AwesomeCat vs Ocean Express
 

I am looking at both, 31 to 33 ft. Which is built better? Faster?
I know Awesome ( formerly American Offshore) were built in
Algonac Mi., like Ocean express still is. I ride in lake Michigan ....
which is best in rough water? I love skater but I'd like a cabin area
no head, reefer etc. just a place to spend the night in.

OE for build quality

I like the Ocean Express - I think its a bigger boat, or so it looks that way. Either way, make sure they don't have fiberglass fuel tanks.

36 skater has a cabin model one in classifieds with 575, much better riding boat as well as resale, oe resale are not good you will have a problem getting insurance on them ,skater does have glass tanks may be a problem, if you have the $$$ a nortech is a great boat

Ocean Express is the Apache of cats. Not terribly fast but for sloppy water there isn't anything better. You won't break one either.

I wouldn't get too worried about fast- if it's over 90MPH, you can forget buying insurance unless you have fairly recent cat ownership experience.

my 33 doesnt have fiberglass, aluminum and its for sale, has an great cabin area and insurance wasnt bad

I beg to differ here Chris. A friend had a 95 31 with some serious delamination problems in multiple places. The hole rear section of the tunnel came apart. The liner de bonded. One sponson delammed. The handling below 60mph was horrible as well. The boat rode on its nose and bow steered something awful at slower speeds. It would run 90 on twin 415mpi's

Skip the Awesome. Zero resale. Ocean Express is much better on that point.

[QUOTE=Airpacker;2627821]I beg to differ here Chris. A friend had a 95 31 with some serious delamination problems in multiple places. The hole rear section of the tunnel came apart. The liner de bonded. One sponson delammed. The handling below 60mph was horrible as well. The boat rode on its nose and bow steered something awful at slower speeds. It would run 90 on twin 415mpi's[/QUOTE

the 33 oe is much better performer than the 31, i had a 1990 25 that ended up with delam problems ,they just don"t build them like a skater.

the 33 has a 10' ft beam where as the 31 is 8' .. gives it a whole different ride