New GS 36 MKII Owner

If anyone is wondering why BillyIII hasn't posted in a while, it's because I bought his GS. He is a very good friend of mine and fell into some health issues (severe back problems) that no longer afforded him the ability to rehab the GS-36 he purchased last year. My wife and I have a 30' power cat that we've run all over the Chesapeake, Bahamas, Keys, etc. with. But at 30x10 she's great to trailer, but not so much to live on. The GS 36 should make a much better live-aboard option for us in the coming years (we have no plans to ditch our power cat that cruises at 18.5 knots burning 7gph). I look forward to sharing the upgrades to Bill's GS in the coming 12-18 months. I must state again, I AM NOT GETTING RID OF MY POWER CAT!

I wish Billy the best with his back issues, suffering from similar I can totally relate. Welcome to the Forum and look forward to continuing to follow the refit of the GS through your tenure as caretaker. Billy had a pretty good start at it. Tell us more about your cat when you have time.

Welcome! I saw this boat listed a few years ago and the reason it was for sale was the owners failing health, I sure hope Billy gets well soon. We are across the bay in Kent Island. We also have a Gulfstar Facebook page.

Welcome to the forum!

There's nothing like multiple holes in the water to throw money into.

Ted

CPseudonym said:

Welcome to the Forum and look forward to continuing to follow the refit of the GS through your tenure as caretaker. Billy had a pretty good start at it. Tell us more about your cat when you have time.

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Thank you. As for our power cat, I can run my mouth all day about her! Considering she's not a trawler I'll keep it brief:

Motorcat MC30, 2002
Twin Honda 60 HP outboards (2013)
18.5 knot cruise burning 7gph (via NMEA2000 data from outboards)
At 7 knots the real-time (also via NMEA200) is 1.5gph.
7,500lbs loaded.
Trailerable (9'6" beam).
Solar, generator, water maker, Type I MSD, etc.

She's taken us on 4 trips through the Abacos, 2 trips through the Keys. We thought we'd upgrade to another power cat but the Gulfstar seems to fit the bill just right. Buying it helped Bill out and will save us well over $100k for a longer-range cruising vessel. I expect the upgrades to take 1-2 years.

O C Diver said:

Welcome to the forum!

There's nothing like multiple holes in the water to throw money into.

Ted

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I'm trying not to think about that

Gulfstar 36 said:

Welcome! I saw this boat listed a few years ago and the reason it was for sale was the owners failing health, I sure hope Billy gets well soon. We are across the bay in Kent Island. We also have a Gulfstar Facebook page.

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I would very much like to meet and see your GS as I need to pick your brain as much as possible! Our power cat is in Rock Creek, so it's almost just as easy to boat to KI as it is to drive (it's only about an hour on the water). We've been known to frequent Castle Harbor when we're in the mood for some food from Cafe Sado. My Honda dealer just relocated to KI as well (R&C Marine).

mixman said:

Thank you. As for our power cat, I can run my mouth all day about her! Considering she's not a trawler I'll keep it brief.

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Please do.

As for it not being a trawler neither is almost any other boat on this forum either, aside from the marketing department of the various builders. So feel free to talk it up all you wish as there are many cat aficionados on this forum, my full planing hull boat is about as anti-trawler as it gets.

I'm at Castle

mixman said:

I would very much like to meet and see your GS as I need to pick your brain as much as possible! Our power cat is in Rock Creek, so it's almost just as easy to boat to KI as it is to drive (it's only about an hour on the water). We've been known to frequent Castle Harbor when we're in the mood for some food from Cafe Sado. My Honda dealer just relocated to KI as well (R&C Marine).

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I'm happy to answer any questions about the Motorcat brand. The owners' group is here: Motorcat Owners Group • Index page and our personal blog with our MC30 is here: The adventures of MC30 "Deuce"

The cat has been a great boat. My wife and I are late 40's at this point and she's betting on an early-out option from her job in just under 2 years (I own a small business in Baltimore that I can run from just about anywhere). We're not sure if we want to keep the cat to take advantage of having a trailerable "pocket cruiser" or get something we can live on long-term (like the GS). Since the cat is paid for and the GS was a great deal we are in a position to take a few years to figure out what direction we'll take. Heck, one boat may be an FL boat and the other an MD boat. Having a trailer for the cat helps too.

PM sent!

Here's a bit of irony (or destiny). We keep our cat at a friends' house. As soon as I told him we bought a GS 36 he sent me a picture of a GS 36 in the same slip we're currently in! His boss used to own it and he fell in love with it. He tried to buy it but the boss traded it in on a larger GS. The first pic is a screen capture from my "slip-cam" a few moments ago. The second is the GS circa late 1980's:





Edit: Links fixed at no charge from your TF Site Team!!

Wifey B: How much did you say you were asking for the Power Cat? hehe....

Congrats to both you and Bill Kurt.

Two boat owner now? Sounds like it time to retire so you'll have enough time to work on them both.

CPseudonym said:

Please do.

...So feel free to talk it up all you wish as there are many cat aficionados on this forum,...

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Right Here!
Love the cats!

BandB said:

Wifey B: How much did you say you were asking for the Power Cat? hehe....

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Dang it! you beat me to it!

Capt.Bill11 said:

Congrats to both you and Bill Kurt.

Two boat owner now? Sounds like it time to retire so you'll have enough time to work on them both.

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Thanks, Bill. I was just with Bill's today at his office in NJ picking up the last load of "stuff" that went with the Gulfstar. As it stands, the cat just got second coat of spring wax so she's pretty good to go for the summer. After re-powering 2 years ago and then upgrading all the electronics to NMEA2000 there really isn't anything else I can do or add to that boat. My spare time now will be working on and overseeing upgrades to the trawler.

Welcome, Mixman! I'm glad you got Billy's boat. I remember you from Boatered and know you and Billy had lots in common. I'm sure his boat came with every gadget he bought in preparation for the boat and a few he took off his old boat in anticipation for installing them on the GS36. No doubt, you know all about each gadget and the networking required to make it all work together.

Please pass along my best to Bill. He and I tried to rendezvous last spring in MD where his boat was berthed, but he couldn't break away from NJ and it was still on the hard. Hope he's doing OK.

BTW, I took the liberty to fix the pix links in post #12 above and deleted your duplicate post with the good links. This is a free service to all TFers. If you need to edit a post past the time limit, let the TF Site Team know via the report post symbol in the lower left corner and we'll help you make that happen.

Finally glad to see a Motorcat owner here on the Forum. Numerous threads could have used the input of a member with Motorcat experience. The boat has two of the most efficient hulls out there, and in an independent test held in the UK, I read that the MC-30 was able to cruise at 10 knots with two 10 HP outboards. I've often thought that after I finish cruising, an MC-30 would fit the bill for our type of usage.

I sent some MC-30 "Pilothouse" Photoshop mods to Kriz in Poland some time ago, never thinking that they would make a MC-29 "Coupe" of their own....also a nice boat. Best of luck with the GC-36. It certainly is at the far end of the spectrum away from the MC, but a great boat in its own right.

FlyWright said:

Please pass along my best to Bill. He and I tried to rendezvous last spring in MD where his boat was berthed, but he couldn't break away from NJ and it was still on the hard. Hope he's doing OK.

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Holy cow, there are quite a few "BE" people here! I remember you. I took a LONG break from BE (Bill drug me back into it recently with the Gulfstar sale). Why don't you PM me for Bill's number? He'd LOVE to hear from you.

BTW, I took the liberty to fix the pix links in post #12 above and deleted your duplicate post with the good links. This is a free service to all TFers. If you need to edit a post past the time limit, let the TF Site Team know via the report post symbol in the lower left corner and we'll help you make that happen.

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That is great. I appreciate you cleaning up my mess and I'll contact admins the next time I need a cleanup.

healhustler said:

Finally glad to see a Motorcat owner here on the Forum. Numerous threads could have used the input of a member with Motorcat experience. The boat has two of the most efficient hulls out there, and in an independent test held in the UK, I read that the MC-30 was able to cruise at 10 knots with two 10 HP outboards. I've often thought that after I finish cruising, an MC-30 would fit the bill for our type of usage.

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I wish I would have known. I've owned my MC30 for over 10 years now. With Honda 50s we cruised at 15-16 knots. With the 60s we're 18+. Easy boat to dock too. We have no plans to get rid of her (sorry. folks . The Gulfstar may end up in FL and the Motorcat may stay in MD. Or, it may be the other way around for a few years. Having one boat that can be trailered gives us many options.

I sent some MC-30 "Pilothouse" Photoshop mods to Kriz in Poland some time ago, never thinking that they would make a MC-29 "Coupe" of their own....also a nice boat. Best of luck with the GC-36. It certainly is at the far end of the spectrum away from the MC, but a great boat in its own right.

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I know Kris rather well. I've run the "low traffic" owners group for years. Sadly, the molds are for sale and Bond Yachts (the exclusive yard that built the boats) closed it's doors late last year. Kris and I are still in touch on Facebook, but I think he's totally moved on. Some other Motorcat/Bond Yachts people have asked me to buy into the molds and such, but they want to keep everything in Poland. I've been in business (non-boating industry) for over 20 years and didn't feel that deal would work well for me. Perhaps one day the brand will come back.

As for the "Pilothouse" version you speak of, did you know about the MC30X? They "mated" the hard-top from the MC-29 to the hulls of the MC30. There is only one in existence that I know of and it's at my marina! She's still on the shipping cradle from almost 2 years ago. I have a key as I'm helping the owner with outfitting her. A good looking boat on the outside, but a complete waste of space on the inside. The aft berths that I have for storage are closed off.

I'll run my mouth about power cats and Motorcats/MC30s all day long. Where do you all suggest I do so on this forum? Is there a thread or topic area outside of the Gulfstar sub-forum?

--Kurt

What do other 36' owners have for a/c units? Do you have one or two? What BTUs? The boat I have seems to have come from the factory with these strange units that look like window units but are water-cooled (I forget the brand but I know they're long out of business).

If anyone wants/needs the old Gulfstar air conditioning units mine are free for pickup. They've been removed and modern stuff is going in. The refit is going very, very well. Still absolutely no plans to sell the MC30 power cat. She's just too good of an off-shore boat.