first Rod Gibbons said: If I could have one wish regarding power cats in general, it would be that designers move ON from the seemingly entrenched "boxiness" of so many designs. (Endeavour, Manta, PDQ, etc.) They seem to be stuck in that same design-mode once the hallmark of monohulls like the Tolleycraft and early Bayliners....but such boxiness has now long been abandoned by the monohull market, in exchagne for sleeker lines adn profiles. For power cats to be more successful, I think they, too, need to "evolve" esthetically. This isn't just a personal opinion, but one repeated to me regularly by would-be power-cat buyers. (Are any cat designers monitoring this? If so, I'd be interested in hearing why they think cat designs are NOT yet nearly as sleek or exciting in design as they easily could be. ) and D C "Mac" Macdonald said: With many folks, true beauty resides in the capacity of a product to accomplish its task adequately. Many have termed the long-lived Carver Mariner series to be ugly, but the overall design has lasted for many years because of the many features that enhance the livability and total usefullness of that design. Reply: 'Verrrry interesting' -- to borrow a Henry Gibson phrase from the ancient TV show Laugh In. Is there is some danger here of falling into an unresolvable dispute about aesthetics? Both of the cited listees clearly marked their opinions as such, but given that issues like appearance and beauty are such strongly felt values, and are such a large component of any major purchase -- from running shoes to cars, houses and yachts -- I suggest that we should probably limit our discussions about which design looks best to polling the listees about their personal views. In MY view, form should very closely follow function. Loose the swoopy and frivolous shapes that make so many production power monohulls appear to be the work of sneaker designers and fiberglass bathtub makers. I have no love for stylish impractical things like squinty elliptical portlights and I find particular fault in designs where things like walkway access and fender placement are clearly sacrificed for swooshy lines. I cannot understand why engine room doors/hatches are so often placed virtually on the transom (witness last year's loss of the brand new sportfisherman enroute to some Florida boat show when the professional delivery crew had engine trouble and left the door open only to be pooped by a wave and quickly sunk, with loss of all hands). I feel no need whatever to have my boat appear to be on plane at a bazillion miles per hour when at anchor. I cherish traditional designs that evolved gracefully from practical working boats. I am a trawler/cruiser sort of boater drawn to Grand Banks and similar styles, which clearly evolved from seaworthy and practical fishing boats. I am also a great believer in evolution (in boat designs particularly) and appreciate the value of designs which are the product of centuries of natural selection in a very harsh environment. I have a much higher regard for my safety and comfort than for how some outside observer senses my power or style. I love my PDQ 34! A quick look around the marina clearly indicates that there are a whole lot of folks whose boating aspirations are very different from mine. Many seem to value speed and power more than I. Lots of folks enjoy fishing and water skiing, where I don't particularly. There are even a bunch of diehard traditionalists who haven't moved on from sail to power! Who is right? Clearly we are all right, so long as we follow our own hearts and minds. There is room on the water for us all. On the other hand, a friend in the Rolls Royce owner's club steadfastly maintains about restoring classic old cars that "you can fix anything except ugly." Beauty -- firmly lodged in the eye of the beholder -- is still very important. That said, there is such a tiny market for our beloved power catamarans, and it is such a brand new market that power catamaran designs have had very little time to evolve our own distinctive styles. What we have today is pretty much the first efforts from the designers and builders, carried over directly from monohull or sailing catamaran styles. Passagemaker magazine editor Bill Parlatore's first comments on the PDQ described it as having a distinct "G. B. profile," and of course who would miss the distinctive Lagoon windows carried over from their sailing cats. Boxiness? OK. It seems to me that any boat shape defined by two slender parallel hulls separated by an out of water superstructure half as wide as it is long will always tend to look boxy because it is a classic box shape already. In future power catamaran designs I prefer to find the clever use of the inherent space aboard such vessels together with their inherent advantages in seakeeping and efficiency intact rather than the sacrifice of those capacities to gain a sleek appearance. YMMV. Divert full power to the shields Mr. Sulu! Gary Bell "Stray Cat" a PDQ 34 power catamaran and "Liberty Bell" a custom 80 foot sidewheel power catamaran both lying in Multnomah Channel, near Portland Oregon.