Anyone thought of buying a cat?

Not sure this is a misconseption, try this pricelist for Weymouth marina:
http://www.weymouth-marina.co.uk/home.html, it quotes 1.5 times for multihulls.
Problem for me would be that every marina you arrive at, you have to convince them its the same beam as a largish monohull, too many jobsworths in the UK.
I agree though, they are great boats and the speed economy equation is brilliant, but I think you are up againest a big image problem in the UK, still I would buy one, for the right price ;-) need one that will fit up the thames though, how wide are they?

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Nice looking boats, I guess they could be a consideration if they fit the criteria of what a person is looking for. e.g. not WOT all the time.

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I saw the Glacier Bay boats at the New Jersey Fall Boat show last year. I was suitably impressed with build quality, looks etc but it was the rough water performance that was particularly outstanding. Some of the rough water video was taken from a helicopter that according to the guys on the stand had to land because it was getting too rough - the boats kept going though. The surf jumping looks good fun.

The only problems I could see are the purchase cost of the boat and running cost of two petrol outboards. They did try a single drive but the turbulent wake produced by the tunnel in the centre of the boat make it impractical.

In theory they should be well suited to British conditions and it will be interesting to see if they catch on.

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I contacted Weymouth marina and for a 9ft 6in beam as on MotorCat they said it should be a standard berthing charge as it fits a std berth. They have a trimaran with a 26ft beam there and such examples obviously need to be charged more. That said what about all the mooring options that cost little or nothing that are not open to a monohull. Bembridge is a good example - beach Motorcat by the pub or walk a couple of miles to it from the marina and pay a whole lot more for the privilege. MotorCat can be stored on a trailer in a marina - really easy to launch and saves a lot on moorings. Can also be trailed to cheaper places for the winter. Lots of cheaper drying moorings available which are not particularly restrictive as Motorcat only draws 12inches.

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This sounds a bit more promising then, so what is the price? and will it fit on a UK legal trailer, I understood 8ft 6in was the limit on beam.

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The demo MotorCat was trailed from Poland to Portsmouth via London on the back of a 4x4. I have trailed it around the S. Coast myself a few times now. A load may project each side of a trailer up to total width of 2.9 metres which is about the width of MotorCat, however, as a cat both hulls need to be supported so the trailer is about the same overall width as the boat. Consequently, it is classed as an abnormal load by the authorities. All it means is that you have to fax an appropriate form to the police 2 days before you leave - I have one readily prepared on my computer and just change the departure dates and times as required. NO ESCORT IS REQUIRED. I would not recommend towing every weekend but it is great for beginning and end of the seasons and certainly for keeping the boat in a cheaper trailer park and launching as required.

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