Discussion: Pocket Cruising Power Catamaran Design for Recession Times...

bgrahammhs said:
Hello all,

I was wondering if any new information had been collected by you all on this subject. I have been interested in a 30 foot. I noticed the Chilcat was 10.5 feet wide. And I was also interested in your opinions of the deck height of the AreoCat, Chilcat, and even the MotorCat MC 30? Any advise wil be considered a plus. Thank you
Click to expand...

I'm not familiar with the 'AreoCat'...

The Chilkat is a very nice design but the bridge deck is too low for my taste: clearance is sufficient on the plane, but not when forced to slow down at displacement speed...

The MC 30 is an interesting cat but I have no information as to how it performs in a seaway...

A commercial boat builder in the UK just came out with a very seaworthy and soft riding design with the right amount of bridge deck clearance, even with a full load: however, it's much larger than required and not readily trailerable...

Powered Catamarans,Twin Hull,Custom Options http://www.bwseacat.com/

It tops out at 31.6 knots with twin 175hp Suzuki and will only do 2 miles/gallon at 16 knots because of a much lower beam/length ratio at the waterline - compared to the Chilkat - since it's built to carry a substantial load...
 
That is a very interesting boat. And it appears that the builder will offer multiple configurations. Sorry, I meant aerocat. It is at aerocatboats.com. They built a 27 footer, and now offer a larger one, but I do worry about the deck height. Thanks for this tip.
 
bgrahammhs said:
That is a very interesting boat. And it appears that the builder will offer multiple configurations. Sorry, I meant aerocat. It is at aerocatboats.com. They built a 27 footer, and now offer a larger one, but I do worry about the deck height. Thanks for this tip.
Click to expand...

The Aerocat, like the Arrowcat are both low bridge deck designs that have enough clearance as long as the sea is smooth enough to remain on the plane; however, when it gets rougher and planing is no longer an option, you'll wish you had a high bridge deck boat...

The Aerocat is very light and relatively cheap; however, while Nidacore is fine for topsides, decks and bulkheads, it should not be used in the hull bottom of a planing catamaran, where a high density foam core like Corecell is a much better choice...

Also, the bridge deck meets the inner topsides at near right angle: it would be much better to have a wide radius curve in that area...
 
Thank you so much for your insight. All information I will kep in mind as I continue my search. Since it seems a number of manufactures have choosen to keep a low deck height and can only guess there must be some advantage to it that they feel ofsets the expense of taller hulls and a little more displacement. Center of gravity issues for rolling? Or do you think it is just to keep cost down? - If you had to guess ......
 
bgrahammhs said:
Thank you so much for your insight. All information I will kep in mind as I continue my search. Since it seems a number of manufactures have choosen to keep a low deck height and can only guess there must be some advantage to it that they feel ofsets the expense of taller hulls and a little more displacement. Center of gravity issues for rolling? Or do you think it is just to keep cost down? - If you had to guess ......
Click to expand...

Planing catamaran hulls are usually low bridge decked while semi-displacement and displacement designs benefit from increased deck heights...

Experienced designers seem to evolve toward higher bridge decks, as exemplified by the Aspen 26 (now at 28'...) a high decked proa, the latest design of Larry Graf the founder and ex-owner of the Glacier Bay line of low bridge decked cats...

http://www.aspenpowercatamarans.com/pages/28AspenC-90.html

This boat is close to ideal, except that Larry won't sell it... just yet, with a single outboard, which would provide much better directional control at low speed than a prop/rudder arrangement, but I bet he'll soon change his mind...

The narrower portside hull could easily receive a kicker outboard for redundancy and to help in docking...

Higher bridge decks allow wider beam and a 27' cat should be around 10' in the beam for better efficiency and stability...
 
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