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Whatever happened to the 32' Glacier Bay?? I like the GB's and would like to see some live pics of this boat and #'s in action if its built already. I think they had an option for diesels and what happened to that idea? I have seen the 2 drawings and really liked how they did the express and flybridge models vs what twin vee did with theirs. I have seen the 33' WorldCat pics but never heard of any #'s being shown or real live actual fishing experience with it besides the boat show drive...
I will toss in my $.02 on the speed vs seas in a cat. I owned a GB 260 and had it out in 2 - 4 seas off the East coast of FL. I was able to go about 22 mph semi-comfortably. The ride was good as far as pounding went but I took some water over the bow on one of the 4 footers. I tried going faster but was getting a little to airborn for my taste. I would say the limit is 4 foot seas on the cats. The snap roll thing is a whole other topic. I also found that my GB was a wet boat due to the tunnel sneeze. On that 2 - 4 foot day the entire bottom side of my T-top was soaked and covered with salt. I only went out 6 miles that day. In the 1 - 2 foot seas the GB rode like a Lincoln Town car though. Just watch out for quartering seas..
Fisheye.. you say owned so i guess you dont own it now...
It does take time to learn the trimming techniques etc.. for the cats.. well at least for the gb 260... I would guess we had 300 hours on the boat ....probably 20 trips offshore before we learned how to drive the boat... yes even in those nasty quartering seas.
AS for the sneeze... never has it been a problem.. does it exist .. sure... never have had the under side of the t-top coated in salt...
Limit 4' seas... sure for a better than average ride... hell I dont know many buys who WANT to go out in true 4 footers...
Good point on the 4 footers. I will not go out in anything over 4 foot either. My reply was aimed a little more at the "false advertising" of being able to run at cruise speeds or higher in 6 - 8 foot seas. I had quite a bit of tunnel sneeze. Even had it while trolling sometimes. Not sure why it happened but it grew to be annoying.
And yes, I sold my GB and went back to a larger monohull. I needed more room and never got used to the "snap role". Did I like the GB 260? Yes, it is a great boat and at times I miss the smooth ride in the chop. I just like what I have now a little better! If GB made a 28 - 30 footer with more beam (that is affordable) I would take a hard look at another.
the rolling tendencies can be dampened greatly by the use of doel fin hydrofoils or the like. GB sent us a pair over the winter and I can honestly say the roll tendency is reduced by 30-50%. about 1/2 knot lost at high cruise... but did pic up about .1nm per gallon avg... so its a wash.
as for the 32 GB.... they have been talking about them for a few years. If I fault GB for anything its not bringing out new designs.. or a slightly bigger model.. a 28' degsined for jackshaft diesels with a 10' beam is doable. Dunno... WC has done some great things in listening to customers and redesigning their boats... GB is a great company but could take a lesson from them.
We have a 26 ft. Twin Vee Hawaiian Cat that does fairly well in the slop; however, we still have to slow down when things start getting real nasty!
Going into waves over 3 ft. @ 8 seconds or less, then we definitely have to slow down. Yes, we could go fast and take a beating, but that is no fun and increases the chances of getting someone injured.
If we are going with the waves, then we can generally move along at 25 - 30 mph in waves that are 3 - 4 @ 8+ seconds.
No matter what type of boat you are in, you have to take what the sea will give you!! 4 foot seas @ 4 - 5 seconds can be some of the roughest stuff you'll ever see. Whereas, 6 - 7 ft @ 13 - 14 seconds is simply stunning to fish or cruise in.
You can look at NOAA history Graph(42019) for past 5 days and review conditions Saturday and Sunday. I left Galveston Satuday morning around 10 am and made a 100 mile, one way, trip south of Freeport, and returned 4pm yesterday. Waves were 2' to 4'. I ran my GB(26') 34 mph the entire trip. It was not bad because we had mostly 6 to 7 seconds between waves. I owned a 26' Century(monohull) and I would not have made this trip in that boat. The bottom line for me is that I get more fishable days out of my cat than monohull of the same length. Would I buy another? Yes, but I would test drive a 30' + Yellowfin or similar boat first. Good luck.
Glad to see a few guys are addressing wavelength as well as height; sad to see most aren't. As the original post mentions it, this guy must know something--length will be as or even more important than sheer height when running a cat into a headsea! For those who claim all over 3' or 4' is an exageration, I was personally in a GB 26 CC out of Ft. Lauderdale 3 years ago, when NOAA--not me--said wave height was 8' to 10'. We were testing the boat, not fishing, and decided to poke out and see how much it could take. Fact of the mater is, we maintained 30-mph plus, no problem, because the wavelength was so long. (Swells were left over from a hurricane; there was no surface chop on them). My experience is that in a short, tight chop, 3' can be a killer. With a long rolly sea, 3' can be a cakewalk. Any way you cut it, the cat will shine in that tight chop, as compared to a mono. RE the GB 32:It's now a 34; first one is going into the water this summer, GB will do a long PR sort of cruise (they're calling it the 34 Adventure Trip), July down the CA coats, then Gulf coast, then running up the east coast in Aug.
It's always steep and choppy in our part of the GOM. On a typical rough day over 4', I can leave a mono hull of similar size, 25', in my wake. No BS, do it all the time. More importantly, we're not getting hammered. In calm flat water the mono's pass me. I can live with that because at 45 knots my twin yammies are gulping 32 gph. Would I like another 5 or 10 mph? Nope, burning enough fuel as it is.
I must be getting old, or wise. I'm slowing down to a speed which gives me a comfortable ride. Not setting any speed records but the ride sure is nice. The discussion may be about speed and sea state but comfort is my ultimate goal. In rough conditions a mono hull (similar length) must slow down to survive. I slow down and enjoy the ride and still dust'em off.
Anyone ridden in the new 33' WC? I'm itchin' to trade UP.
Last week I ran back from Grand Cay, bahamas (near Walkers) 120 miles back to Boynton Beach on my Bluewater 2150 with 200 HPDI's. My buddy boat was as 21 Seacat with twin Honda 90's. Seas on the bank were a steep 2' on the beam. Seas for the first part of the Gulfstream crossing were 3-4', on the stern quarter, with some random wave action near Grand Bahama, shifting to 3-4' on the bow for about 10 miles as we skated around a few storms, before it glassed out. On the bank, we were clearly quicker at cruise, but a little bouncier as well. Offshore, the cat could stay close initially, but when the 3-4's moved to the nose, they had to back way off the throttle. This was consistent with our crossing. We could run 20 - 24 (mostly 20-22) dead into fairly steep 3-4', they had to cross at 9 knots in the same conditions.
Conclusions:
In a moderate conditions to 2-3 foot steep chop, the cat was likely smoother, and slightly slower, with better fuel economy. BUT, in a real headsea, the mono ruled.
I took my Prowler 246 out in 4-6' seas (I'm 6' and some waves did crest the horizon) and we were able to do ~20 mph with quartering following and quartering head seas. The following seas were annoying as I hadn't learned to trim properly and the down sea sponson would grab more than it should. The head seas produced some "mild pounding" but only occasionally with no slamming plus there was Very little spray. Wave period was probably 6 sec as this was typical white cap northern Gulf chop. A friend I had on board was extremely impressed with the ride in those conditions as he had run several monohulls over the years and didn't feel any of them would compare.
Well put BlueMarlin. 26 ft well built cats are great ocean going machines. It can be a rough and unpredictable world offshore, I'd rather be in a cat for that size range and leave blazing speed as a second priority in life. The difference in speed is not that much anyways.
All of this talk is good but you need to go out and see for yourself. where do you live? maybe someone knows a few dealers in your area.
I own a twinvee 26ft and cruise at 30-32 and when I get in a hurry I push to super cruise 5000rpm and run 36-38 depending on conditions.
I strongly suggest you try tv, gb, sc, and wc
best of luck
if you are interested in 32 ft Twinvee has a 32 in 4 different models it has an 11'10" beam the best place to see pic's is on the maryland website twinveeboats.com It seems they can customise them quite a bit It is not a fit and finish like gb and they probably never will go with a liner.
No, I haven't ridden in a 306 but man it sure looks nice. When I went to tour the factory before buying my 246 they had a 306 coming out of the mold. It looked like they were making a raquetball court! They say you can still trailer though it does look like a beast to pull down the road.
Catamaran Speed in Choppy Waters 
