt it was over priced for what you got over the Oday 34 (swim platform).
I am in touch with other Irwin 38 Citation owners on Facebook, if you want more input then join that group.
Hope that helps your process, not many 38 citations out there - so I would grab it if you have chance. Not sure how much it is listed for?
Best
Mike