Scary Cat

[copie]

Well hi to you all. I have a friend/associate with a near new 6 mt kevlar cat, twin 140 hp suzuki 4 strokes. He has previously owned mono hull boats. Travelling out to his fishing destinations he appears to be happy with the new boat, BUT when it's time to come home so running with a following sea he say's the handling is frightening to say the least. In fact a coment was white knucklesfrom all on board. It appears the new cat can comfortably run out or head on at reasonable speeds and handles it well. When running with the sea he backs right off to approx. 12knts.His complaint is the boat appears to dive nose down with a lean to his side (driver side) down the face of a swell or wave with the apparent feeling that it wont come back up. The boat was returned to the manufacturer for inspection and they checked inspected and even ex-rayed the right side hull in case it was filling with water. they apparently found nothing wrong and returned the boat to the owner. The boat still reacts in the same maner. I personally have never owned a cat but thought some of you cat owners and in particular kevlar cat owners could offer some assistance. Oh it's apparent handling vice is so that he wont take his family out in the boat in any weather as it frightens them all.
I THANK ALL IN ADVANCE FOR ANY ADVICE MARK.

[Dean1]

Cats are known to dig a hull in occasionally whilst in a following sea but always normally push through it. Is he triming the motors up?? Sounds like he has the motors trimmed down and if this is the case he would be experiencing a shocking ride. Get that nose up...

[mirage]

Seems to be a common problem with new cat owners untill they learn a cat's characteristics. There is another thread on here with exactly the same comments from a newly purchased KC 2400.

[snelly1971]

I know what you mate is going through...been there done that...and it is a hard thing to get used to...I mean ..It takes time to learn to drive a cat...and I think you never stop picking up little points about them..no matter how good or long you have driven them for...

He definatly needs more trim...and tell him no to be too scared to poke it into her a bit more...

Cheers Mick

[Dan5]

thats called the cat corkscrew twist it feels unerving for a while but you will get used of it i used to drive a 42 noosa cat on day charter very safe passed all stabilty tests for survey no worries.Quartering usually FEELS worse keep the power on motors slight trim up it will wander slightly up front but always come back,try hand steering for awhile till you get used of it before using the auto so you get the feel of her.Kevlacat do alot of homework before they punch out a hull so its not poor design your just used of your mono thats all.

[finding_time]

I've had the first my first cat now for about 3months( 5.2 kevlacat) and there are plenty of things that take awhile to get used to The main 1 is the way the boat reacts in a following sea and for a while it was freeky but am slowly getting used t the whole senario.

I would not back the boat of to 12 knots i reckon your asking for problems , everything i have been told is the harder you run them the better they go, and this appears to be true. I trim the boat out as far as i can then ajust one in to get the boat level , point in the direction i want to go and hit the throttle, then you have to do the hard part ( For people used to mono's) TRUST THE HULLS!! to work as they should, sometimes the down swell hull digs abit and then i power this engine a bit more and drive the hull through it, i imagine that the worst thing you could do i back that engine off as that hull needs the power to work properly. Yes you lean into the holes sometimes but it seems to come back,it's just very very differant to what your used to. In a mono you would steer away from the hole there by leveling the boat, do this in a cat and it will lean more into the hole, doh. To me it's getting easier to drive if i just stick to these 3 rules

1. point where i want to go and head straight for it , dont drive the boat like you would a mono, ducking and weaving is bad

2' drive hard , speed is your friend

3. sit back , relax and enjoy the ride

Ian

As i said i'm only very new to cat driving and some of the more experienced hopefully will give there advice

[Reel Magic]

I know nothing but Ian sounds like he knows what he is talking about, if all else fails contact kittycat.

He works at Springwood Marine and is a member here, may sound biased but he owns one so I am sure he can offer some words of wisdom.

Cheers Ryan.

[finding_time]

Where'sthe boat based? He should get a salesman or someone from kevlacat to take him out when the weather is pretty bad put the boat through it's paces with a experienced driver so he has confidence that it wont do anything strange when he's driving

Ian

[hungry6]

Copie, best bit of advice I can give is to ask an experienced cat owner to come out and steer it whilst your friend looks on, I remember my first ride in a cat after years of mono hull, I literally CR*P my self when we came of a swell at decent speed and the right hull dug in, the nutter behind the wheel is a member of this forum and have vast cat handling just powered her through it and she came up, Even now i still feels uneasy at times "hard to kick old habits" but always remember to steer and power into the lean, and use the trim!!!
Also, I found that every cat has a sweet cruising"speed" and this is where your friend should find and make the most of it for comfort and economy.
Plenty of cat owners on here, some are shy, most of them are pretty helpful just need them to post and expand the knowledge for other cats owners.
I would never look at another monohull period! now that I have looked on both side of the fence.

[PinHead]

a cat is very different to a mono to drive..I have limited experience in driving a cat...have been out with a very experienced cat skipper...his hand was working the throttles almost constantly...brilliant to watch him handle the cat...it did feel strange at times but he just kept it going ...very impressive when in the hands of an experienced skipper...just takes practice and experience...before i bought my current boat I was looking at a markahm 7m cat but decided against it...would be too impatient to acquire the skills to handle it properly.

[Kerry]

It's called take your time and become acquainted with the boat.

However based on some of the comments do not go to the extreme or push things too far at this stage and not expect to come unstuck thinking the boat will do all the looking after you, it might not.

Regards, Kerry.

[Blackened]

G'day

Like all have said before, you friend will need to shake off old mono habits and re-learn driving a cat.

Pete - Grand_Marlin put up a brilliant reply on one of the biggish threads on how to drive one properly . I'm not sure where it is now, but it is around

I always say, once you go cat you never go back

Dave

[Dean1]

But theres always someone stupid like me who had a cat and went back to a plate aluminium, VERY BAD MOVE!!! Im presently looking for a cat and the platey will be up for sale shortly.. Cant wait to get back in a cat, cant beat em

[finding_time]

It's called take your time and become acquainted with the boat.

However based on some of the comments do not go to the extreme or push things too far at this stage and not expect to come unstuck thinking the boat will do all the looking after you, it might not.

Regards, Kerry.

A little less criptic please Kerry, you seem to no the cats very well if your going to give advice how about tryng to make it a little more constructive.

I feel my runs much better at 24knots than the 19 i was first trying to run it at. I assume you agree with this. I also find that if the down hill hull digs in abit if i power that hull it pushes through the hole, is this wrong shoud i just let the throttles be? I again assume that running down hill i'm trimmed out as far as i can,then use just one of the motors to keep it balanced,is this what you would do? What about the driving ,is point and shoot right? i know that trying to turn away from the digging hull would be bad, is turning towards it a better thing to do?


These are questions i've spent a bit of time thinking about and i'm only new to the cat driving senario, so i'm sure that answers to these would really help Marks friend

[troy]

Findingtime,
If you kept your mono so would not have to study so much
Sorry mate seen my opening and had to run with it.
Troy