I plan on purchasing my first catamaran spring of 2010. I am considering both a single and twin engine application. I primarily boat on a 10,000 acre lake close to home. A few trips to LOTO and maybe one to Lake Cumberland will be in store for next year. I would like to approach the 100mph mark and am looking for a boat with this criteria:
great overall handling (planing, turning, no porpose, etc)
decent cockpit and cabin room
good value
A few of the manufacturers that come to mind are Eliminator, American Offshore, Force and Carrera
I would prefer not to spend more than 75K, any suggestions?

I think you already answered the single vs twin question with 'decent cabin room'. That means twins...

Make sure you consider insurance in the equation. Speed costs money in more ways than one. Lucky I owned my cat before things got crazy!

Not mine but seems to fit your needs at a good price. It will be hard to get away from the porpose in the american offshore 31.
http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/boa/1470488929.html

There have been quite a few American Offshore 3100s for sale in the classifieds for $60-90k. There aren't any in there now but maybe after New Year's there will be. If not, go to the AO owners' forum and PM OSO member quest. He might know of one for sale.

AO3100s are old school, but they are very stable, great riding cats. One with 700s gives great acceleration and 110-115mph speed. I wouldn't own one with less than 525s.

Didn't you see this one?

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/a...540s-sale.html

I'd give a Spectre/Motion a look. Seats five. Runs 100 MPH with twin 300 Mercs. Great bang for the buck. They can be had for ~ $75,000.

Mike

I hate to be the one to bring this up, but you may want to speak with your insurance company before you purchase. I was a big fan of Eliminator and Spectre cats planned on purchasing one, until I spoke with my insurance comapny going from a Baja 30 Outlaw $2000 a year to about $5000 a year ans much less coverage, I just couldn't justify it, what I would be spending more in increased insurance was my FUEL BILL for the summer

If you still want the cat, I would look very hard a the Spectre 36 Pleasure, this was my number one choice for the exact same reasons you have.

call Paul @ tri state. He has a brand new 2005 Force that has never been in the water. It has a Teague 900 efi single and canopies. It will run well over a 100 and I think it could be had in your price range. The 1 yr warentee is still in effect on the motor because it has not been in the water. I sat in the boat many times in the showroom and it is mint. His number is 631 724 8707.

Thanks for the replies. A single engine boat is attractive because of the less moving parts (less money in maintenance, fuel), weighs less (towing), and smaller (boat primarily on 10K acre lake). I have been told however single engine cats don't handle well. That if you want a cat you need twins. Also how reliable are single engine, big horsepower cats in front of bravo style drives?

Sounds like a smaller cat fits your needs, so don't expect a large cabin. Single engine cats will handle just fine if set-up and propped right. Most, if not all of them out there will have a center pod which gives it handling characteristics similar to a V and less tendency for porposing. A used Talon 25 with a single big block would be a good find. I have been impressed with the 26 Redline by Revolution Performance Marine. They are fairly new, so the used market will be slim. I wonder what a new one with a 496 HO runs both speed and $$(?) Insurance shouldn't be too bad and you could always plan on upgrades...

As for reliability of the bravo, I don't think there is much difference between a cat of V. It's all in the max engine torque, boat weight and driver. You probably run a higher X dimension on a cat which I believe can be harder on the outdrive.