I've got a friend looking to get into a single engine cat 24' to 30' so who makes the best family boat?

Needs to go fast.

Be safe.

An area to get out of the sun.

Any thoughts?

Ohhh , you want 24-30 ? I was going to say a 40' Skater with a single 3600 hp turbine ! Like Howard Arnesons ! Fast and dependable ......

eticket is sweet, but family friendly?

If i were buying i would look at DCB and Ultra. Very nice rigging and lots of custom pieces made to your liking.

HTM 24 and American Offshore 26; both have nice cabins; clean lines, and fast with right kinda power.

Well, My American Offshore 26 I had would run through the rough stuff that my friends other cats had to back down. Not the fanciest but definetly made to get down to business. Beware some 28' cats are really the same bottom length as the 26. Don't pay another 10G's for nothing.

The Lavey Craft 27' Sabre with a single Hp 500 will run 80mph. Costs $ 88k and has good reviews. One of the nicer entry level cats it would seem. It was the sport cat of the year in '03. Would not take much to put it over 100 mph by adding a blower.

Eliminator.!

check out Hustler's small Talon... in production right now!

Pretty boat the only problem I see is the speed with an HP 500 is not that much greater than a similar sized Vee bottom......?

You should expect at least 30% more speed out of a good cat than a vee. I would think that a 500HP would push my 28 Skater over 90 mph. I've never been a fan of single I/b cats because of all the tunnel disturbance and drag. Maybe the effect is more drastic than I thought.

T2x