30' Shadow/Chris Cat - ???
 

Another thread is trying to determine the best rough water boat ever. I think the question should be - considering wave height, and power to length ratio, what boat runs BEST (for its size) in the rough stuff?

I think the Shadow and/or Chris Cat may have been the best all around offshore hull.

They were both good boats for sure and gave the big vees an ass whooping even in the rough .

I sold Chris Cats, and also raced one in Pro-Stock class for years. The way that boat would run in the rough stuff for being only a 30 footer was truly amazing. I would like to get my hands on one again someday.

Tom Caruso
Total Marine

Tom , I remember your boat , always the cleanest and a good runner .
FYI , my old Chris is currently undergoing a major redo . She will be completed for the 09 season .
I'm considering running it in a race or two if rules permit , and will be posting more photos of progress on my resto thread this week .
Jim

Hey guys I was watching an old episode of Miami Vice last night "The Great Mcarthy" and they had a little Miami to Bimini race. One of the boats was either a shadow cat or a cougar. It was white with three shades of blue-royal, light, and baby blue and the name of the boat was "bandit" Anyone remember this boat? Very cool episode with some trick old school rides!

All the Bandits I remember were and are from Kurt's Marine , Kurt Berger in Brick , NJ . I don't remember that one .
You never know though .

Huh. So what make is the hull? Its definetly hard to tell in the show. Is pulled for a shadow or Chris? or is it completly different? Just curious.

thats a shadow cat and was originally fish peddler if I recall ....I guess I am going to have to dig into those old freeze frame videos to make sure.....

Heres the vid of it that I found on you tube. Pretty cool vid. Check out the other rides and see if you guys recognize any of them. :cool:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILGy41Qb90U

The Bandit in Miami Vice was a triple outboard 32 Cougar Cat...

Twins Ryan. I just put the vid up off of you tube. :ernaehrung004:

also has stand up bolsters..............

The boat BANDIT in Miami Vice was a TRIPLE Outboard 32 Cougar. The boat Fish Peddler in Miami vice was a TWIN engine 30' Shadow. Both of these boats were regulars on the OPBRA race circuit in the late 80's

Chris cat at 100 mph +

That's probably a stretch. The were very wet riding at midrange cruise. Balance wasn't that great with the weight of big blocks and heavy drives either. They were phenomenal in their day but probably no match for a boat like the 36 Skater that's both lighter & longer.

I said THIRTY FOOT (30') Shadow/Chris, not 36. I would think a 30' Skater would be more of a good comparison. Can a 30' Skater take the same power and run in a real 3-5 at the same speed as the 30 Shadow/Chris Cat????

Yes , no match for a 36 skater , however I think we had ours balanced pretty well .

I was going off of this...

If you had said the 30 Chris was the best rough-water 30' cat, I'd have agreed.

They ran so sweet with big HP small blocks that when you moved to big blocks and III's, it was very noticeable. Extension boxes and drivelines that moved the motors up a bit worked wonders when moving to big motors. I remember the first one I'd ever seen with big blocks & III's. It has twin turbo Banks 496's in it and it went in the Mid 120's. It was a twitchy, scary ride.

I hope T2x will weigh in. He knows both those boats very well. I will say this...the Skater is much lighter and its tunnel is wider and probably deeper than the Chris, so all those factors make it faster. As to performance in 3-5s, the Chris might have a comfort edge with its weight.

Set up the boats the same and run them in the same water. We'll know then.

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...

Richie Powers (7xChamp) used to be affiliated with a fishing cat company in sales........ Those boats were not performance based however, but were more along the lines of the Australian originated semi displacement cats that are quite popular today.......... Stable and great in big water...but no speed to speak of.

T2x

I just went through that forum , wow !
Seeing that Jesse James Chris Cat really psyched me up . I've got to get to Bristol and snap some good photos of my gutted Chris .
There aren't too many good Chris Cats around and even fewer Shadows .
I think the " American Express " is worth preserving regardless of investment vs value . She was a good missle and this time the props will turn out , but I'll save that story for another time .
Thanks for the good read .

"shadow cat experts" wanted is also a decent read and some pics( I do not know how to post a link)

Here's a Shadow cat for you .
Owner was Bob Schug , a good guy with a good running boat .

here's a pic of my 31 Awesome - IMO - does very well in big water