Catalina 36 Mk II Buyer's Guide
Shopping the used brokerage market for a Catalina 36 Mk II means looking at a Gerry Douglas-designed cruiser introduced in August 1994, built around a couple-and-family weekend-and-vacation brief with occasional extended cruising in mind. The Mk II carried the earlier 36's unchanged hull shape through three deck revisions, and on the used market you'll mostly meet owner three-cabin layouts, though both layout variants appear; ex-charter examples are common. Knowing which documented issues to inspect matters more than chasing a specific hull number.
Layouts on the Used Market
Owner three-cabin arrangements are the more common on the used market, but both are available, and ex-charter examples are common. Below, the boat gives a 13-foot-4-inch saloon with 6-foot-5-inch headroom, a port galley at the companionway foot with U-shaped or L-shaped dinette, and a forward head accessible from saloon or V-berth. The below-cockpit second stateroom carries a 78-by-80-inch stern bunk with only 16 inches of clearance under the cockpit and a hanging locker for four sets; a storage area spans the stern with steering access and a vented propane locker, while the port lazarette stows dinghy and gear. The nav station opposite the galley uses a 25-by-30-inch game table converting to a berth.
Equipment and Common Upgrades
On the used market, dodgers, bimini, autopilot, and chartplotter are commonly fitted, and you'll often see cockpit shower, radar, inverter, hot water, air conditioning, furling main, and swim platform. Less common but seen as owner upgrades are solar, spinnaker, dinghy davits, heating, lithium batteries, and asymmetric spinnaker. The standard boat carried a Schaeffer 2100 furler, Garhauer vang and hardware, Lewmar winches and hatches, a Catalina anodized mast, and a Universal 35B diesel; newer boats added a second nav-station electrical panel with Perko master switch.
What to Inspect
Documented owner complaints center on chainplates that leak and require annual inspection or rebedding, and a common complaint concerns interior woodwork. The nav-station chair mounted on a swinging stainless bracket draws two owner criticisms: its lock doesn't always hold securely under the table on a starboard tack, and it blocks aft-stateroom access, though current boats gained a bronze swivel bearing and stronger spring and the backrest removes easily. One owner reported the dining table bracket so far off-center that a large person thrown onto the inboard edge could break the table. Testers found the inboard genoa track at least 1 foot too short for hard sailing with double-reefed main, the 42-inch destroyer wheel impedes movement forward when singlehanding, and wet cockpit seats make sail tending difficult above 10 degrees heel. Reaching the port side of the engine is a difficult chore despite companionway-step access, and newer boats bonded windows with a 1-1/2-inch overlap with few owner leaks reported.
Availability and Buyer's Takeaway
These boats appear in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Panama, Greece, and Australia. For a buyer, the shortlist is: confirm chainplate bedding history and rebed on schedule; check nav-chair lock and dining-bracket complaints; verify inboard track length if hard reefed sailing matters; inspect window bonds on older vs newer decks; and budget for port-side engine access difficulty. The Mk II's solid hull, balsa-cored newer decks, and unchanged hull shape make a sensible used cruiser if the documented maintenance points are cleared.
Price & volume trends
Monthly asking-price and listing-volume trends for the Catalina 36 Mk II. The line shows the median ask each month; the bars show how many listings appeared.
Monthly breakdown · 19 rows
| Month | Listings | Median ask | Δ vs. last mo. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 25 | 3 | $ 59,900 | — |
| Feb 25 | 2 | $ 35,000 | -41.6% |
| Mar 25 | 3 | $ 42,500 | +21.4% |
| Apr 25 | 6 | $ 88,200 | +107.5% |
| May 25 | 3 | $ 79,000 | -10.4% |
| Jun 25 | 8 | $ 61,450 | -22.2% |
| Jul 25 | 11 | $ 78,900 | +28.4% |
| Aug 25 | 12 | $ 86,750 | +9.9% |
| Sep 25 | 23 | $ 63,000 | -27.4% |
| Oct 25 | 11 | $ 94,500 | +50.0% |
| Nov 25 | 3 | $ 70,084 | -25.8% |
| Dec 25 | 8 | $ 75,500 | +7.7% |
| Jan 26 | 25 | $ 69,900 | -7.4% |
| Feb 26 | 8 | $ 65,000 | -7.0% |
| Mar 26 | 28 | $ 67,000 | +3.1% |
| Apr 26 | 62 | $ 67,000 | 0.0% |
| May 26 | 25 | $ 65,000 | -3.0% |
| Jun 26 | 16 | $ 66,542 | +2.4% |
| Jul 26 | 5 | $ 84,500 | +27.0% |
Where they're listed
Catalina 36 Mk II listings appear across 7 countries. United States has the most listings with 200 (90.9%), followed by Canada and United Kingdom.
Country view
220 listings · 7 countries| Country | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $ 69,500 | 200 | 61 | 90.9% |
| Canada | $ 99,008 | 12 | 3 | 5.5% |
| United Kingdom | $ 70,084 | 3 | 1 | 1.4% |
| Panama | $ 35,000 | 2 | 1 | 0.9% |
| Australia | $ 80,499 | 1 | 0 | 0.5% |
| Greece | $ 48,642 | 1 | 0 | 0.5% |
| Mexico | $ 38,000 | 1 | 0 | 0.5% |
Comparable models
Similar length, displacement, and era. Open a row to compare that model's market page.
Similar boats to compare
11 similar designs| Model | LOA | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catalina 36 Mk IIYou are here | — | $ 69,500 | 231 | 74 |
| Catalina Yachts 36 | 36.33' | $ 35,900 | 186 | 62 |
| Bavaria Yachts 36 | 37.89' | $ 68,410 | 121 | 25 |
| Catalina 42 Mk II | 41.86' | $ 135,000 | 116 | 39 |
| Hunter Marine 36 | 35.92' | $ 75,000 | 90 | 38 |
| Catalina 34 Mk II | 34.5' | $ 62,671 | 73 | 31 |
| Catalina 30 Mk II | 29.92' | $ 20,500 | 61 | 21 |
| Moody 31 Mk II | 30.75' | $ 33,627 | 40 | 5 |
| Sabre 36 | 36' | $ 49,900 | 23 | 8 |
| Pearson 36-2 | 36.5' | $ 26,000 | 21 | 2 |
| Sabre 38 Mk II | 38.67' | $ 60,000 | 17 | 5 |