lol.. It's painful to follow this thread!

Go buy a 24 skater w/ 280's... Learn to drive that. It will save your life, or kill you and save you a lot of money. If you can drive a 24.. you can drive anything

Best of luck.

-Tom

Skaters are gorgeous boats - but as mentioned at the beginning of this post - come nowhere close to being what I want. The individual who posted the 39 Aronow cat is dead on..

Any reason a 30' Shadow Cat wouldn't fall into the realm of what I'm talking about? I saw another gentlemen here found one with running twin johnson v8's on it and got it for $2k... Yea, its going to need some resto work - but that seems like a reliable setup and has the big interior I am seeking as well...

Are they a relatively stable platform?

Those V8 Johnsons are fuel guzzlers and very high maintance. I honestly think your best option is to wait a couple more years and save up for a turn key boat that fits your needs and budget.

Well there you have it your search is over. Sorry but I have a hard time thinking you can get any large cat that is fast stable and reliable for $20k.

If all we had to do was come up with 20 grand, at least 1/2 the guys on this site would have a 30-40 foot cat.

That post did absolutely zero to help answer the question that I asked... Thanks for playing.

As far as my original question goes... It definitely does appear I can get into something like I want - but it is going to be in the realm of doing a restoration, which is just fine by me... A shadow cat looks like it will probably be the target... I also have stumbled into quite a few tunnel type "deck" boats of which a few are older and come close to my price target - allowing me to get into a sterndrive cat over 21 feet with lots of skank space while still looking somewhat cool and performing well.

I appreciate most of the responses as they were quite helpful and I learned a thing or two throughout this discussion and my research... I am going to finish the restoration on my VIllain IV first and then will look into the cat project...

Pics as I progress on each...

Thanks again - this is a great site!!

Sorry for not being more helpful, but I think your request is unreasonable. Like trying to buy a 67 Corvette for that money.

I have a suggestion, find a few in your price range, post picks and you'll get help on if it's a good one or not and what to watch out for.

Don't worry, no one is going to buy it out from under you because it's going to be a "work in progress" at that price.

There's been a restored Chris Cat on Ebay that needs power and drives.....

Great hull as the Shadow cat is.

Wannabe