shark cat info

[setthehook]

Hi
Just got a 5.5m shark cat with twin 90's mercury.
Never even been in a cat before. Any tricks with handling or boat info would be appreciated.
Cheers

[freefish]

Hi, Never ran a cat but had 2 stessl trihulls & The main thing to get used to was that they leant the opposite way to a mono in a tight turn & would not turn as sharply. Told that cats behave the same. Regards Bill

[peterbo3]

Morning Setthehook,
Great seaboat but not infallable on the bars due to somewhat slow helm response . Use your throttle controls to improve your turning ability. At low speed this is a must. Get a drogue if you are going to drift the reefs offshore. The cats fairly fly with a little bit of wind. As Freefish says, the outside lean on the turns takes a little while to accept, but it is just physics at work & they don't fall over.
All things considered probably the best fishing platform around.

[Kerry]

You have a Cat and never been in one, what not even this one before you bought it?

What other types of boats have you had and what sort of boating experience. All might sound silly questions but best we know some background first.

Also which particular 5.5m Sharkcat (Noosacat) as there was some many different designs over the years and some worked and some weren't all that hot.

Cheers, Kerry.

[setthehook]

Hi And thanx to u all for the addvise!!
To answer the question about my experience, I have worked on the shelf about 6 years ago. I have been working on a kingfish boat for the past 18mths. Have been on countless rec fishing trips. In a few weeks i should have coxwains ticket. For this i handed in 3000 hours sea time.
I did go in the cat but only in an estuary, the bar was to big to go out. The boat is a1 cond and goes well.
Dont know about the name though,it is an 80 model.

[Kerry]

The hours obviously help but the trick is simply to take it easy and feel your way. It's one of those things that with time you will get to know "your" boat.

Just because it's a Cat don't think it's bullet proof (they can/will come unstuck) but just take it steady and acqaint.

Some of the little sharkcats (and there's a few of them) have very little buoyancy in the bow and it's going to be fairly obvious if this is the case the first time someone stands on the bow.

Probably one of the worst sea conditions to watch is a sea quartering the starboard stern. Your engines aren't counter rotating and the natural trend is for the hull to roll to port. That can be countered/balanced by running with the port engine trimmed out more then the starboard. In a stb stern quartering sea, the sea will be trying to raise the stb hull, all the "holes" are going to be where the port hull (mainly the bow) wants to go and the natural tendency is for the motors to be rolling the hull to port as well. Just something to watch in bad water but don't worry in that type of weather you'll be the only one there #:-X

As for drift (all things being equal it's normally sideways), it will take time but play with the engine trim/tilt (individually) and the steering, you'll be surprised (eventually) just how well a cat can be controlled when drifting. It's much along the same principle of how they steered some of the old balsa rafts with adjustable rudders and dagger boards.

Really take it easy and gradually get the feel.

Cheers, Kerry.

[setthehook]

Thanks for the info Kerry.
I do have counter rotation though.
I will be taking it easy though dont you worry.
Thanx
Rob.

[Kerry]

Rob, counter rotating? how old are these mercs, you did say 90's.

It wasn't all that long ago that one could get counter rotating below about 140's and in the smaller Cat motors they were unheard of. I believe some of the 115's are now CR but wasn't aware there was smaller.

Which model merc.

Cheers, Kerry.

[setthehook]

hi Kerry
They are Mercury 90's., one is a 1999 model and the other is brand new. They have been regularly seviced and well looked after.They have Quicksilver props.
So there ya go, you know as much as i do now :P
Thanx
Rob.

[Kerry]

New engine? one other thing with some of these little SC's, some have/had bad water habits thru the air intakes.

Might be a silly question but why one 1999 and one brand new engine?

Cheers, Kerry.