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Hi All: I am considering purchasing a 2005 18' Sea Cat powered by a 155 Suzi 4 stroke. Does anyone have any experience with this boat & how it handles while underway? Any suggestions positive or negative would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Steve
P.S. No need in getting into mono vs. cat boat as I am only interested in finding out about this particular boat. I have ridden in both types of boat many times.
I have one and it's a great riding boat for what it is....a small, light cat!! I have a 2 stroke Yamaha 115 on mine, so your performance numbers may be a bit different. In the bay, it.s dry as can be and have no problems. In the open water, 2-3 ft swells with 500 lbs on board, I cruise 23-25 mph and get between 3.5-4 mpg. I run a power tech 4 blade stainless prop with no issues. I had a three blade on it and it ran great just by myself, but cavitated alot with with 2 large divers, dive gear and 6 steel tanks (about 850 lbs). Small cats are weight sensitive. In my opinion, if you are using it for fishing with three 200 lb or larger people or four 150-200 lb people or diving with two people, it is a great boat. Good fuel economy with a dry, soft ride. It gets cramped with more than four people or 2 divers.
I have no problems heading 12-15 miles offshore in 3 ft seas and know I can get home if it kicks up to 5 ft. I have been 30+ miles offshore a few times when it was 2 ft or less with no issues. I would not head out if it was anything larger than 3 ft seas though.....the boat can handle it, but I don't want the stress of worrying about the conditions getting worse on me. I have come back through some 5 ft seas, stayed dry and never once felt un-safe or had that uncomfortable feeling.....not sure if I would feel that way in 6 or 7 footers.
I have one and it's a great riding boat for what it is....a small, light cat!! I have a 2 stroke Yamaha 115 on mine, so your performance numbers may be a bit different. In the bay, it.s dry as can be and have no problems. In the open water, 2-3 ft swells with 500 lbs on board, I cruise 23-25 mph and get between 3.5-4 mpg. I run a power tech 4 blade stainless prop with no issues. I had a three blade on it and it ran great just by myself, but cavitated alot with with 2 large divers, dive gear and 6 steel tanks (about 850 lbs). Small cats are weight sensitive. In my opinion, if you are using it for fishing with three 200 lb or larger people or four 150-200 lb people or diving with two people, it is a great boat. Good fuel economy with a dry, soft ride. It gets cramped with more than four people or 2 divers.
I have no problems heading 12-15 miles offshore in 3 ft seas and know I can get home if it kicks up to 5 ft. I have been 30+ miles offshore a few times when it was 2 ft or less with no issues. I would not head out if it was anything larger than 3 ft seas though.....the boat can handle it, but I don't want the stress of worrying about the conditions getting worse on me. I have come back through some 5 ft seas, stayed dry and never once felt un-safe or had that uncomfortable feeling.....not sure if I would feel that way in 6 or 7 footers.
Good post.
The problems not mentioned on these small cats like the Seacat and TV19 is their narrow beam, which is a bone head design for any cat, that gets better the wider it is.
I would recomend looking for a Caracal or Sportcraft, then jump to the Prokat 20, Seacat 21, Seacat 22, Wordcat 226, or the Prowler 24 in the under 25' class.
Good point, but he was specifically asking about the 18' like I have. I have been kicking around the idea of moving up to a 21-22' cat and actually went and looked at one last week. However, the positives can also be negatives with those boats depending upon how you intend to use them. The 21-22' ones are nice, but they are more expensive to purchase, have two engines which means twice the amount of maintenance, twice the amount of things that can go wrong and twice the amount of fuel.
4 out of 5 times, my boat is just used to go island hopping or lunch/dinner in the intercoastal and near shore waters with my fiancee' and maybe one of our friends or other couple. She had no desire to get out of sight of land. The other time I use the boat is to go diving with one other guy. Sure, the 21' is nice, but not justifiable for the extra cost for my use at this time.
Diverboy: You hit the nail on the head. That's exactly what I am interested in. Low cost, great fuel mileage, easy to tow, good ride over the water, and very functional all around. I'm tired of the gas guzzlers, huge slip fees, high fuel bills, etc... This boat represents a real good compromise IMO. Again, thanks for the responses.....
Perhaps, but why would anyone purchase a Caracal when the company is no longer in business??
I have also looked at detailed photos of both the 18' Sea Cat & Caracal and it looks to me like the SC is much better built & has a more functional layout. At this point, I can purchase either boat but am leaning more toward the Sea Cat.
Can anyone comment on how these boat react while just at rest in the water or anchored up? I mean do they rock much. The reason that I am asking is that I owned a 25' Cuddy Cabin model GB that when at rest would rock & roll like crazy. I wound up selling it just because of that.
All american cats are. There is just not enough beam on them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bullshipper
The problems not mentioned on these small cats like the Seacat and TV19 is their narrow beam, which is a bone head design for any cat, that gets better the wider it is.
To the OP. Take it from a cat owner. If you are gonna load it heavy. You are better off with a deep vee mono. For light load. Nothing beats a cat.
UaVaj: So, you are saying that the weight displacement is not as good in a cat as it is in a mono hull design? Care to explain that? Maybe it's me but I don't get the concept there?
UaVaj: So, you are saying that the weight displacement is not as good in a cat as it is in a mono hull design? Care to explain that? Maybe it's me but I don't get the concept there?
Steve
Without writing a novel. The narrow beam of american cat - the tunnel is too narrow and too short to properly channel the water that flow inside of it.
When a cat is heavily loaded (as in a 6 person off shore dive load - 20 tanks - with full fuel/ice/water/gear). The boat rides much lower and lands deeper. If the boat leaves the water - which all boat does when condition are right. You will get a hard tunnel slap on landing becuase there is not enough tunnel to displaced the water in flow. Some design are worse and will add sneeze.
When a cat is lightly loaded (as in two guy off shore fishing with half fuel). The boat rides higher and lands lighter. Water can easily channel out the tunnel. Yielding what every cat is known for - a smooth ride - even when it get rough. The design simply WORKS!!
Given that I am 90% diver and 10% H&L. My next cat will have a minimum of 16' beam and preferably 22' beam. Otherwise it will be a deep V Mono. A 10' beam cat just does not cut it when loaded heavy.
I wondering where you would dock a boat with a 16' or 22' beam??
It also seems that a wide beam like that would present a lot of structural problems due to the span between sponsons. And why would it necessarily be any better at holding weight? I would think that it would also take a lot more HP to push a boat like that through the water. Obviously, you can tell that I don;t know much about boat construction!
"SeaCat is built like a tank compared to the caracal. My buddy has one, great ride for an 18foot boat, don't think you could do any better under 20'."
I gotta say that is one funny statement. I owned a Leader 18 (mold was sold to seacat) and now own a Caracal. I think he got it reversed - Caracal is the tank.
The displacement volume of the sponsons is less on a cat than a mono. It therefore sits lower with the same weight addition as a mono, becoming overloaded faster. Conversely, because the sponsons are smaller, it also pounds less in head seas.
But sponsons on each side also rock higher and lower in a beam sea than a mono with is weight centered over the center line that tends to keep the monohull more vertical even on sloped wave surfaces.
When a cat has a narrow beam. the the speed of the rock is increased, hence the term snap roll, because the lift and fall happens quickly, throwing you a greater distance faster, more violently. As sponsons are typically 30" apart on a 8'6" beam, and 40" on a 10' beam, the time between the high and low now is 30% slower with only 15% increase in beam, and a wider tunnel typically is more turbulence free, which decreases power requirements going wider. The oppostite is true with a mono requiring more hp with more beam profile to part the water.
So wider on a cat implies more stability side to side with no real increase in power, except for wind resistance which is minor compared to water resistance.
Cats get unequal and independent forces placed on each sponson and require more inner structural support than a mono to compensate. The accepted design is to produce a box structure inside the hull to resist the forces. Thicker material, taller bridge material, or more material spaced on smaller centers compensates for wider beams, heavier loads, or thinner outer skins. TSo cats can easily be enginered with a substancial multiple of saftey as is true with any structure under dynamic loads.
The Seacat and Caracal are both strong hulls that wont let you down, but the caracal is the same price, uses the same power, and is wider providing a more stable ride with more deck space, hence my preference.
But land towing a narrower hull on long narrow roads in Baja California may outweigh the water advantages of the wider hull.
18' Sea Cat-How does it RIDE?? 
