As a few of you know, I have been looking for a second smaller cat as a "bay boat"--to use for shoal water, in a bay with up to 12 miles fetch, and perhaps nearshore fishing. Fuel economy was an important issue. I spent several months looking seriously and examined a number of what I will kindly term diseasters. Some were boats or engines which had sadly detiorrated, and others were performance issues. We were looking for a single engine cat, which would be small enough to easily tow behind our RV (with the thought of instead of towing a larger boat, we would be towing the cat, living in the RV and taking day trips--all through the US and up into Canada). We finally decided on a very lightly used 2007 Caracal 18, lined center console. (There was a rolled edge, unlined model made a few years earlier). In part our quest was complicated by the fact that most builders of small cats, especially single engine boats ere out of business in the US. The Caracal does have a moderate V planing hull bottom, with a slight step foreward and a skeg which begins about half of the bridge deck aft at about 2" and is more of a parabolic curve back to the transom where it is the same depth as the hulls, directly in front of the leg of the 140 HP Suzuki. There was at least 4" tunnel clearance at rest with two passangers in normal positions. Fit and finish were excellent, the hull to deck joint is bolted every few inches. There is no wood in the boat. Perhaps importantly the boat did not have a "T" top. We found that the extra weight high seemed to affect the handling of the smaller cats adversely. (we even saw one 18 foot SeaGull cat which had a heavy "T" top plus a crows nest for spotting fish--the owner admitted he had taken a 60 degree roll in a pass!) One of the major issues, (other than the reputation for construction of some of the boats we looked at) was the problem of ventillation (some might call it cavitation). This seems to be a major problem in many of the single engine cats. One boat even ventillated in flat water. Several others ventillated when going down wind and waves. The boat we settled on, would only ventillate if we gave the boat full throttle and engine trimmed high, and the ventillation lasted only a second as the boat popped up on a plane. Going up on a plane with gradual throttle did not exibit this behavior. We could not get get the boat we bought to ventillate in tight turns or chop, where as many of the other boats did. We think that weight distribution, trim, engine height, and prop choices make the difference in ventillation. The boat we pruchased has a Prop Tech 4 blade highly cupped prop and is mounted with the cavitation plate right at the bottom edge of the skeg. The top speed was about 30 knots, in good conditions, with about 400 lbs crew and 10 gallons of fuel. The boat handled nicely on a plane as low as 15 knots (there is no Permatrim)--and the transition from displacement speed to a plane was smooth. The boat handled 3 foot chop well, with a little spray, and no sneeze. We will have more reports as we get a chance to run the boat more, especially at low speeds. Reported fuel economy is 3.5 to 4 miles per gallon at 25 knots, and we will probably put a fuel flow meter on the boat. The other choices we seemed to have were much older (90's) twin engine boats in the 20 to 22 foot range. If we got any bigger, we were approaching the size and fuel use of our Tom Cat 255. Bob Austin

Bob, that sounds like a nice package. Can you tell what it weighs, all- up, and how much it draws? I would be interested to learn more once you have fuel-consumption data. Alan Bliss 17.5' Shoal Cat, Gainesville, FL On Sep 25, 2009, at 6:31 PM, bob Austin wrote: > As a few of you know, I have been looking for a second smaller cat > as a "bay > boat"--to use for shoal water, in a bay with up to 12 miles fetch, > and perhaps > nearshore fishing. Fuel economy was an important issue. I spent > several > months looking seriously and examined a number of what I will kindly > term > diseasters. Some were boats or engines which had sadly detiorrated, > and > others were performance issues. > > We were looking for a single engine cat, which would be small enough > to easily > tow behind our RV (with the thought of instead of towing a larger > boat, we > would be towing the cat, living in the RV and taking day trips--all > through > the US and up into Canada). > > We finally decided on a very lightly used 2007 Caracal 18, lined > center > console. (There was a rolled edge, unlined model made a few years > earlier). > In part our quest was complicated by the fact that most builders of > small > cats, especially single engine boats ere out of business in the US. > > The Caracal does have a moderate V planing hull bottom, with a > slight step > foreward and a skeg which begins about half of the bridge deck aft > at about 2" > and is more of a parabolic curve back to the transom where it is the > same > depth as the hulls, directly in front of the leg of the 140 HP > Suzuki. There > was at least 4" tunnel clearance at rest with two passangers in normal > positions. Fit and finish were excellent, the hull to deck joint is > bolted > every few inches. There is no wood in the boat. Perhaps > importantly the boat > did not have a "T" top. We found that the extra weight high seemed > to affect > the handling of the smaller cats adversely. (we even saw one 18 > foot SeaGull > cat which had a heavy "T" top plus a crows nest for spotting fish-- > the owner > admitted he had taken a 60 degree roll in a pass!) One of the major > issues, > (other than the reputation for construction of some of the boats we > looked at) > was the problem of ventillation (some might call it cavitation). > This seems > to be a major problem in many of the single engine cats. One boat > even > ventillated in flat water. Several others ventillated when going > down wind > and waves. The boat we settled on, would only ventillate if we gave > the boat > full throttle and engine trimmed high, and the ventillation lasted > only a > second as the boat popped up on a plane. Going up on a plane with > gradual > throttle did not exibit this behavior. We could not get get the > boat we > bought to ventillate in tight turns or chop, where as many of the > other boats > did. We think that weight distribution, trim, engine height, and > prop > choices make the difference in ventillation. > > The boat we pruchased has a Prop Tech 4 blade highly cupped prop and > is > mounted with the cavitation plate right at the bottom edge of the > skeg. The > top speed was about 30 knots, in good conditions, with about 400 > lbs crew and > 10 gallons of fuel. The boat handled nicely on a plane as low as 15 > knots > (there is no Permatrim)--and the transition from displacement speed > to a plane > was smooth. The boat handled 3 foot chop well, with a little spray, > and no > sneeze. > We will have more reports as we get a chance to run the boat more, > especially > at low speeds. Reported fuel economy is 3.5 to 4 miles per gallon at > 25 knots, > and we will probably put a fuel flow meter on the boat. > > The other choices we seemed to have were much older (90's) twin > engine boats > in the 20 to 22 foot range. If we got any bigger, we were > approaching the > size and fuel use of our Tom Cat 255. > > Bob Austin > _______________________________________________ > Power-Catamaran Mailing List

Site see: https://floridasportfishing.com/magazine/boats-reviews/caracal-180-catamaran-2.html http://www.powercatboats.com/caracal/why.htm http://boyzntheirtoyz.com/caracal.htm The factory site at www.CaracalBoats.com doesn't seem to be working. --Georgs On 25-Sep-09, at 6:31 PM, Bob Austin wrote: > We finally decided on a very lightly used 2007 Caracal 18, lined > center > console. (There was a rolled edge, unlined model made a few years > earlier). > In part our quest was complicated by the fact that most builders of > small > cats, especially single engine boats ere out of business in the US.