What would you do?

[Clay Greene]

I agree that this comes down to personal preference and whether the perceived advantages of the Mark II boat justify the additional cost.  Here are some considerations I can think of based on owning a Mark I boat and spending a lot of time on a friend's Mark II boat:

1.  The Mark II cockpit is wider and therefore better for entertaining/relaxing while the boat is stationary.  The Mark I cockpit is better for sailing with significant heel. 

2.  The interior of the Mark I boat usually is oiled teak and darker than the varnished and sealed teak on the Mark II boat.  The Mark II boat also has overhead lights and the porthole window between the two storage cabinets in the salon.  To me, this is the biggest difference between the look and feel of the two boats. 

3.  The Mark I boat has a lot of exterior teak and the Mark II has little or none.  You may like the look of the exterior teak but it involves maintenance or it is going to look terrible. 

4.  I think the Mark I boat has more out-of-sight storage in the salon with the cabinets that have the plastic sliding doors.  On the downside, you have the black plastic sliding doors.  We replaced ours with teak plywood.  The Mark II boat added a cabinet in the aft cabin. 

5.  I don't know if the 1986 is deck-stepped or keel-stepped - it could be either, I believe.  A keel-stepped boat is going to have water in the bilge any time it rains.  The Mark II boat is deck-stepped so water in the bilge will be less of an issue.   

6.  A small thing but I hated the head sink on the Mark I boat.  It is right under the cockpit floor so it was a pain to use.  Catalina adjusted the orientation in the Mark II boats so that it was not directly under the cockpit floor.  Another small thing on our Mark I boat - no overflow tank for the engine coolant - just a hose that dripped coolant in the engine bilge every time the engine ran. We added an overflow tank. 

7.  Check out the important upgrades page.  You'll need to address several of those issues on the 1986 boat if they have not been done already - engine wiring harness and alternator bracket in particular. 

8.  I don't know why but engine and filter access was worse on my friend's Mark II boat than our Mark I boat.  He did not have a side panel in the aft cabin to access the dipstick.  His Racor filter also was under the mattresses in the aft cabin - ours was under the sink in the head.  He did have a hinged lid in the aft cabin for access to the back of the engine, which was good for access to the transmission fluid dipstick. 

I guess in terms of my overall opinion, I preferred sailing my boat but I liked living on my friend's Mark II boat better.  Just more proof that every boat is a compromise so the challenge is finding out what matters most to you and your significant other and determining how much you're willing to pay for it. 

[Roc]

I don't feel my MkII cockpit is "too wide" for sailing comfort.  If there is significant heel, then something needs to be done to spill out some air off the sails.  The cockpit width is not the issue, it's heeling too much.  I find the size of our cockpit is great for sailing (can move around easy) and at dockside.  Didn't know that Catalina adjusted the head sink for the MkII boats, but I can say, whatever they did, was meaningless.  You'll hit your head if you attempt to use the sink, other than washing your hands.  The head sink is far from being usable (boat compromise).  I don't find changing fuel or oil filters a problem.  They are pretty well accessible.  I added a small door on the side of the engine house in the aft cabin to access the HX zinc (see projects).  Well worth it.  I also cut the plywood, under the aft cushions (where the two cushions meet), so I can pull it out easily to get to the back of the engine. 

[Stu Jackson]

5.  I don't know if the 1986 is deck-stepped or keel-stepped - it could be either, I believe.  A keel-stepped boat is going to have water in the bilge any time it rains.  The Mark II boat is deck-stepped so water in the bilge will be less of an issue.   

6.  A small thing but I hated the head sink on the Mark I boat.  It is right under the cockpit floor so it was a pain to use.  Catalina adjusted the orientation in the Mark II boats so that it was not directly under the cockpit floor.  Another small thing on our Mark I boat - no overflow tank for the engine coolant - just a hose that dripped coolant in the engine bilge every time the engine ran. We added an overflow tank. 

8.  I don't know why but engine and filter access was worse on my friend's Mark II boat than our Mark I boat.  He did not have a side panel in the aft cabin to access the dipstick.  His Racor filter also was under the mattresses in the aft cabin - ours was under the sink in the head.  He did have a hinged lid in the aft cabin for access to the back of the engine, which was good for access to the transmission fluid dipstick. 

I guess in terms of my overall opinion, I preferred sailing my boat but I liked living on my friend's Mark II boat better.  Just more proof that every boat is a compromise so the challenge is finding out what matters most to you and your significant other and determining how much you're willing to pay for it.

Clay, very good points and well presented.

5.  It was an option.   http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,1406.msg7546.html#msg7546

6.  We just don't bother using the head sink.  The galley sink is sure close enough. 

8.  Lou Berman wrote a Tech Note about that years ago.  Seems the factory "forgot" that handy little door to the dipstick on the first few production runs of the Mark II, later corrected.

For those with fixed Mark II cockpit tables, I've found they get in the way when sailing.  IIRC, the big table in the center of the cockpit was an option, and I don't recall any of our skippers here getting boats with them.  I've always felt the feature was good for marina queens, but not so much for sailing, they get in the way.

[Stu Jackson]

I don't feel my MkII cockpit is "too wide" for sailing comfort.  If there is significant heel, then something needs to be done to spill out some air off the sails.  The cockpit width is not the issue, it's heeling too much. 

Roc, true.  The earlier point was made that it IS too wide for shorter sailors, see my notes above.  Even reefed here on SF Bay, heeling is a fact of life. 

[Clay Greene]

Certainly no disrespect intended to the Mark II boat's sailing abilities.  Roc is certainly right that too much heel is generally an operator issue.  To Stu's point, though - shorter sailors necessarily includes kids.  We raised our twin girls on our Mark I boat and it was good that they were always able to brace themselves easily.  We now own a C387, which if you measure by the cost of cockpit seats, has the largest cockpit ever made by Catalina, so sliding around is definitely an issue with us if we start to heel too much.  But we have the centerline cockpit table, which I actually like and do not find to be a hindrance while sailing. 

I thought of another difference related to weather helm.  The Mark II boat has the larger, elliptical-shaped rudder that is going to help the boat stay on track and fight off the weather helm that shows up when the apparent wind gets into the teens.  Again, to Roc's point, better to avoid weather helm entirely by reducing sail so you don't need the bigger rudder surface area to keep the boat from spinning up into the wind. 

[Noah]

"Getting around" the big steering wheel on my MK 1 has been a complaint with some. At anchor, I remove it and store on top of dodger.

[Clay Greene]

Have you looked into the Lewmar folding wheel? 

[Noah]

Yes. Thx. But it doesn't bother me enough to throw lots of $ at it. Also, I do like the feel of my solid wheel. Just a bit incovenient to switch helmsmen, especially when the situation gets a little "heated" on deck--which it occassionally it does on my boat...

[lazybone]

When it gets heated on deck, anchor, then retire below and ...

[Stu Jackson]

<<<SNIP>>>
Just a bit incovenient to switch helmsmen, especially when the situation gets a little "heated" on deck--which it occassionally it does on my boat...

You, too, eh?  What we find works is we agree on which side the new helmsman will come in from and the current helmsperson slides out the other side.  Or overboard,  whichever comes first!   

That's why I keep banging the drum on making sure one's binnacle handhold is available at all times, instead of covering it up with instruments.

I also figure I get some "exercise" by stepping up and over to get behind the wheel.  I've never been thin enough to slide on by.     

[Wayne]

I back into my slip, and so really value the ease of walking on and off my boat through the open transom.