{"id":45208,"date":"2019-12-09T16:00:42","date_gmt":"2019-12-09T21:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/?p=45208"},"modified":"2023-05-06T17:56:22","modified_gmt":"2023-05-06T21:56:22","slug":"catalina-545-named-2020-overall-boat-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/story\/sailboats\/catalina-545-named-2020-overall-boat-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Catalina 545 Named 2020 Overall Boat of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Catalina <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Even in moderate breeze, the 56-foot-2-inch Catalina 545 \u00addisplayed a lot of get-up-and-go.<\/span>\n Jon Whittle <\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

Every year, the Boat of the Year contest is an evolutionary affair that\u2019s conducted over a nearly two-week period, and there are always surprises as the judging panel gets more at ease with each nominee and begins to truly understand their individual characteristics. For 2020, at each step along the way, the judges seemed to become more and more comfortable with one particular nomi\u00adnee. Still, when it came time to cast the ballots for \u201cthe best of the best,\u201d collectively, it seemed that even they were somewhat astonished at the yacht that ultimately emerged atop the 22-boat fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Their final decision? The Catalina 545<\/b>, conceived and designed by longtime Catalina stalwart Gerry Douglas, is 2020\u2032s Overall Boat of the Year<\/b>. So, how did they get there?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis boat represents a \u00adsignificant change from previous Catalinas,\u201d judge Ed Sherman said. \u201cIt\u2019s a major upgrade from anything they\u2019ve ever built. I think it\u2019s not only significantly bigger, but better than anything they\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe largest vessel of a \u00admidrange production builder is a tough gamble because they\u2019re not accustomed to building larger vessels,\u201d judge Ralph Naranjo said. \u201cIn my opinion, Catalina upsized, upgraded and did a more-than-tolerable job of breaking through that barrier of not creating their biggest model and then suffering midsize components on it. The vision was making an \u2018ocean-easy\u2019 boat, that people who buy it will get sea time. It\u2019s not a yacht that\u2019s going to perpetually cross oceans. But it most certainly is a bluewater boat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cI like this boat quite a bit,\u201d judge Dan Spurr said. \u201cI don\u2019t mean this the wrong way, but I didn\u2019t feel like I was on a Catalina when we were inspecting it, starting with the looks of it. The profile is contemporary. They\u2019ve obviously picked up on some of the European themes. I thought it was a handsome boat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\"interior <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n The interior floor plan is rather traditional but extremely well-executed.<\/span>\n Jon Whittle<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also got a number of unusual features,\u201d Spurr \u00adcontinued. \u201cThere were collision bulkheads fore and aft. The rudder stocks are inside enclosed boxes, so if there ever were a leak, the packing gland won\u2019t find its way into the bilge or elsewhere. The shrouds were inboard so the base for the stays was a little narrower, but it really makes it easy to walk fore and aft without having to duck around the lowers. I like that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\n\n\u201cI didn\u2019t feel like I was aboard a \u00adCatalina when we \u00adinspected it. The interior is very contemporary.\u201d\n\n<\/p>\n<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn this boat, the \u00adforward stateroom is the owner\u2019s cabin,\u201d Sherman said. \u201cIt\u2019s super comfortable, with a day lounge and kind of a Catalina trademark with the forward portion of the queen bed that lifts and retracts so you can read in bed or stretch out. It\u2019s a really nice feature. And the aft stateroom also has a nifty one where you\u2019ve got dual single berths that can slide together and create kind of a tight double. On the DC side, they\u2019ve gone with a 24-volt system, which is a growing trend throughout the industry; we\u2019re seeing it on many of the other full-size yachts. I\u2019m glad to see it, because among other things, it saves a lot of weight in copper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cLook,\u201d Sherman \u00adconcluded, \u201cthis boat is a totally new thing from Catalina\u2014it really is. It\u2019s not perfect yet; there\u2019s still some refinement, perhaps. But \u00adultimately, I think it will end up being pretty damn nice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

And it has already earned \u00adsubstantial praise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

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See All Winners: <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

2020 Boats of the Year<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Other Winners:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n