WHO KNOWS CAT BOATS.........

[Ace1st]

Client of mine just added a new CAT BOAT to his armada. PRO KAT 26 fter to be exact. Ive fished a couple around Bimini, but never had far to run. Took this one out this week to shake her down for a offshore trip when the weather breaks. Shes got a couple 150 Hondas shovin her. Seemed to be underpowered to me. Anybody know anyhting about them and how they run? Nice ride, beamy, but doesnt have the spunk i thought she would. Holla back if you got experience with the CATS.

[paul708]

mitch's dad has a boat hope he will chime in about the specs.

I fished that on the second day of the JIGGING COMPETITION in morehead city last year.
Nice boat, cut the water good. only pounded on the bigger waves.
overall a great ride. nice stable platform.

[Ace1st]

Thanks Paul. Hopefully someone will chime in. I thought there was a good number of boys runnin the CATS.

[Zummie]

I've had a 28 ' Pro Kat since 2003. Mine has twin Honda 225's. The 26" you mention is about the same boat with a little less storage space. Most of my fishing runs are 70 to 90 miles each way. Boat does about 25 knots is heavy rough seas and cruses at about 35 knots in calmer seas. What else you want to know?

[Ace1st]

ZUMMIE...thanks for takin time to chime. When first runnin the boat, it felt sluggish with the twin 150's. I thought it might be under powered but maybe it was me. I did notice it wanted to dig a little when coming off a wave. Is that normal? I corrected it a bit with the tabs but it felt a little unnatural. I guess that could be because Im used to Monohulls. Thanks

[Zummie]

They do handle a little differently but most Cat guys never go back to monos. The hardest thing to learn was to go faster than your instincts tell you to when it's rough. I remember once I was in 20 knot headwinds with 4 foot very choppy seas and didn't feel I was even moving forward at a slower speed. I asked the guys with me if they wanted to anchor and wait out the storm or give it gas and get beat up a little. They said they wanted to get home so I gunned it and that boat just lifted out of the water and easily skipped on the top of the waves and it just felt like a truck running over a gravel road. No one could believe how smooth the ride got in those conditions especially after we had spent the last hour getting tossed all over when I was going slow.

[BahamaLure]

I spent hundreds of hours in big cats, and some in small ones like these. The designs vary WILDLY and so do their performances, much more so than a V hull. It is critical to test ride them before you buy as there are as many lemons on the market as winners and good luck telling between them just by looking.

Some ride soft, some not, some sneeze constantly, some dont, some are fuel efficient, some are pigs. The list goes on but if you find a good one they are great. Size helps for sure the benefits of a cat design magnify the larger you go.

[Ace1st]

I spent hundreds of hours in big cats, and some in small ones like these. The designs vary WILDLY and so do their performances, much more so than a V hull. It is critical to test ride them before you buy as there are as many lemons on the market as winners and good luck telling between them just by looking.

Some ride soft, some not, some sneeze constantly, some dont, some are fuel efficient, some are pigs. The list goes on but if you find a good one they are great. Size helps for sure the benefits of a cat design magnify the larger you go.

Thanks ZUMMIE and BAHAMA.....
I guess theres no one all fix all just like anything else. I think it takes some getting used to. But I can tell a difference in the pounding. Seems to be a dry boat to, not much sneezing so far. Thanks agin guys.

[FAT CAT MX]

Not sure I can help you as my Cat has displacement hulls, where the Procat is planning. My boat is not a go fast. Only does about 28 knots wide open.

However, it seems like you may be right about the power on the one you're running being too small. You might check out the builder's Web site for power test results.

[92 feet down]

Ace-

I've been running a World Cat 23sf for five years now (twin Honda 150s), out of OC, MD. I've had her out beyond 500fa line, but mostly along the 100fa line. She runs great in choppy seas, just eats them up, almost no sneezing. The boat is a beast. The World Cats have a semi-displacement hull, Zummie's boat looks kinda like a displacement hull. There's a BIG difference between the 3 Cat hull types (displacement, semi-displacement, & planing). In the handling, I found the biggest thing to get used to was when turning, cats don't lean in, like monos. They almost lean out. When drifting you have to be wary of a snap-roll, it's not that big a deal, though. Ours cruises best around 23kts, sipping right around 10gal./hr., if I remember correctly. It tops out at around 38kts. Is that the info your looking for?

Hopefully Tommy Fowler (fowlscay) will chime in here. He's the World Cat rep for the Ocean City area.