Power Cat vs. Trawler

[jbinbi]

We chartered a FP37 last year in Florida. We had originally chartered a trawler for some training. It was pulled at the last minute so they let us have The FP for the same price as the much older trawler. With my limited experience, this was our first coastal cruising experience, I can't comment on seakeeping.

it is a good looking, modern boat but it was designed for the charter market which means sacrificing salon and galley area to jam more people down below in the staterooms.

The salon is very cramped. It is claustrophobic for more than 2. The galley is poor with limited storage. We got in some swell in Tampa Bay and I had to hold on to the microwave to keep it from sliding off the counter top because there are no fiddles.

The master head is still a wet head. The master storeroom mattress is up against a wall on both sides.

Engine access is good and not like some cats under a bed. We were really unimpressed with the boat.

I have been on a couple of Endeavour Trawlercats in our search for a boat. The layout is much better for living in them although engine access is under beds and cramped.

You aren't talking about the relatively new FP MY 37 are you?

https://www.motoryachts-fountaine-pajot.com/en/motor-yachts-catamarans/my-37/

The berths are island, and the head/shower separate?

 

[kentucky55]

That is what we chartered. The berths are sort of island berths but you still have to crawl in. There is a seperate shower, instead of it being an extension of the sink faucet, but it shares the same space as the head so things still get wet. There is no door or shower curtain separating the two.

The most misleading thing about the pictures is the salon. It is cramped.

 

[Bryant]

Power cat

Appreciate everyone's input so far. Sorry about the sailing term, force of habit from 50 years of doing that...

I was looking at the Fountain Pajot MY 37, if you cruise at about 7kts on a single engine at a time, you get 1200nm range.

A bit concerned about how a trawler or PC operates in seas. In my sailboat, anything under say 5' is non issue, you just sail depending upon where the wind is from. Going from Newport to wherever in the bay in 20kts can be 3-5', that is a standard day, though a bit tough if into it, or for those that get queasy on the beam.

Is this the same for a trawler or PC? Or do you adjust course? When there are 5' seas I normally do not see many of the planing type hulls out there doing 20+ kts.

If you are in a traditional trawler in the 35 ft range and you are experiencing 5 ft seas for any length of time you are going to be extremely uncomfortable. Another term would be $@*$@%* Miserable.

My 36 burns about 2.5gph with the gen running but seeing 8 kts is a rarity. There are other boats with larger engines that will go faster but with much greater fuel consumption.

If you currently own a sailing cat, why not de-rig it and use it as a power cat? Just a thought. I have a friend who is building a 50’ cat who is in need of a mast and rigging. Perhaps you could help each other out.

 

[C5F]

Power Cat vs Trawler

We looked long and hard into getting a Trawler. We had our sights set on a KK 44. After a couple of deals fell thru we expanded our horizons into the Power Cat arena. We eventually bought a 47' Maine Cat (primarily a Sailboat company, built 9 power cats). We draw 2'10" and are powered by a couple of Volvo's (D3 220). At 7 knots my Garmin shows that I can travel 2000 nm on 400 gal of diesel (have never throughly tested these numbers). We tend to cruise around 15 knots. Love the stability and comfort. Have been in 5-6' seas w/o any issues. Starting the Great Loop next year.

 

[Bryant]

I love my traditional trawler (most of the time, when I don’t hate it). But I’ve always been intrigued by power cats. Interestingly enough, if you are doing day cruising or weekending then a slow trawler is more economical. If you are actually cruising, going from point a to point b, then the fuel cost between a slow trawler and a 15-20 knot boat isn’t that much different due to the time factor of getting to where you are going. There is a saying in Military aviation “ Speed is life”. That can be true in boating as well, depending upon your cruising area. Bottom line: buy the boat that suits your boating style. Don’t buy the boat you are attracted to and then try and make it fit your cruising style.

 

[Blissboat]

Bryant wrote, "uy the boat that suits your boating style. Don’t buy the boat you are attracted to and then try and make it fit your cruising style."

Exactly right, and another example of how / why boats are like women . . .

 

[Ralsy]

Not wanting to throw a spanner in the works but what about a 55ft single engined tri.
https://www.boatsales.com.au/boats/...7610503?pageSource=details&id=OAG-AD-17610503

 

[jbinbi]

Not the same. While I sail at 10 kts regularly and have hit in 25, with 2 30 hp Myanmar's, it does about 8.5 max. Not sure what it would do with say 2 75s, or 2 150s that are actually on the FP 37.

But I have false keels to help going to windward, and the whole underbody isn't built.

Also, using engines is noisy as heck.

If you are in a traditional trawler in the 35 ft range and you are experiencing 5 ft seas for any length of time you are going to be extremely uncomfortable. Another term would be $@*$@%* Miserable.

My 36 burns about 2.5gph with the gen running but seeing 8 kts is a rarity. There are other boats with larger engines that will go faster but with much greater fuel consumption.

If you currently own a sailing cat, why not de-rig it and use it as a power cat? Just a thought. I have a friend who is building a 50’ cat who is in need of a mast and rigging. Perhaps you could help each other out.

 

[darkside]

C5F do you own Alexa?
Really like that layout. The switchboard on the galley benchtop is a little odd but the rest looks very good.
What is your opinion of the build quality?
From pictures the engine access looks typically poor (normal for a powercat). Can you access the front of the engine at all?
There is another for sale on the West Coast but it doesn't look as good as Alexa.

 

[stubones99]

I like this one, except for the choice of engines...
https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/2014/maine-cat-p47-3582608

 

[Ralsy]

I'd be worried about the cored hull. Balsa or foam? Both can apparently be a problem. Solid until water line and then cored is ok, but full cored hull you're maybe asking for trouble down the line.

 

[darkside]

Corecell is foam. I prefer Alexa layout and that is a high ask for the 2014 version.

 

[dhrowe]

I have chartered larger sail cats. Mooring 45 and 48s and have a GB 38my. In our spring cruise up the East coast to the MTOA rendezvous we saw both.

Biggest negative against cat, and power cat would be same is transient or other dockage. Costs more, harder to find, likely at end of T.

Other issue for me is the motion in the cats I have chartered in a swell. Much quicker than my trawler or my old monohull.

And for trawlers need to differentiate between displacement and planning hulls since the perform very differently.

Try to decide what you are really going to do with the boat. ( and then a year or two latter what did you actually do with the boat). ��

 

[jbinbi]

Thanks. Definitely want some speed, ability to do 13 to 17kts if wanted.

Really love my sailing cat, so figured to look towards power cats. No plans to cross the ocean. Coastal cruising.

PC can do 6 to 8 on single engine burning 1gph. Or jump up to 15 kts.

What semi displ does this. I have seen bene trawler 44. Seems very popular choice. Dont need to do 24kts, but has good performance at 8 and 16ish when starting to plane. Good amount of space. Lots made. Just a bit bigger than I wanted. New fp 37 cat is about 500, swift trawler 44 seems to be 700ish.

 

[MarknDea]

For what it’s worth we just chartered a FP37 in La Paz Mexico for 8 days. This boat had 110hp yanmars, not the Volvo 220. We did about 170 miles and used 56gal. Cruising speed was around 7-8 knots. For the longer runs we would only be on one engine. It seemed like the boat performance up to about 12knots was the same as the Volvo’s. Boat would max out around 12knots 3000rpm.
We loved the fly bridge. Ventilation was a bit lacking, not sure how you could fix this. Not a lot of opening windows in salon to get flow thru. Fans I guess? Overall, we really liked the boat. For our use, it would need to have the lower helm. Mark

 

[sunchaser]

With the recreational boating world dominated by outboards, the Aspen asymmetrical cat with two different outboard sizes is very intriguing. Excellent range, fast if need be and lots of interior room with no inboard diesels.

 

[Nomad Willy]

One is a practical vessel.
The other is not.

 

[DDW]

We did about 170 miles and used 56gal. Cruising speed was around 7-8 knots.

I'm a bit surprised as this seems no better than my SD trawler.

 

[Taras]

The primary issue against a Cat is the small, very confining berths. I love my master stateroom in my monohull with an 18’ beam. Mono hulls feel much bigger inside. The only space that feel big on a Cat is the salon (to me).

 

[Simi 60]

The primary issue against a Cat is the small, very confining berths. I love my master stateroom in my monohull with an 18’ beam. Mono hulls feel much bigger inside. The only space that feel big on a Cat is the salon (to me).

if you are only looking at small boats you are correct.
Decent sized cats tend to have plenty of space

 

[mcarthur]

I'm a bit surprised as this seems no better than my SD trawler.

Yes, most boats of a particular length are going to be able to be pretty ok fuel consumption at a S/L of 1 or 1.1. But remember this is a 37' boat at 7-8 kn, which is above it's predicted hull speed already at S/L 1.34. I'm not sure your boat size, but is it more than 37'?
For your boat, take it to 12 knots. Are you getting about 1.5nm/g? Now take it to 18 knots. Are you getting 1nm/g?

 

[markpierce]

Strong, steel hulls are not in a a multi-hull boat's vocabulary.

 

[mcarthur]

The primary issue against a Cat is the small, very confining berths. I love my master stateroom in my monohull with an 18’ beam. Mono hulls feel much bigger inside. The only space that feel big on a Cat is the salon (to me).

I agree with you - the berth size/type is usually dependent on hull width or bridgedeck height above water. A smaller boat means either slow/fuel hungry if the hulls are wide enough for decent berths or the berths are on the bridgedeck and not walkaround. A middle-sized boat can possibly get away with non-walkaround in the hulls. A larger boat can put them on the bridgedeck without having too much windage from the height needed to walkaround (as distinct from crawl-around).

The Lagoon 43 uses the rear full width, but is a crawl rather than walkaround. The Tennant Domino has a better example of putting the main suite on the bridgedeck within the main cabin area, getting both width and height. Of course she's 66' so has a lot more room (and height) to play with!

There's no small-mid size power cat I know of that boasts an owners suite of the same size and experience as those on some mid-sized monohulls. I should say "no powercat" that hasn't been modified/designed with excessive windage and, um, appalling looks

 

[mcarthur]

Strong, steel hulls are not in a a multi-hull boat's vocabulary.

I'll bite: fortunately the huge disadvantages of steel for smaller ships (!) aren't needed to be mitigated for.

I'll rephrase for you : Strong, aluminium hulls that can stand collision with ice and reefs are very much in a multi-hull boater's vocabulary - mine !

 

[Ralsy]

Mcarther, have a look at the Aquila 44 Power cat. Huge Masters cabin.

 

[Simi 60]

Mcarther, have a look at the Aquila 44 Power cat. Huge Masters cabin.

Yeah but it suffers in other areas.
OK in sheltered waters I am sure but not the sort of boat I'd like to run across to New Caledonia or even out to the Swains in.

 

[mcarthur]

Mcarther, have a look at the Aquila 44 Power cat. Huge Masters cabin.

Thank you - forgot about that one!

But it fits my characterization too - it's a small-mid boat (44') with a 7.5:1 L/B ratio and little bridgedeck clearance meaning that while the above-water height is not appalling, it has little clearance for weatherliness and will pound. So they got the height for a big main cabin from low clearance and fat, slow hulls. Always an option ...

I got the BWL from an Aquilla's owners guide. The bridgedeck clearance from the same place and the picture on the magazine cover here shows it basically hitting the water in almost no wave/chop. The fat hulls make her not good on consumption either - see the fuel results of about 15gph at 10kn. They have added bulb bows to fix some of the problems, but you can't fix bridgedeck clearance or fat hulls that way!

 

[Nomad Willy]

I'll bite: fortunately the huge disadvantages of steel for smaller ships (!) aren't needed to be mitigated for.

I'll rephrase for you : Strong, aluminium hulls that can stand collision with ice and reefs are very much in a multi-hull boater's vocabulary - mine !

Not to mention that there are probably thousands of catamarans made of plywood. Never seen a planked cat though.

 

[Ralsy]

Yeah, I agree with your opinion on the Aquila.
Plenty of cats and trio's made from balsa and foam cored fibreglass. Currently looking at a power tri with apparent new world technology balsa sandwiched in glass. Professionally manufactured.

 

[Simi 60]

Thank you - forgot about that one!

But it fits my characterization too - it's a small-mid boat (44') with a 7.5:1 L/B ratio and little bridgedeck clearance meaning that while the above-water height is not appalling, it has little clearance for weatherliness and will pound. So they got the height for a big main cabin from low clearance and fat, slow hulls. Always an option ...

I got the BWL from an Aquilla's owners guide. The bridgedeck clearance from the same place and the picture on the magazine cover here shows it basically hitting the water in almost no wave/chop. The fat hulls make her not good on consumption either - see the fuel results of about 15gph at 10kn. They have added bulb bows to fix some of the problems, but you can't fix bridgedeck clearance or fat hulls that way!

So essentially a very expensive houseboat
But hey, isn't it shiny