Do the 31 American Offshore and Awsome hulls take the water the same as the old Chris cats? I was told they all had the same bottoms.

This is from the thread "great moments in cat history," and is a must read.
As far as the Shadow/Chris comparison goes... The Chris had a constant dihedral at the transom and therefore more aft hydrodynamic lift. That means that it is preferable for big block inboard applications as it supports the extra weight better. The Shadows have a variable dihedral at the stern and have less sponson friction with lighter engine applications and were/are faster with "kickers" on the transom. The interesting aside to this is a small block application worked verry well in the shadows

since you seem to know alot about older cats I had a dockmaster tell me sunday that my old (1990) eliminator 27 with twins was pulled off another hull any truth to that also I love my old girl runs out perf. handles big water great looks outstanding still 18 years later

I think if you ask Linder or T2X the Chris Cat had a slightly wider sponson also .
Jacked up # fives on boxes with generous driveshafts were the hot ticket .

The 30 and new style 32 Skaters with stock decks are very close in size and dimensions to the old Shadows....and to answer your question from one who knows........yes.

The Shadow/Chris Cats had less airlift than a Skater...and more Hydrodynamic lift so they would tend to "fly" less and might have an edge in truly huge seas......on the other hand the Skaters are lighter and faster, which would give more throttle response.

T2x

Just about everything that size is a splash or a modified splash. I believe AO bought the molds. Which, is another point to the delicate balance of the Chris. When AO lengthened it and stuck bravos in it, the "AO Hop" was born

The Chris cat was wider because as you reduced the outer dihedral......you automatically widened the overall sponson. The CC also had small stepped "spray rails"...midway up the sides, which further widened the design..

T2x

No they always had the "Linder Hop"....long before AO was a gleam in anybody's eye.

T2x

I figured I would ask this since the authority on cats is now in the discussion. A few years back a company called Seagull Boats started making center counsole cats for fishing applications. The hulls were made of composites and other trick stuff, and they were supposedly designed by a person who had a history designing and building racing cats. Does anyone know about this company or the person the sales team was referring to?

They also sold boats under the nautico name. Again just curious, as the company appears to be long gone and I was always left wondering...