The salty True North 34 Outboard Express has been given a makeover for the 2022 Miami Boat Show...
It’s taken Catalina Yachts almost three years to incorporate its design thinking and sailboat production techniques into the True North lobster-boat brand it acquired back in 2019.
Debuting on the 2022 Miami Boat Show docks is the newest, freshest, best-built version of True North’s trusty 34 Outboard Express, currently the only model it produces at Catalina’s current sailboat production plant in Largo, on Florida’s west coast.
It’s all evolution rather than revolution. There are new, bigger side windows for better all-round vision from the helm and inside L-shaped sofa.
They provide better ventilation too. And in place of the traditional vee berths in the bow, there’s now a queen-size bed with plenty of storage beneath.
And in the style worthy of a New England-style Down East work boat, there’s much more satin-varnished teak in place of the previous bleak, stark-white fiberglass.
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After years of equipping the 34, first with inboard power, then switching to 250hp Yamaha outboards in 2014, this latest True North 34 comes with a pair of whisper-quiet Suzuki 300s good for around 34 knots flat out.
What, thankfully, hasn’t changed is the classic, fishing boat style of the 34, with its plumb bow, sailboat-style forward cabin, curvy reverse transom, and three-panel windscreen.
While this new True North 34 Outboard Express will no doubt get plenty of attention from the trad crowd in Miami, the real interest will likely be in the highly-anticipated True North 39 OE expected to debut in September.
With a 44-foot length overall and 13ft 6in beam, it looks for all the world like a pumped-up 34. But it’s expected to offer a second double cabin, a more spacious forward master, and power from twin 350s.
True North 34 Outboard Express specifications
LOA: 39ft (11.9m)
Beam: 12ft 2in (3.7m)
Engines: 2 x 300hp Suzuki
Top speed: 34 knots
Starting price: $375,000 (approx)
