The Beneteau and Catalina have both been exceptional in the art of boat building over the years. Discussing them side by side is more like a privilege than a comparison, per se.

For years, the Catalina Boat Company has built quite the selection of boats that qualify as built to last and authentic crafts for sailing purposes. Catalina boats are primarily made to be durable, made for the reasons of lasting in real-world conditions and not exceeding their value in terms of the market price. Beneteau makes sure your comfort needs are fully met as you take on that holiday cruise with optimal sailing performance to deliver a totally worth-it trip, made also are their boats with durability and stability in mind. Catalina and Beneteau boats are usually unique because of the excellent value in the resale market.

Quick History

As Catalina’s infamous history is told, it started with nothing but a vision. Mr. Frank Butler turned a single dream of making a 22- foot trailer able with enough power and grace to sail the distant waters into Catalina Yachts in the year 1970.

Beneteau Benjamin was a shipwright who founded the Beneteau company in the year 1884 in France. Their fiberglass boats to hold in the market later in the ninety sixties.

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Types of Boats Produced From Beneteau and Catalina

Well, Catalina prides itself in the production of exactly three Series of boats. They have in their broad range of brilliantly fashioned sailboats. The Sports Series, the Cruiser Series, and lastly, the Ocean Series. Even their Sports series are crafted having the accommodation of family in mind in a portable but enough for day sailing 8-27 foot sailboats. While the Cruiser brings a very spacious interior to the game with mid-sized 31-35 feet. Also, the Ocean Series 38-44 footers take the cake in everything, onboard comfort, night sailing, aboard living, deeper sea sailing and even muster up a race if your rich friends are up for it.

Beneteau started to revolutionize sailing by making their pioneer fishing boats, fist cruisers, and beginner dinghy sailing in 1965. In 1973, Andre Beneteau began the Evasion series with the ketch names Evasion 32. Beneteau’s First Yachts came into play in 1977 singlehandedly designed by Andre Beneteau, but in 1982, he combined with Figaro to make the First Class 8; a real racer and the first of its kind for the boat company. Also, in the same year that California came out, a fishing boat that will trawl well near the coast did.

With the Oceanis 350, a new brand of unique sailing yachts was birthed in 1986, and the generation continued to evolve till they became a reference point that can’t be left unmentioned in world cruising discussion groups, measuring from 32-60 feet depending on the model, these baddies are decked with the best hands-on characteristics that make them drop-dead gorgeous. 2005 when they added the Cyclades series to their brand’s broad range of boats, a boat that is capable of doing all and for not so much in terms of cost.

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Comfort

Beneteau

Beneteau promises to make your boat more like a holiday home than a racing boat in terms of comfort, luxury, and coziness. Say the charter company, that you have employed their services to give a boat tour of the Seychelles Islands have an Oceanis 46.1 or any Beneteau Sense models sitting in the docks and you don’t really know what to expect in terms of comfort, our counsel to you is to not worry. This is because Beneteau has got all your luxurious cruising demands down to detail, and your family will feel so at ease on this sea mansion you got them on.

There are cabins, each with double island beds of an area of 5’3 to 6″7 feet, a shower room, and an independent head. Each boat usually includes a very comfortable master cabin that ordinarily you should only expect with a much larger yacht or liner. Guess what, the aft guest rooms always come with generous headspace and also face the bow.

“What’s more?” did you ask? Okay, how about the easy movement afforded on board by the kind of safety rails that Beneteau uses. The deck is shroud-free, and the handrails are not lacking, thus allowing ease of transit from hull to deck in no time and with minimum risk.

Catalina

If a boat is fast, comfortable, spacious, and safe enough to have family or kids on, what more could you ask for? Just ask Catalina. They have made a combination of the aforementioned features just for the good of the sailing public. Also, they also have inserted this essence into every one of their building blueprints, and for years they have also upheld the same qualities in all their boats. They put into consideration the provision of a very roomy cockpit with tall coamings installed for secure seating and with a very large cockpit table that’s accommodating for a large family or friends of up to 6 adults. Stainless steel handrails are used on the cabin top for safety assurance and ease of movement. The Catalina 445 is really a case study of over-pampering luxury and does have all the aforementioned features and more.

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Value Retention

The Catalina boats in their diverse Series are well known and praised for their value retention because of their models’ sturdy nature. Their boats are built to last, and therefore, when reselling, most things seem and are in good condition even after a considerable amount of years.

What the Beneteau cruise sailboats lack in sportiness, they make up in durability. Beneteau boats are assets that can hold down their original value for quite some time. They do this with only the minimum cost of maintenance due to the warranties they have got in place covering several parts of their boats and over a good number of years too.

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Built Quality

Both boats obviously have a reputation to protect on this particular aspect. Therefore, so as to not unintentionally sabotage any of them in this short comparison, I’ll go ahead and first say that they are both capable boatyards that know how to make strong, durable, efficient, and environmentally safe boats with the right materials.

Catalina makes use of standard equipment and materials to make their boats in their boatyards. The hull is a one-piece fiberglass hull with an end-grain balsa core sandwich with a Vinylester integral barrier to resist osmosis. The grid and deck are also all one-piece fiberglass. The material for the keel is lead and adjoined to the hull with stainless steel attaching bolts.

Beneteau makes use of resin and balsa core to make their hull. This balsa core permits resin quantity reduction in each hull constituent while still maintaining the desired structural strength while the resin constituent reduction in the hull equals less weight. Alpi Wood is the wood of choice in the Beneteau boatyards. Large-scale computer-assisted design to do certain fine detailed interior work like spray-finish sets and cutting has undoubtedly put a few workers on early retirement. Still, it provides the customer with the best design money can pay for.

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Beneteau vs. Catalina – Final Thoughts

The Beneteau boatyard is centuries old (est.1884) in the business of making boats that are sailworthy. While Catalina became in the early 1970s, they both have one similar thing to offer all sailors who wish to patronize and be part of their family; that thing is durable and progressive boats.

Both Beneteau and Catalina built great all-around boats that will no disappoint, so choose the layout that best suits your needs and fits your budget. You really can’t go wrong with either brand. However, if I had to choose which one makes a better boat overall, I would pick Beneteau for the better of the two. Beneteau boats are overall better-built than Catalinas and more comfortable, but that is reflected on the price tag as well.

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Pro Tip: If you are torn between buying a Beneteau and a Catalina boat but are unsure which one you should go for, then I strongly suggest that you charter each of the boats for at least a week. That way, you will find out which boat fit your needs better and which one you like better. That way, you can avoid making an expensive mistake