Completely Overwhelmed

[meme]

Too beamy Bob!

Originally Posted by deckofficer

One more in Florida.
http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listi..._id=77647&url=

[chrisjs]

But, it has GG's name on it!!

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by meme

Too beamy Bob!

Beamy means room and stability. Motion much better than a mono that has working stabilizers, which btw are high maintenance items. I hope you and GG can experience in rough seas both a mono and a cat in the same day. Also anchored in a not so protected bay both types of hulls.

Fuel savings is only part of the beauty of cats. When I was at CMA, fast cat ferries were new in commercial service. The owners were looking for lower fuel burn, which they got, but an unexpected bonus brought out by seeing inventories grow for the ship's store of seasick bags let them know their passengers weren't getting seasick near as much on the then new cats. Today most all modern ferry service is on catamarans.

For pleasure cruising they look different and untraditional for a reason, they do the job better.

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by meme

Too beamy Bob!

Meme, yes at 25' that is a sizable beam but what the water sees is (2) hulls that have a long length vs beam ratio. Hull speed is determined by this ratio, most mono hulls will be at most 3 to 1, so a 70' mono would have a 23' beam. A cat such as the one you said is too beamy has probably a 10 to 1 ratio. The reason a mono can't have this ratio is it wouldn't have good stability. A cat can have this ratio because the 2 hulls give it the needed stability. Your next question might be why a higher hull speed that results from a 10 to 1 ratio of length over beam is desirable and that is for efficiency, much less fuel burn, and because of the two hulls, much improved stability.

It explains why so many experienced motor cruisers have their old boats up for sale as they move to cats.

On GG's upcoming trip to Florida I can find 50 mono hull boats that would fit her needs, but can't find any cats in that area. Cats are easier to find in the areas that starting using them first due to their rough off shore conditions such as Australia, NZ, SA. They are out there, but are coveted.

[meme]

I've been on many a cat in my travels down island, they are lovely graceful
and yes, fast when needed.

You can find 50 boats, jeez, did better than me I came up with 6 for our
specific needs

Originally Posted by deckofficer

Meme, yes at 25' that is a sizable beam but what the water sees is (2) hulls that have a long length vs beam ratio. Hull speed is determined by this ratio, most mono hulls will be at most 3 to 1, so a 70' mono would have a 23' beam. A cat such as the one you said is too beamy has probably a 10 to 1 ratio. The reason a mono can't have this ratio is it wouldn't have good stability. A cat can have this ratio because the 2 hulls give it the needed stability. Your next question might be why a higher hull speed that results from a 10 to 1 ratio of length over beam is desirable and that is for efficiency, much less fuel burn, and because of the two hulls, much improved stability.

It explains why so many experienced motor cruisers have their old boats up for sale as they move to cats.

On GG's upcoming trip to Florida I can find 50 mono hull boats that would fit her needs, but can't find any cats in that area. Cats are easier to find in the areas that starting using them first due to their rough off shore conditions such as Australia, NZ, SA. They are out there, but are coveted.

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by meme

I've been on many a cat in my travels down island, they are lovely graceful
and yes, fast when needed.

You can find 50 boats, jeez, did better than me I came up with 6 for our
specific needs

50 might have been a high number but more or less zero cats that are in Florida that would meet your needs. When I was first on drill rigs our 70'~90' supply boats were all monos. In heaving seas our crane operator had his hands full, not so much from the supply vessel moving up and down, but from its rolling also in those conditions. By my final year working on off shore oil rigs and ships, most the supply vessels now were cats.

The pros of a cat for cruising

Smooth ride, no slamming while underway.
No rolling at anchorage.
Much lower fuel burn.
Cheaper upkeep.
Light enough displacement that GG can captain much sooner.
Easy to maneuver with wide spacing of props.
Since a lighter displacement, all rigging, ground tackle more manageable.

The pros of old style heavy mono

Cheapest dollar per pound (for a good reason)

[GalaxyGirl]

Originally Posted by bobofthenorth

If you know a craftsman the only change he'll need to make is to leave his level ashore.

this will be more fun than I thought.

[GalaxyGirl]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

Meme, yes at 25' that is a sizable beam but what the water sees is (2) hulls that have a long length vs beam ratio. Hull speed is determined by this ratio, most mono hulls will be at most 3 to 1, so a 70' mono would have a 23' beam. A cat such as the one you said is too beamy has probably a 10 to 1 ratio. The reason a mono can't have this ratio is it wouldn't have good stability. A cat can have this ratio because the 2 hulls give it the needed stability. Your next question might be why a higher hull speed that results from a 10 to 1 ratio of length over beam is desirable and that is for efficiency, much less fuel burn, and because of the two hulls, much improved stability.

It explains why so many experienced motor cruisers have their old boats up for sale as they move to cats.

On GG's upcoming trip to Florida I can find 50 mono hull boats that would fit her needs, but can't find any cats in that area. Cats are easier to find in the areas that starting using them first due to their rough off shore conditions such as Australia, NZ, SA. They are out there, but are coveted.

I couldn't find one cat either. Oh well, can't see shrink wrapping it anyhow.

[FSMike]

Galaxy Girl -

I've just got to ask this. You are a very pleasant poster, your posts are reasonable and polite, but - I got curious.

As best I can determine, since you joined this forum over a year ago, you have started 30 threads, which have had over 1,900 posts (by all participants), and have purchased zero boats.

When is enough info going to be enough info?

I assume you are having an enjoyable time asking questions and receiving opinions (if not answers), and the other participants seem to be having a grand time interacting with you, but - are you really going to buy a boat?

If not, that's ok, continue on - I just wanted to know.

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by GalaxyGirl

I couldn't find one cat either. Oh well, can't see shrink wrapping it anyhow.

There is still this one http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listi..._id=77647&url=

At 20 years old, you can do better than their asking price. It looks like it has been recently upgraded with new systems and electronics.

[GalaxyGirl]

Originally Posted by FSMike

Galaxy Girl -

I've just got to ask this. You are a very pleasant poster, your posts are reasonable and polite, but - I got curious.

As best I can determine, since you joined this forum over a year ago, you have started 30 threads, which have had over 1,900 posts (by all participants), and have purchased zero boats.

When is enough info going to be enough info?

I assume you are having an enjoyable time asking questions and receiving opinions (if not answers), and the other participants seem to be having a grand time interacting with you, but - are you really going to buy a boat?

If not, that's ok, continue on - I just wanted to know.

Well Mike, I guess you'll have to stay tuned to find out...

[GalaxyGirl]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

There is still this one http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listi..._id=77647&url=

At 20 years old, you can do better than their asking price. It looks like it has been recently upgraded with new systems and electronics.

Ok Bob, I like that one. I'm going to be open-minded. I'll add it to the list for next week. I'm going to call the broker tomorrow to set up the showing.

I wish they had given the fuel burn. That thing goes very fast, which can't be a good thing.

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by GalaxyGirl

Ok Bob, I like that one. I'm going to be open-minded. I'll add it to the list for next week. I'm going to call the broker tomorrow to set up the showing.

I wish they had given the fuel burn. That thing goes very fast, which can't be a good thing.

That fast for the given hp just means the hulls are very efficient and if you look at the Travel-Lift picture you will note how slender the underwater section of the hulls are. Those hulls alone will translate to a very low fuel burn for any given speed. I looked up the specs for those engines, they burn 7.5 gallons per hour @ 2100 rpm so 15 gallons for both engines for at least 20 kt of speed. At 1700 rpm cruise that consumption drops to 4.8 gallons per hour, 9.6 for both engines. See any boats lately that can run 17 kt at less than 10 gal/hr? Drop that down to trawler speed of 8 kt and my guess would be 3 nm per gallon. That is what happens when you slice through the water with minimum wetted surface vs plowing and bashing through the water, throwing out a huge wake. You know it takes a lot of power to disturb that much water and create a 2' wake.

[GalaxyGirl]

I'm going to get a Cat mechanic to check the engine and do the oil analysis. The boat also has a wing engine by a different company, do I need to have a mechanic from the wing company check the wing or should I have the Cat guy also check the wing?

[Capt Phil]

My guess is the wing/get home engine has very few hours unless the main blew out far from home. Does the wing engine have an hour or Holmes meter on it to give you run time? If it's a diesel, a certified CAT mechanic is well qualified to give it a once over even if it isn't a CAT brand. If low hours then a cursory look at hoses, belts, cooling system, heat exchanger zincs and a run up to temp checking any electrical components running off it could be done by the CAT guy in an extra hour or so. It should start right up, if it doesn't then may need some maintenance. Usual when you do regular maintenance on a main, you also should do it on the wing... that would include oil change, coolant change, exchanger zincs, through hull checks and lube as well as drive linkage to main shaft depending on what system you have.
My experience with both CAT and Detroit mechanics is they know their stuff and have a regular hourly chargeout rate for mech checks and oil analysis. If further work is necessary, they can give you a pretty good estimate what the charges for repair work will be.
Good idea to be present and ask them to explain what they are checking, the get home coupling system to you and run over any maintenance records the PO has available. Hope this helps... cheers, Phil