1995 Catalina 30 Mk III

Last Haulout 2024. All new standing rigging 2026! ($9700 job) Sail with confidence on SF Bay! New varnish interior and exterior! ($2200) Complete Rubout and Wax ($975) This is a turnkey boat in excellent condition.

The Catalina 30 is one of the most successful cruising sailboats ever built, and the Mark III represents the final and most refined evolution of this legendary design.

For the Mark III, Catalina took the proven sailing characteristics and exceptionally spacious interior that made the Catalina 30 famous and updated the boat with features borrowed from the newer Catalina 270 and 320. The result is a remarkably capable 30-footer that combines traditional Catalina simplicity and durability with a much more modern cockpit, stern and cruising layout.

The Catalina 30 - Refined

One of the biggest improvements to the Mark III is immediately apparent at the stern. Catalina redesigned the cockpit and transom with a walk-through stern and large boarding platform, making boarding from a dock, dinghy or the water dramatically easier than on earlier Catalina 30s.

The cockpit itself is one of the standout features of the design. Catalina widened the stern at deck level, incorporated wider coamings for comfortable outboard seating and added stern-rail observation seats. The result is an unusually large and comfortable cockpit for a 30-foot sailboat - equally well suited to an afternoon sail with friends or an extended cruise.

Yet Catalina wisely left the fundamentals alone. The Mark III retains the proven Catalina 30 hull and rig that helped make the design so popular in the first place.

Remarkable Space Below

Step below and it's easy to understand why so many sailors have owned Catalina 30s.

With a generous 10'10" beam, the Catalina 30 offers interior volume normally associated with substantially larger boats. The main salon is open, bright and comfortable, with plenty of room for family and guests without the cramped feeling found aboard many boats in this size range.

The traditional Catalina cruising layout provides a forward V-berth, spacious main salon, galley, enclosed head and a large aft berth. The salon dining area provides additional sleeping accommodations when needed, making the Catalina 30 a legitimate family cruiser rather than simply a daysailer with a cabin.

It's an interior that works just as well for a weekend getaway as it does for spending a week or more aboard.

A Proven Cruising Sailboat

Under sail, the Catalina 30 has earned its reputation as an approachable, forgiving cruiser that remains enjoyable to sail.

She is large enough to feel substantial underway yet small enough to be easily handled by a couple. Wheel steering, a manageable sail plan and excellent cockpit ergonomics make her an especially appealing choice for sailors moving into their first cruising boat.

For experienced sailors, the Catalina 30 offers something equally valuable: simplicity. These boats were designed before cruising sailboats became unnecessarily complicated. Systems are understandable, access is generally straightforward, and the huge Catalina owner community means decades of accumulated knowledge, parts information and practical experience are readily available.

Why the Mark III

There are a lot of Catalina 30s - but considerably fewer Mark IIIs.

Introduced late in the Catalina 30's extraordinarily successful production run, the Mark III benefits from years of refinement while retaining the qualities that made the original boat such a success.

The redesigned cockpit, walk-through transom and boarding platform make an enormous difference in everyday use, particularly for swimming, boarding a dinghy, getting on and off at the dock, or simply relaxing at anchor.

Below deck, the Catalina 30 continues to do what it has always done exceptionally well: provide an astonishing amount of usable cruising space in a manageable 30-foot boat.

For someone looking for an affordable coastal cruiser, weekend boat or first serious cruising sailboat, the Catalina 30 Mk III remains a difficult combination to beat.

She's big enough to comfortably cruise.

She's small enough to easily own and handle.

And she's backed by one of the largest communities of Catalina sailors anywhere.

A proven design, thoughtfully refined - and one of the most desirable versions of the Catalina 30.