Catalina 250 Sailboats for Sale

Layouts on the Used Market

Ex-charter four-cabin layouts appear more often than the standard arrangement, but both versions reach the market. The interior centers on a circular settee under the mast and a removable table that doubles as a cockpit dining surface, with a small forward V-berth that expands for adults by removing a divider and a large aft double berth whose overhead is low for most of its width. Headroom at the galley and head is only 4 feet 6 inches, and the head itself uses a portable toilet. Early boats allowed the dining table to drop and form a giant forward berth, a feature later discontinued, so buyers should confirm which configuration a specific hull carries.

Equipment and Common Upgrades

A bimini and autopilot are often seen on listed boats, sensible additions given the large open cockpit and the weather helm noted in the Practical Sailor survey. Less common but encountered as owner upgrades are a chartplotter, simplified shorthanded sail-handling rigging, and solar charging to support the 90-amp-hour deep-cycle battery. The factory standard set is modest: a cockpit-mounted outboard well, manual bilge pump, single-burner butane stove, and jiffy reefing, so most cruising-minded owners have added the above in layers rather than finding them as original gear.

What to Inspect

The defining rule is that the boat must never be sailed without the water ballast in place, so verify the flooding system and tank integrity. Serious leaks on the first hulls led Catalina to rework the ballast tank tooling, and the company says every one of those early boats has since been updated, so proof of that update matters on any 1990s example. Note too that early brochures depicted the centerboard as vertical though it actually sweeps back about 15 degrees, and the production boat dropped the advertised positive flotation, leaving no special buoyancy if holed. The jib winches sit close to a stanchion less than nine inches away, preventing a full handle rotation without knuckle contact, a detail to check for added pad or relocating.

Availability and Buyer's Takeaway

These boats turn up in the United States, Australia, and Canada. For a buyer, the short checklist is: confirm ballast tank retrofit on early hulls, test the flood-and-drain cycle, check centerboard geometry and rudder condition, and assess added bimini or autopilot as value rather than deficit. She rewards the trailer-sailor who accepts modest workmanship and a tender hull in exchange for volume and portability.