By way of introduction, my boating experience (apart from runabouts) is limited to the past 6 post-retirement years.  After 3 different charters in the 1st year, my wife and I bought a used 42' raised pilothouse trawler which we have been very happy with.  We spend summers aboard "Waterdog" on Georgian Bay in Ontario, a great way to avoid the Texas heat.  Some of the things we appreciate about out boat are:  being able to cruise in the pilothouse out of the sun, thus avoiding any more skin cancer;  the good visibility, not only from the pilothouse but also from the salon;  the security of the portuguese bridge and high bulwarks for ourselves, our grandchildren and our dogs;  full walk-around decks;  and the economy of operation at 8 or 9 knots.  Notwithstanding these good features, I've been looking at power catamarans for years hoping to go a little faster, have significantly less draft, enjoy increased stability in beam seas, add more and better guest accommodations, and still be able to cruise economically.

The problem is I keep running into compromises I am not prepared to make, such as:  having to stand outside on one of the bottom 2 transom steps in order to get access to the engines;  or, having to climb up 4 tiny awkward steps in order to get into the berth and then finding your face within 2 ft. of the ceiling (except for that one spot where a step above intrudes and you only have 1 ft. clearance); or not being able to relax and enjoy the scenery of your wonderful anchorage because you have to stand up to see out the salon windows;  or realizing that you not only can't get access to both sides of the master bed to make it, you can't get access to either side;  or, finding the only way to exit the staterooms in an emergency involves a long circuitous route which includes passing through the galley and over an engine hatch, the two places where the fire is most likely to block your way.  Of course, I don't find all these problems on every power catamaran, but I find one or more on too many and there aren't many choices to begin with.  And that means I don't even get to the point of trying to figure out what "slamming", and "snapping", and "sneezing" are in real life and how they might vary from one boat to another.

I can't bring myself to offer my boat for sale until I can at least set foot on (and preferably charter) a power cat that I would prefer to own.  Ever the optimist, I see 4 candidates currently listed on Yachtworld:  the Catman Cats Crosswater 49, the Northwest Powercats Wright C50 Pilothouse, the Catamarans New Zealand Enduro 5500 Sportscruiser (although I'd rather not go beyond 50'), and the Aventure Sportster 485.  Do any listees have experiences or opinions that would help me evaluate these boats, or suggestions of other models that might meet my perhaps outrageous expectations?  Are my expectations unreasonable for the present state of the art?  Thanks.

Allan Barnes
Austin, TX

Alan-

I took a Wright C50 Pilothouse on the great loop in 2003.  If you are
interested in a detailed opinion let me know; I don't know how much homework
you have done so far (sea trial, etc) but I really enjoyed Makai.  I also
have no experience on any of the other boats listed.

Scott Fladgard

From: power-catamaran-bounces@lists.samurai.com
[mailto:power-catamaran-bounces@lists.samurai.com] On Behalf Of Allan Barnes
Sent: Saturday, March 26, 2005 6:44 PM
To: power-catamaran@lists.samurai.com
Subject: [PCW] Catamaran Shopping Issues

By way of introduction, my boating experience (apart from runabouts) is
limited to the past 6 post-retirement years.  After 3 different charters in
the 1st year, my wife and I bought a used 42' raised pilothouse trawler
which we have been very happy with.  We spend summers aboard "Waterdog" on
Georgian Bay in Ontario, a great way to avoid the Texas heat.  Some of the
things we appreciate about out boat are:  being able to cruise in the
pilothouse out of the sun, thus avoiding any more skin cancer;  the good
visibility, not only from the pilothouse but also from the salon;  the
security of the portuguese bridge and high bulwarks for ourselves, our
grandchildren and our dogs;  full walk-around decks;  and the economy of
operation at 8 or 9 knots.  Notwithstanding these good features, I've been
looking at power catamarans for years hoping to go a little faster, have
significantly less draft, enjoy increased stability in beam seas, add more
and better guest accommodations, and still be able to cruise economically.

The problem is I keep running into compromises I am not prepared to make,
such as:  having to stand outside on one of the bottom 2 transom steps in
order to get access to the engines;  or, having to climb up 4 tiny awkward
steps in order to get into the berth and then finding your face within 2 ft.
of the ceiling (except for that one spot where a step above intrudes and you
only have 1 ft. clearance); or not being able to relax and enjoy the scenery
of your wonderful anchorage because you have to stand up to see out the
salon windows;  or realizing that you not only can't get access to both
sides of the master bed to make it, you can't get access to either side;
or, finding the only way to exit the staterooms in an emergency involves a
long circuitous route which includes passing through the galley and over an
engine hatch, the two places where the fire is most likely to block your
way.  Of course, I don't find all these problems on every power catamaran,
but I find one or more on too many and there aren't many choices to begin
with.  And that means I don't even get to the point of trying to figure out
what "slamming", and "snapping", and "sneezing" are in real life and how
they might vary from one boat to another.

I can't bring myself to offer my boat for sale until I can at least set foot
on (and preferably charter) a power cat that I would prefer to own.  Ever
the optimist, I see 4 candidates currently listed on Yachtworld:  the Catman
Cats Crosswater 49, the Northwest Powercats Wright C50 Pilothouse, the
Catamarans New Zealand Enduro 5500 Sportscruiser (although I'd rather not go
beyond 50'), and the Aventure Sportster 485.  Do any listees have
experiences or opinions that would help me evaluate these boats, or
suggestions of other models that might meet my perhaps outrageous
expectations?  Are my expectations unreasonable for the present state of the
art?  Thanks.

Allan Barnes

Austin, TX

Alan wrote...
I can't bring myself to offer my boat for sale until I can at least set foot
on (and preferably charter) a power cat that I would prefer to own.  Ever
the optimist, I see 4 candidates currently listed on Yachtworld:  the Catman
Cats Crosswater 49, the Northwest Powercats Wright C50 Pilothouse, the
Catamarans New Zealand Enduro 5500 Sportscruiser (although I'd rather not go
beyond 50'), and the Aventure Sportster 485.  Do any listees have
experiences or opinions that would help me evaluate these boats, or
suggestions of other models that might meet my perhaps outrageous
expectations?  Are my expectations unreasonable for the present state of the
art?  Thanks.

Alan-

We own the Aventure 460 Liveaboard model called the "Yum Yum" and
completed the great loop last October. We really enjoyed our time in the
Georgian Bay.  Have been aboard the Ave 485 several times and she is laid
out different from ours in addition to being 2 feet longer.

We have a folder containing about 30 actual pictures including different
berthing layout drawings we can loan you.  The builder gave us this folder
when our boat was in the Ft. Lauderdale boat show and I'm sure he wouldn't
mind me loaning them to you.  Sorry, we do not have digital images of the
Ave 485 but I'm sure you can find additional ones on the builder's web site
at http://www.aventure-catamaran.com .

Several pictures show the excellent stainless steel hand rail system and
diamond pattern walk around.  Each engine room can be easily accessed from
an aft hatch AND also an inside walk in hatch.  Since all the Aventure
catamarans are "semi-custom" built, the berthing arrangements will vary from
one model to another and these are shown in the drawings.  The Ave 485's
main berth has plenty of headroom and that picture is also in the folder.

We are leaving Cape Coral Florida shortly for a dive and fishing cruise to
the Dry Tortugas and then back to Key West before heading up to Chesapeak
Bay for the "Cat's Meow".  So let us know and we can mail you the folder
before we leave.

You can contact us at yumyum1@earthlink.net

Good luck in your search.

Pierre