Powercat Trawlers

- Morrelli & Melvin | Multihull Design

At least thy are using a fine firm of NA that has long multi hull experience , rather than the usual ,cousin Fong .

Weather a market exists for this product remains to be seen.

45' B & B Powercat Construction

Long detailed subject thread on the building of the custom 45' B&B powercat

45' B&B powercat out of the shop. - The Hull Truth - Boating and Fishing Forum

Launching this spring

Shuttleworth day-charter cat

Maltese52 said:

.... BTW, Shuttleworth actually used trim tabs to sort this out on his earlier 20+ knot powercats...

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I hadn't seen that Shuttleworth day-charter cat, or at least I did not recall it.

Reminds me of that picnic/weekender cat I photo'ed in Thailand
Trawler Forum - View Single Post - Powercat Trawlers

Brian I hope they don't get much foot traffic down that finger float.

That finger float is just a small portion of this big Ocean Marine in Pattaya
Thailand. .

https://plus.google.com/106190747028952137336/photos?hl=en



That big long pier going out the full length at the upper portion of this particulate photo is a very solid concrete structure that can support two vehicles side by side

brian eiland said:

That finger float is just a small portion of this big Ocean Marine in Pattaya
Thailand. .

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I rode down to OM a few months back for a look see and got to the car park and tried to ride down to the water for a look but the parking Nazi insisted I would have to park the bike several hundred meters away and then walk several hundred meters again down the marina.
Felt about 40 degrees in the middle of the day so spat the dummy and rode off again as cold Leo's beckoned.

The hassle I see with cats is every mention of performance is how fast she goes , 20K, 25K, 30K .

Most cruisers want and purchase boats that are economical at LRC , not at Flank.

At LRC a std displacement boat usually will get better MPG , esp if loaded to cruise.

So why the interest in cats if nor for flank speed?

FF said:

The hassle I see with cats is every mention of performance is how fast she goes , 20K, 25K, 30K .

Most cruisers want and purchase boats that are economical at LRC , not at Flank.

At LRC a std displacement boat usually will get better MPG , esp if loaded to cruise.

So why the interest in cats if nor for flank speed?

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because a lot of them can go 10+ kts at the same fuel burn as a smaller trawler at 7 kts without and stabilization and they are very livable. The downside is cost and moorage.

If given the choice I would rather go 10 than 7

HOLLYWOOD

Parmenter said:

I rode down to OM a few months back for a look see and got to the car park and tried to ride down to the water for a look but the parking Nazi insisted I would have to park the bike several hundred meters away and then walk several hundred meters again down the marina.
Felt about 40 degrees in the middle of the day so spat the dummy and rode off again as cold Leo's beckoned.

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Yes they don't let too many people go down that dock with vehicles unless they really have a need to, such as an owner with lots of gear to take to his vessel.

I was somewhat recently trying to get a new contact address for the owner of that 'picnic/weekender' cat as I referred to it as he had had a second vessel built and I wanted to see how it differed from the first one? I had an email address for him at one time, but that must have changed as my more recent message never went thru.

I wrote the dockmasters office there for a correct contact, but in typical Thai fashion whoever answered my email began to try an act like a middleman in negations. I wrote him a second email telling him in no uncertain terms that I was NOT interested in chartering the vessel, just wanted to contact the owner. Now that I recall he never answered my second request, so I think I need to try again.

BTW, Parmenter if you get down there again, perhaps that second vessel is there at the marina, or you could ask for a contact email, phone??

You might also see one or two of those 40HK cats there,...at least there was one during one of my visits. I'm way up north in Khon Kaen, so I don't get down that way often.

I was going thru a few older emails from last year that were in my inbox when I must have been actively doing some else. I thought this one was rather complimentary of the 'species',....from a powercat forum

Ian said:

A quick note. I think you need to look a little wider to see a greater acceptance of cruising power catamarans. I am getting a 80' power cat built, ETA August this year.

When I was researching builders it was obvious that the Australians/Kiwis know what they are doing. I do not have any stats but when you cruise there you see a significant number of power cats.

There are builders who focus specifically on power catamarans (Pachoud
< http://pachoud.co.nz/!@#?>?#@! is building ours). The debate between catamaran vs mono hull was finished there long ago and now it is a matter of choice; a power catamaran is just as seaworthy as a monohull (arguably mores), greater stability, gives greater fuel economy, has better accommodation, but is going to cost you more to build. Catamarans are more complicated to build and use more materials. I think the debate nowadays (at least in NZ and Aus) is simply one of economics.
Cheers,
Ian

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Buzzards Bay Cats | Buzzards Bay Cats - Power Catamarans


Anyone with on the forum with first hand knowledge reguarding the attached.
Wife and I are looking to loop in the next year or so and are looking here as to our vessel of choice.

PopArcher said:

Buzzards Bay Cats | Buzzards Bay Cats - Power Catamarans


Anyone with on the forum with first hand knowledge reguarding the attached.
Wife and I are looking to loop in the next year or so and are looking here as to our vessel of choice.

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When I looked at the website and the design, I immediately thought Chris White designed, but I didn't see his name mentioned prominently.
Perhaps that is because Chris was directly involved in the design of the smaller, very similar vessel, the 34'
Buzzards Bay 34 - ChrisWhiteDesigns | SmugMug

These evolved from Chris' original design (28 or 30'), can't remember, but posted here:
Weekender/Picnic PowerCat - Boat Design Forums

At any rate a good design. Interestingly it comes with either outboard or inboard power.

The Maine Cat is also a nice design and build.
Maine Cat P-47 - Maine Cat Catamarans

brian eiland said:

When I looked at the website and the design, I immediately thought Chris White designed, but I didn't see his name mentioned prominently.
Perhaps that is because Chris was directly involved in the design of the smaller, very similar vessel, the 34'
Buzzards Bay 34 - ChrisWhiteDesigns | SmugMug

These evolved from Chris' original design (28 or 30'), can't remember, but posted here:
Weekender/Picnic PowerCat - Boat Design Forums

At any rate a good design. Interestingly it comes with either outboard or inboard power.

The Maine Cat is also a nice design and build.
Maine Cat P-47 - Maine Cat Catamarans

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Thanks for the quick response and feed back. Choices, Choices...
Looking at the outboards vs diesels to allow the addition of A/C and genset and larger battery bank and tankage, trying to keep weight in spec. And gain some range and warm weather comfort when the occasions occur.
Regards

Just found this thread and looking at the pictures of humming bird on the first post I am impressed. on the view of the motor installation the exhaust appears to be done right not something you commonly see a good sign and bodes well for the boat..

Yes and that vessel is still for sale.....surprisingly, but the boat market hasn't been too good since that crash of 2008, and ever rising fuel prices that have only been coming down in this past year. Bill has it sitting behind in house in Palm beach.

I saw a lot of cats in the VI’s a few weeks back.

Pura Vida said:

I saw a lot of cats in the VI’s a few weeks back.

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Yeah....the charter outfits sure like them down there.....and it's a good thing too, cuz a great deal of the tech advances in production cats are coming from the demands of those companies. Some pretty nice (although expensive) boats too.

brian eiland said:

I was looking thru some photos recently and this one caught my attention again. Just couldn't let these photos languish on my computer. These were taken in Thailand when I was exploring some boatbuilding yards over there.

I titled it weekender/picnic boat, but really she is large enough for a nice long cruise.

And the outboards were a cheaper, less intrusive manner to add power.

This vessel has some accommodations in the hulls. Its just that the majority of the 'living' area (saloon, cooking, etc) is up in this central 'between the hulls' covered deck space. (note there are 4 hatches down into the hulls).



Overall a nice concept....that could even lend itself to home building in composite plywood.

...for instance like this Dudley Dix build
Building the DH550 radius chine plywood catamaran

Or prefabricated panels of glass and Nidacore like I am suggesting for the cabin/superstructure on the redesigned Pilgrim trawler

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Add a sailing rig to this 'picnic cat' I posted photos of before, and take off those canvas covers they really need in Thailand, and you just might end up with a smaller version of the new Gunboat 55.....

GUNBOAT 55

AQUILLA 44 powercat

Just happened across this nice report

Which Power Catamaran ? - Page 8 - Cruisers & Sailing Forums

mtmilam said:

Up Date on AQUILA 44 power cat...We bought it at Miami boat show....Delivered across Gulf of Mexico from Clearwater to Pensacola on April 23rd...LOVE The boat...Ran 18 mph in 4 ft seas, quartering, with no problems...it didn't seem like 4 ft seas, until you looked at them

.....

The "3rd hull" between the hulls, really helps break up the seas and smooths the ride, along with the wave piercing bow extensions.....

The Layout on the boat is superb, Each guest has their "own" part of the boat with Full enclosed shower, Like a Real Home Shower, the pressure is almost to much

.....and leaves all the living area of the boat open....Its like a house

.....We can't decide if we want to eat on the Flybridge, the back patio over the water, or Inside...

Working out a few bugs still, but Aquila dealer has been Great.... things like Head motor not up to par, a breaker not working, a few little things that are normal with a new boat....nothing that has kept us from using the Snot out of it, every Weekend.

OH..We named it "MTM GRAND"......our initials Mark and Tammy

..Yeah, we using the MGM Grand's Font and Lion..it is a Cat..

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I had forgotten all about this subject thread as I transitioned from the DC/Annapolis area down to retire in St Augustine. There was some good subject matter here, and there were bits of the chain drive technology that I posted here, but had gotten lost over on another forum where I had posted a lot of info on the subject.

So I thought I would bring this back to the surface as I prepare to look for ideas to incorporate into a weekender/picnic gamefishing cat (with sailing rig) for someone of fame who i think has chosen the wrong boat.

Cheers, Brian

This 57ft (17.4m) cat looks fantastic. 26 knot to speed, 500m at fast cruise speed, 3000m at slow typical trawler displacement speeds.

Pathfinder Power Cats | Leading By Design
http://pathfinderpowercats.com/wp-c...ralian-Multihull-World-Article-Nov-Dec-14.pdf

Parmenter said:

I rode down to OM a few months back for a look see and got to the car park and tried to ride down to the water for a look but the parking Nazi insisted I would have to park the bike several hundred meters away and then walk several hundred meters again down the marina.
Felt about 40 degrees in the middle of the day so spat the dummy and rode off again as cold Leo's beckoned.

Click to expand...

Parmenter, are you still over near OM?
If you are I would ask you to do a few things for me with reference to several vessels that may still be docked there.

Thanks in advance
Brian
RunningTideYachts.com

FYI Maine Cat is building a power version of their 38 - looks really interesting!

NEW MC P-38 Power Catamaran - Maine Cat Catamarans

Interesting twist on the 38. Twin 150's should make it scat. Nice light sourcing in the hulls. Wonder how it works in the interior. The outboards would avoid the dedicated space for the usual inboard diesels, but I wonder where the tanks are. Gas though.....I dunno.

healhustler said:

Interesting twist on the 38. Twin 150's should make it scat. Nice light sourcing in the hulls. Wonder how it works in the interior. The outboards would avoid the dedicated space for the usual inboard diesels, but I wonder where the tanks are. Gas though.....I dunno.

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I used to be excited about an outboard powered boat big enough to live aboard for long periods of time. Speed, easy swap of worn engines, more room inside, etc. would be nice attributes. But I also like propane stoves, and running the AC at times at anchorage which would require a diesel genny for my piece of mind. Plus, the fact that ethanol blended gas turns to varnish so quickly could be a problem. I don't think the positives of gas propulsion outweigh the negatives for me.

cardude01 said:

Plus, the fact that ethanol blended gas turns to varnish so quickly could be a problem. I don't think the positives of gas propulsion outweigh the negatives for me.

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The marinas in my area only carry non ethanol gas. I suspect the issue is many outboard boaters are fueling on trailers at their local automobile gas stations or carrying tanks or cans on board to save a few bucks. Even some of the auto gas stations here carry non ethanol but at a very high premium.

Donsan said:

The marinas in my area only carry non ethanol gas. I suspect the issue is many outboard boaters are fueling on trailers at their local automobile gas stations or carrying tanks or cans on board to save a few bucks. Even some of the auto gas stations here carry non ethanol but at a very high premium.

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How long does non-e gas last when treated with staybil? Pretty long right? Like 6 months?

We just made the transition from a Defever 48 to 50ft power cat. The Defever was all set up for our cruising needs. The new cat is taking considerable effort to get it set up for our need, but we are loving the increased speed.

Alwoplast has some pretty radical cats out there. I first saw that one anchored in Key Biscayne in back of our canal home. Always wondered how slippery those bulbous hulls were. Best of luck with it.

The boat is a Crowther design. The bow bulbs stay submerged at speed, but the stern looks like it is planing. The bulbs apparently are important to the way the boat runs. The original owners said the bulbs were rebuilt to improve performance after the original sea trial.

Alwoplast did a good job with the build. Since 2004 when built, the boat has no stress cracks or structural issues.