My 32 foot powercat design for offshore fishing / day trips in the Gulf

[Obsession]

Originally Posted by sabahcat

Is that dream still relevant in the usa?

I think so. The people who are on the bleak unemployment graph are not going to be buying a new boat at all -- if you intend to market a boat to people who can't afford fuel, how are they supposed to afford the new boat itself (with tons of used boats on the market too) or the equally inflating slip prices, storage prices, service rates going up, up, up. Fuel has gone up, but so has everything else. What percentage of the total cost of ownership is fuel for the recreational boater?

And 50 knots isn't exactly a gas guzzler - we're not talking about the 85 mph boats that only run on high-octane fuel with engines that need an overhaul every 100 hours. Most boaters I know don't run WOT most of the time, so a boat that is capable of running 50 is typically run at 25-40 kt most of the time.

There is a strong push of the green movement which is powerful to have on your site, but this concept seems inline with that not contrary. Yes there's definitely a market for the ultra-green low power boat for those who only want to be out on the water with no specific destination (like the open GEM electric cars that many love for going around town in smaller suburbs and communities running to the store and such) But I think powerboat buyers are not the guys who are driving in their cars 10 mph slower to save fuel on the weekend. They want to be inline with "green" but still have what they had before. So if you can make a boat that delivers what many successful guys still want, decent power and speed to get to where they want to fish, and do it more efficiently (like current hybrid cars which are highway ready, green(er) but a real replacement for the common car that came before), you would have something very marketable.

But then we're back to the design discussion - which I think is what you wanted to begin with - can you have the best of both worlds or does a hull capable of a 50 kt sprint home at dusk mean too much compromise for an efficient and comfortable 25 kt ride most of the time?

[kengrome]

If you can make a boat that delivers what many successful guys still want, decent power and speed to get to where they want to fish, and do it more efficiently (like current hybrid cars which are highway ready, green(er) but a real replacement for the common car that came before), you would have something very marketable.

This is the basis for my concept, thanks for the clarification Obsession.

But can you have the best of both worlds or does a hull capable of a 50 kt sprint home at dusk mean too much compromise for an efficient and comfortable 25 kt ride most of the time?

This is the big question, isn't it?

I think my concept of long skinny planing hulls in a catamaran configuration "makes sense" ... but if this not the best way to go, what might be a better way to accomplish this goal?

[fishfighter]

Had to join in on this 32' power cat design. I had did some research on different power cats that really could handle the chop of the Gulf of Mexico. After boating on 9 different power cats to date,only one over rode all the others. Do a search on a 33 Freeman. This is a boat that can cruise at 40 knots in true 4'-5' chops and not knock out your filling,with a fuel burn of 2.2-2.5 mpg.

Here is a link to there home page.
http://www.freemanboatworks.com/

I know this is my first post and I don't have nothing to do with Freeman boats. I been looking for a boat myself to build and yet have not found one that I like in the size that I want.