Catalina Yachts of Woodland Hills California, started building Catalina 320s for the 1993 model year. Through 2008, they build over 1165 of them. In 2008, they discontinued the model and replaced it with the Catalina 315. The Catalina 320 International Organization has a history of the changes over the year and a pretty complete list of current owners with their names and home ports. From various records that came with the boat, in the closing documents, and a few other places, we have been able to find the history of the boat.
Our Catalina 320, hull #87 was built in October of 1993, as a 1994 model year for WeatherMark, Inc. a Catalina dealer in Buford Georgia. The builder's certificate was issued February 8, 1994. It was purchased by a couple on March 15, 1994 and named Rader's Folly II. Unfortunately, the husband of the couple passed away soon after and the boat was put up for sale.
On August 16, 1994, Rear Admiral Ronald P. Morse of the U.S. Navy Dental Corp bought the boat, which closed by September 17th. The boat was renamed Skål, the Scandinavian toast that means "cheers". The Coast Guard records can't do non-standard letters, so they show the name as SKAL. Admiral Morse sailed her on Chesapeake Bay. When Admiral Morse retired from the Navy in 1995, he moved to the Seattle area and had her trucked across the country.
On August 18, 1997, Skål was sold again, but retained the same name, to a couple in Washington State. Then the records get a little less clear. It appears the one of the owners died in February of 2007 and the boat was transfered again to a couple in Friday Harbor. The boat had a title issued by the State of Washington on December 5, 2008.
On January 16, 2022, we took a look at Skål at Cap Sante Marina in Anacortes. We had actually seen Skål in August when we made our San Juans trip on Fantasia and stopped at Cap Sante. There had been a pending offer from a couple from Hawaii that fell through. After looking at all the systems, we made an offer that evening, which was accepted. The sale closed on February 18, 2022. And that is how we became the fifth owner of Catalina 320 Hull #87.
