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I looked up some posts I've made in this forum previously and some were from 2007! That means it's been 10 years that I've been thinking about buying a bigger boat. . . It might be time.

I sailed a hunter 170 for about 12 years and I really loved it. My current boat is a passagemaker dinghy that I also really love BUT both get a little overpowered when I take them to some of the places I really want to sail. A Hunter 170 in the grand traverse bay when the wind kicks up is a little too much of a thrill ride for my wife.

I had settled on a compac 19. Not too much boat to trailer or launch, but 800 lbs of ballast promises to keep us a little more upright. I've looked at two so far, and they have been real project boats. The little hairline cracks in the gelcoat didn't bother me much, but the huge cracks at the stanchions and the mast step kind of gave me pause.

So now this sweet looking Catalina 18 appears. In many ways it seems slightly "less than" the Compac. Less ballast, less weight overall, less cabin space, less attractive, less work, less money, less labor at the boat ramp.

Still seems like a good candidate for the kind of sailing I want to do. I'm thinking Grand Traverse Bay, Little Traverse Bay, Big Bay de Noc, some of the larger inland lakes in Michigan, etc.

Going to go take a look tomorrow.

Any thoughts?

IMHO, Less weight overall, less work, less money, less labor are all plusses!
Less attractive is relative. Less ballast also because it goes with the overall weight, beam ETC...
Cabin space is often not very important unless you use it a lot and then you tend to adapt to it.
And what about the sailing performances of both boats? Wich one gives the most?

I don't find the Catalina unattractive, just . . normal, I guess.

We do plan to sleep on it. We camped in a pup tent for many years, so if there is a comfortable cot I think we can adapt. Having said that - I told my wife I wanted to build a teardrop camper, and she said she didn't want one - too small. So all is relative I guess.

Reviews on sailing (from SCA and elsewhere) have all been positive. Catalina 18 made the list of "12 boats we loved in our first ten years."

Sailed one for a couple years. Probably the best overbuilt boat in her class, and absolutely unsinkable, (think Boston Whaler legendary construction). Roomy interior for two adults, can sleep on two long, wide comfortable quarter berths, or drop in the filler cushions and you sleep on a queen size bed. The shoal draft keel is molded as part of the hull so there are no seams to ever leak. The sump is filled with 450 Lbs of lead shot and resin, which sits low, and adds to her stability, but keeps the overall weight lower. The wing is separate, and is mechanically and chemically bonded to the bottom of the keel. When the hull is still in the mold, the interior liner is bonded to the hull, then close-cell expanding foam is poured in at several points. It's really gooey and further bonds to the liner and the hull making it stiff and unsinkable. Our first sail to Catalina Island was on our Capri/Catalina-18. We LOVED the boat, and ours came with the optional factory mast raising system. Only thing the Admiral didn't care for was no potty-privacy, so we reluctantly sold her and purchased a wing keeled C-22 MK-II.

John_k, were you aware that a bone stock C-18 sailed from Oxnard CA to Hawaii? An autohelm was added, and a small Honda generator that was run for 1.5 hrs daily to recharge the battery. Look it up on the web, the skipper was Shawn St Clair.

Don
Going to windward with 4 adults comfortably in the cockpit in Mission Bay, San Diego
As her big sister, comes from the factory set-up to accept a lifting harness in the keel.
Nice to have the option to easily launch with a crane. I simply copied the Capri-22 system.