CAT versus V
 

owned several boats for more than 20 years.skater 28 for the moment.
when it comes to max speed it is of course cats(there is nothing else), BUT on the other hand nothing like a light weight V.

are you agree?

Timucan it depends on the measure of comparison, some of the new stepped Vee bottoms run very well, when comparing them to the previous lot of Vees . On the other hand a WELL designed Catamaran is in its own level and cannot be compared to, that is with any fairness anything at all! But another Cat. The numbers show it 20-30% better performance with similar power, and a nice stable ride to boot. Who would complain about too much speed or the use of too little fuel? Combined with a sit-down dry, safe ride. Cat wins ! Just my $.02


Turkey ! The Kuwaitis I worked with had a real nice
Turkish Barber Shop (they owned everything) I really miss it ! you know what I am talking about .That would be a home run in the States.
:) Best Regards

catmando:I know the difficulties of light v in rough.you are right.

when I am comparing the two hull shapes;I am missing the steering response of V, and of course lower mph cruising ability.

But with the cat there is a serious lack of steering response and there is no chance to cruise with 25-30mph's.Ok it is nice to have more top speed but sometimes you just wanna cruzzzz.

That’s not entirely true a modern vee hull can be engineered to run light and have “manners” through manipulation of the dead rise,entry and horizontal areas such as strakes,pads,chines to achieve a relatively smooth ride, where the misnomer was that light vee hulls were of poor ride qualities came from when old shallow deadrise hulls were being built on the light side.and through ignorance

Best Regards:)

Having owned a 1996 38 top gun which was a heavy dinasour compared to today's lighter step hull I can honestly say neither compares to my 36 skater. Any time the water has been rough enough to be uncomfortable in the skater I can assure you it would not be much different in the cigarette. A friend has the new top gun w ith steps and I have driven it enough to make the comparison. The differences in speed and the over all handling of the cat are way beyond the lighter step hull. Now if you want to compare it to the old 47 apache in the rough that's another story! Of course you need triple 900's to get into the nineties but you can't have everything.

My two cents.... My boat stays on plain down to 20 mph & its cruising speed is from 20 to 110 mph all day long every day... O ya have areally cool picture my wife took from the back seat of the skater you can see my 75 year old mom in the front seat and if you look close at the dash you see the big gaffrig speedo on 108 . Im gona make a copy for her to take to bingo!!!

36 Skater for cruising?
 

Yesterday while cruising in a 3 - 4 foot following sea at 30 mph, I drove right threw a 5 footer and cut the top foot off. I never had that happen in a 38 Top Gun which I had for 10 years. Cell phone junk and everybody scared and soaked. Were takling Lake Erie, at least it was fresh water.

Jeffery, have you done that yet. Good to hear from you.

John B

John B

Can't say that I have cut off the top foot of any wave yet. I have gone through Govt. cut a few times when they were 3-5 walls but I haven't quite had your experience. Maybe its the bravos!! Your not on top enough because you dont want to break prop shaft #18. Even when I go slow through that stuff the nose stays above.Yeah. you do get some tunnel sneeze but it aint that big a deal. I can remember taking some water over the nose of my bow heavy cigarette a few times!! When you coming back down?

John B you have found an “Achilles Heel” That some catamarans are endowed with! Think about it driving in slow boat mode lets say problem here is we do not have the frontial Displacement to lift the bow with the wave, But rather a cat depends on speed to achieve the dynamic lift of the hull and the supporting Tunnel/wing air pack, where as the mono hull can “Slug “its way thru using its huge foreword displacement not forgetting the Bow flair we usually add for just that! Now the catamaran has neither, rather its depending solely on foreword speed ,Big seas= higher speed.

In closing the Heavier Military Cats I built had full tunnels for that exact reason. In the test trials they would run slow in all water conditions and having the testing officer (usually a captain) get soaked would not be a good idea at all.

Best Regards:)

Ali & Steve, Please pass the towels, both bilge pumps worked. Jeff, I only broke one propshaft, now the lower legs are cracking just above the carrier. I need the new sportmasters, they are supposed to be the fix for this problem.

I think a V-bottom is the right boat for offshore Florida, I have tried both and don't like salt in my crotch from the sneezing. It runs down the dashboard onto my lap. Also unless you can go 40 mph you get tunnel humped to death.

High speed poker runs, Cats can't be beat!

What do you think?