470 comments
Dick, In general we love our 470 and we find that every 470 owner we know shares pretty much the same view. There are, of course, some problems, but overall we love the boat. In terms of handling, the boat is great. We sail at least once a week or so in 25+ winds on SF bay (in the summer) and it handles very nicely. In terms of things like engine access it is okay. We had the boat shipped from FL to CA and had to completely "recommission" it when it got here - with lots of engine work (including realigning and reattaching the shaft). Access was adequate. We haven't had any trouble with the engine - or any other major system. We have the genset/air/heater combo and we like it very well. The only tiny drawback is that the fan doesn't work on the termostat so it runs all the time the heater is turned on. We had a few start-up problems but nothing to speak of. We have also found the quality to be very good. We had a Hunter 450 prior to the 470 and the level of quality of the Catalina is much higher than the Hunter (at least in our specific experience). If you have any specific questions you can email us at vrolston@pacbell.net and we will try to answer ourselves - or round up the answer from other owners. Good Luck
