I've owned a boat for 20+ years and yet this was the first time I've attend
the Portland Boat Show.

Impressions.....

1. We own a 25 foot pocket cruiser ('96 Starcraft 2531). After walking
through various 25 footers, we were relieved to find none as suitable as the
one we have. Our aft sleeping berth is the best design and size.

Whew!

2. The two boats that impressed us most were the 34 foot Glacier Bay
Catamarin and the 25' C-Dory Tom Cat.

Regarding the former, it had beautiful workmanship and design. My wife was
so impressed that ended up going through it three times. However, the new
30 footer they have coming will be even better (for us) at 150k less. One
reason is the placement of the galley....up on the main deck instead of
stuffed below. This allows my wife to be up at all times. The only reason
to go below is to use the head or sleep in the roomy queen size berth.

The sales guy mentioned that Glacier Bay is putting 190 hp Volvo diesels in
it, with COMPOSITE outdrive. Supposedly far superior than metal.

Discussion???

As I mentioned, the other boat that impressed us was the C-dory Tom Cat, a
25 foot trailerable cruiser. Very roomy design. Built like a tank. Well
suited for all weather boating and fishing. In a few years, when we do the
Alaska inland passage, that will be the boat of choice for us.

The Glacier Bay 30 footer will work fine for the Great Loop.

Fun to dream!!!

-Greg

Dene wrote:
I've owned a boat for 20+ years and yet this was the first time I've attend
the Portland Boat Show.

Impressions.....

1. We own a 25 foot pocket cruiser ('96 Starcraft 2531). After walking
through various 25 footers, we were relieved to find none as suitable as the
one we have. Our aft sleeping berth is the best design and size.

Whew!

2. The two boats that impressed us most were the 34 foot Glacier Bay
Catamarin and the 25' C-Dory Tom Cat.

Regarding the former, it had beautiful workmanship and design. My wife was
so impressed that ended up going through it three times. However, the new
30 footer they have coming will be even better (for us) at 150k less. One
reason is the placement of the galley....up on the main deck instead of
stuffed below. This allows my wife to be up at all times. The only reason
to go below is to use the head or sleep in the roomy queen size berth.

The sales guy mentioned that Glacier Bay is putting 190 hp Volvo diesels in
it, with COMPOSITE outdrive. Supposedly far superior than metal.

Discussion???

As I mentioned, the other boat that impressed us was the C-dory Tom Cat, a
25 foot trailerable cruiser. Very roomy design. Built like a tank. Well
suited for all weather boating and fishing. In a few years, when we do the
Alaska inland passage, that will be the boat of choice for us.

The Glacier Bay 30 footer will work fine for the Great Loop.

Fun to dream!!!

-Greg

I've written about both of those boats in the last few months. That Tom
Cat has a remarkable amount of space for a 25-foot trailer boat, and
putting the standard C-Dory house on the cat hull made a huge
improvement over the same firm's previous catamaran.
And how many 25-foot boats can offer a 70-sq ft berth and an enclosed,
stand-up head and shower? (Not all, not by a long shot).

If you get serious about the Glacier Bay, there's a new dealer in
Portland- Aman Marine.
See if you can get out for a sea trial, preferably on a day when it's
at least a little snarly and choppy. You'll be impressed, or not- but
there's no chance you'll confuse it with a typical monohull experience
in the same conditions. If I ever switch boats it would be to another
trawler, but it is easy to see why the number of people who are excited
about catamarans continues to slowly, (but steadily), increase.

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
wrote:
Dene wrote:
I've owned a boat for 20+ years and yet this was the first time I've
attend
the Portland Boat Show.

Impressions.....

1. We own a 25 foot pocket cruiser ('96 Starcraft 2531). After walking
through various 25 footers, we were relieved to find none as suitable as
the
one we have. Our aft sleeping berth is the best design and size.

Whew!

2. The two boats that impressed us most were the 34 foot Glacier Bay
Catamarin and the 25' C-Dory Tom Cat.

Regarding the former, it had beautiful workmanship and design. My wife
was
so impressed that ended up going through it three times. However, the
new
30 footer they have coming will be even better (for us) at 150k less.
One
reason is the placement of the galley....up on the main deck instead of
stuffed below. This allows my wife to be up at all times. The only
reason
to go below is to use the head or sleep in the roomy queen size berth.

The sales guy mentioned that Glacier Bay is putting 190 hp Volvo diesels
in
it, with COMPOSITE outdrive. Supposedly far superior than metal.

Discussion???

As I mentioned, the other boat that impressed us was the C-dory Tom
Cat, a
25 foot trailerable cruiser. Very roomy design. Built like a tank.
Well
suited for all weather boating and fishing. In a few years, when we do
the
Alaska inland passage, that will be the boat of choice for us.

The Glacier Bay 30 footer will work fine for the Great Loop.

Fun to dream!!!

-Greg

I've written about both of those boats in the last few months. That Tom
Cat has a remarkable amount of space for a 25-foot trailer boat, and
putting the standard C-Dory house on the cat hull made a huge
improvement over the same firm's previous catamaran.
And how many 25-foot boats can offer a 70-sq ft berth and an enclosed,
stand-up head and shower? (Not all, not by a long shot).


The Tomcat is a $100,000+ boat. A bit pricey and a bit heavy for a
25-footer. The boat weighs 6000 pounds sans engines.


A parker is an 89k boat for 25' and may not be as nice. Quality boats in
25' are close to 100k +- 10K.

wrote in message
oups.com...

I've written about both of those boats in the last few months. That Tom
Cat has a remarkable amount of space for a 25-foot trailer boat, and
putting the standard C-Dory house on the cat hull made a huge
improvement over the same firm's previous catamaran.
And how many 25-foot boats can offer a 70-sq ft berth and an enclosed,
stand-up head and shower? (Not all, not by a long shot).

True....but it could be more female-friendly, with some nice touches typical
on most cruisers. That's one thing Glacier Bay does with their designs.

If you get serious about the Glacier Bay, there's a new dealer in
Portland- Aman Marine.
See if you can get out for a sea trial, preferably on a day when it's
at least a little snarly and choppy. You'll be impressed, or not- but
there's no chance you'll confuse it with a typical monohull experience
in the same conditions. If I ever switch boats it would be to another
trawler, but it is easy to see why the number of people who are excited
about catamarans continues to slowly, (but steadily), increase.

Met the head salesguy. Very impressed with their professionalism. He was
the one who went through the design specs of their new 30 footer.

One thing Chuck, why another trawler? If you can acquire the stability and
room of a trawler and the speed of a monohull, why not own a cat? Seems you
get the best of both worlds, aside from price?

-Greg

Dene wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...

I've written about both of those boats in the last few months. That Tom
Cat has a remarkable amount of space for a 25-foot trailer boat, and
putting the standard C-Dory house on the cat hull made a huge
improvement over the same firm's previous catamaran.
And how many 25-foot boats can offer a 70-sq ft berth and an enclosed,
stand-up head and shower? (Not all, not by a long shot).

True....but it could be more female-friendly, with some nice touches typical
on most cruisers. That's one thing Glacier Bay does with their designs.

If you get serious about the Glacier Bay, there's a new dealer in
Portland- Aman Marine.
See if you can get out for a sea trial, preferably on a day when it's
at least a little snarly and choppy. You'll be impressed, or not- but
there's no chance you'll confuse it with a typical monohull experience
in the same conditions. If I ever switch boats it would be to another
trawler, but it is easy to see why the number of people who are excited
about catamarans continues to slowly, (but steadily), increase.

Met the head salesguy. Very impressed with their professionalism. He was
the one who went through the design specs of their new 30 footer.

One thing Chuck, why another trawler? If you can acquire the stability and
room of a trawler and the speed of a monohull, why not own a cat? Seems you
get the best of both worlds, aside from price?

-Greg

If I were ever to change boats, it would be to another trawler. I have
no personal use for a lot of speed, and I think that cruising 8-9 kts
is sort of a relaxed, almost natural pace.
Taking one very long day or two shorter days to get from Seattle to the
San Juan Islands creates a sense of distance and removal that a 3-hour
sprint in a faster boat could never accomplish. Then there's just
enough Scot in my bloodlines that I do enjoy getting 4 nmpg, especially
at the current and probably future prices for fuel. There was a point
in my life where I could easily have taken up sailing, rather than
powerboating, but my wife, (with two toddling kids at the time),
decreed that if we were going to resume the boating activity I had
enjoyed while growing up she would insist on a warm, dry "house" on the
boat where she and the kids could stay out of the weather and out of
harm's way.

I adpoted a lot of my boating "attitudes" if you will from my
Grandfather, who graduated from the Royal Naval Hospital School at
Greenwich and served on destroyer escorts in WWI. Just after the turn
of the 20th Century, British naval officers were still expected to
demonstrate many of the abilities required to command a ship under
sail- although pretty much the last of the British sail fleet had been
retired decades earlier. Grandpa was a consumate salt who could almost
turn a sailboat into a living being. Since I'm not ever going to be a
sailor myself, I guess I perceive trawlers as among the most
traditional powerboats, and if grandpa were here today he'd be less
ashamed of his stink-potting grandson in his 8 kt trawler than he would
be if I were
planing along at "way too fast". :-)

So, as you see, the answer is strictly one of personal preferance. I am
open minded enough to appreciate that other people come to boating
looking for things that are entirely different than what I personally
value, and I can enjoy a variety of boating experiences and appreciate
the unique aspects of all of them without having to judge every boat
based on how similar or dissimilar to my personally favorite category
(the trawler) it might be.

For a beamy layout on the main deck, very civilized performance in a
2-4 foot choppy Puget Sound sort of seas (head seas most particularly),
reasonable speed and fuel economy, a catamaran will meet or exceed a
lot of peoples' expectations. If I weren't a trawler boater, I could
easily imagine having a power cat among choices on a future "short
list". If.

Dene wrote:
I've owned a boat for 20+ years and yet this was the first time I've attend
the Portland Boat Show.

Impressions.....

1. We own a 25 foot pocket cruiser ('96 Starcraft 2531). After walking
through various 25 footers, we were relieved to find none as suitable as the
one we have. Our aft sleeping berth is the best design and size.

Whew!

2. The two boats that impressed us most were the 34 foot Glacier Bay
Catamarin and the 25' C-Dory Tom Cat.

Regarding the former, it had beautiful workmanship and design. My wife was
so impressed that ended up going through it three times. However, the new
30 footer they have coming will be even better (for us) at 150k less. One
reason is the placement of the galley....up on the main deck instead of
stuffed below. This allows my wife to be up at all times. The only reason
to go below is to use the head or sleep in the roomy queen size berth.

The sales guy mentioned that Glacier Bay is putting 190 hp Volvo diesels in
it, with COMPOSITE outdrive. Supposedly far superior than metal.

Discussion???

As I mentioned, the other boat that impressed us was the C-dory Tom Cat, a
25 foot trailerable cruiser. Very roomy design. Built like a tank. Well
suited for all weather boating and fishing. In a few years, when we do the
Alaska inland passage, that will be the boat of choice for us.

The Glacier Bay 30 footer will work fine for the Great Loop.

Fun to dream!!!

-Greg

It remains to be seen if the composite outdrive works, but if it does,
it solves two of the biggest problems with them, corrosion of the
outdrive when exposure to salt water and, even worse, electrolysis. On
larger boats, where the outdrive cannot be easily examined while the
boat is in the water, and AC power on the boat is a common thing, it's
not much fun to find your outdrives are eaten away when the boat is
hauled in the fall. I knew someone that this happened to, he needed two
new outdrives, he was not happy to say the least. The boat next to him
had a bonding problem, but never admitted it, that was his one and only
year in that marina.

wrote in message
oups.com...


If I were ever to change boats, it would be to another trawler. I have
no personal use for a lot of speed, and I think that cruising 8-9 kts
is sort of a relaxed, almost natural pace.
Taking one very long day or two shorter days to get from Seattle to the
San Juan Islands creates a sense of distance and removal that a 3-hour
sprint in a faster boat could never accomplish. Then there's just
enough Scot in my bloodlines that I do enjoy getting 4 nmpg, especially
at the current and probably future prices for fuel. There was a point
in my life where I could easily have taken up sailing, rather than
powerboating, but my wife, (with two toddling kids at the time),
decreed that if we were going to resume the boating activity I had
enjoyed while growing up she would insist on a warm, dry "house" on the
boat where she and the kids could stay out of the weather and out of
harm's way.

I adpoted a lot of my boating "attitudes" if you will from my
Grandfather, who graduated from the Royal Naval Hospital School at
Greenwich and served on destroyer escorts in WWI. Just after the turn
of the 20th Century, British naval officers were still expected to
demonstrate many of the abilities required to command a ship under
sail- although pretty much the last of the British sail fleet had been
retired decades earlier. Grandpa was a consumate salt who could almost
turn a sailboat into a living being. Since I'm not ever going to be a
sailor myself, I guess I perceive trawlers as among the most
traditional powerboats, and if grandpa were here today he'd be less
ashamed of his stink-potting grandson in his 8 kt trawler than he would
be if I were
planing along at "way too fast". :-)

So, as you see, the answer is strictly one of personal preferance. I am
open minded enough to appreciate that other people come to boating
looking for things that are entirely different than what I personally
value, and I can enjoy a variety of boating experiences and appreciate
the unique aspects of all of them without having to judge every boat
based on how similar or dissimilar to my personally favorite category
(the trawler) it might be.

For a beamy layout on the main deck, very civilized performance in a
2-4 foot choppy Puget Sound sort of seas (head seas most particularly),
reasonable speed and fuel economy, a catamaran will meet or exceed a
lot of peoples' expectations. If I weren't a trawler boater, I could
easily imagine having a power cat among choices on a future "short
list". If.

Well said. Makes perfect sense. Ironically, I started out on summer ski
boats and find it difficult to cruise under 20 knots. Last summer, took my
first sail with a pal of mine. Nice....but no desire. I like to get to my
destination and then lay around. Different strokes.

BTW....spent half the night trying to figure out how to finance a TomCat.
I'm 6 foot. The idea of weekend cruising without the backache associated
with my 25' pocket cruiser is sorely tempting.

Perhaps I could get Dr's orders. ;

Even better.....find a used one.

-Greg

"Dene" wrote in message
...
I've owned a boat for 20+ years and yet this was the first time I've
attend
the Portland Boat Show.

Impressions.....

1. We own a 25 foot pocket cruiser ('96 Starcraft 2531). After walking
through various 25 footers, we were relieved to find none as suitable as
the
one we have. Our aft sleeping berth is the best design and size.

Whew!

2. The two boats that impressed us most were the 34 foot Glacier Bay
Catamarin and the 25' C-Dory Tom Cat.

Regarding the former, it had beautiful workmanship and design. My wife
was
so impressed that ended up going through it three times. However, the
new
30 footer they have coming will be even better (for us) at 150k less. One
reason is the placement of the galley....up on the main deck instead of
stuffed below. This allows my wife to be up at all times. The only
reason
to go below is to use the head or sleep in the roomy queen size berth.

The sales guy mentioned that Glacier Bay is putting 190 hp Volvo diesels
in
it, with COMPOSITE outdrive. Supposedly far superior than metal.

My neighbor has composite drives on a 35' Regal. He wrapped a rope that was
hanging from his dingy around the prop while cruising, and it cracked the
lower drive unit.

I'll stick with metal.



Discussion???

As I mentioned, the other boat that impressed us was the C-dory Tom Cat,
a
25 foot trailerable cruiser. Very roomy design. Built like a tank. Well
suited for all weather boating and fishing. In a few years, when we do
the
Alaska inland passage, that will be the boat of choice for us.

The Glacier Bay 30 footer will work fine for the Great Loop.

Fun to dream!!!

The Glacier Bay 34 is a beautiful boat. It somehow manages to capture that
"yacht" feel in an outboard powered catamaran.

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
NOYB wrote:
"Dene" wrote in message
...
I've owned a boat for 20+ years and yet this was the first time I've
attend
the Portland Boat Show.

Impressions.....

1. We own a 25 foot pocket cruiser ('96 Starcraft 2531). After walking
through various 25 footers, we were relieved to find none as suitable as
the
one we have. Our aft sleeping berth is the best design and size.

Whew!

2. The two boats that impressed us most were the 34 foot Glacier Bay
Catamarin and the 25' C-Dory Tom Cat.

Regarding the former, it had beautiful workmanship and design. My wife
was
so impressed that ended up going through it three times. However, the
new
30 footer they have coming will be even better (for us) at 150k less.
One
reason is the placement of the galley....up on the main deck instead of
stuffed below. This allows my wife to be up at all times. The only
reason
to go below is to use the head or sleep in the roomy queen size berth.

The sales guy mentioned that Glacier Bay is putting 190 hp Volvo diesels
in
it, with COMPOSITE outdrive. Supposedly far superior than metal.

My neighbor has composite drives on a 35' Regal. He wrapped a rope that
was hanging from his dingy around the prop while cruising, and it cracked
the lower drive unit.

I'll stick with metal.


I don't think I could come up with more than a dozen reasons to avoid
outdrives.


I agree. They are a PITA maintenance wise. But sometimes you have no
choice.

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
NOYB wrote:
"Dene" wrote in message
...
I've owned a boat for 20+ years and yet this was the first time I've
attend
the Portland Boat Show.

Impressions.....

1. We own a 25 foot pocket cruiser ('96 Starcraft 2531). After walking
through various 25 footers, we were relieved to find none as suitable as
the
one we have. Our aft sleeping berth is the best design and size.

Whew!

2. The two boats that impressed us most were the 34 foot Glacier Bay
Catamarin and the 25' C-Dory Tom Cat.

Regarding the former, it had beautiful workmanship and design. My wife
was
so impressed that ended up going through it three times. However, the
new
30 footer they have coming will be even better (for us) at 150k less.
One
reason is the placement of the galley....up on the main deck instead of
stuffed below. This allows my wife to be up at all times. The only
reason
to go below is to use the head or sleep in the roomy queen size berth.

The sales guy mentioned that Glacier Bay is putting 190 hp Volvo diesels
in
it, with COMPOSITE outdrive. Supposedly far superior than metal.

My neighbor has composite drives on a 35' Regal. He wrapped a rope that
was hanging from his dingy around the prop while cruising, and it cracked
the lower drive unit.

I'll stick with metal.


I don't think I could come up with more than a dozen reasons to avoid
outdrives.

You mean besides the fact that there's just a piece of black rubber (that
must remain completely pliable and flex with the drives) between you and the
bottom of the Atlantic?