Cara Marine New Motor Cruiser

G

Gludy

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Joined
19 Aug 2001
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Location
Brecon, Wales
www.sailingvideos4us.com
Has anyone any info on the new Cara Marine (Cork Eire) Motor Yacht?

It uses twin 700kp Cats to drive a water jets.
0.7 m draft. Can dry out. - even reversed up the beach!
34knots top speed.
Seems very seaworthy - copes with f8 cruising very fast in it in it with a stable helm through the waves. Itis based on a pilot vessel hull.
Low air draft, so OK up canels etc. 60 foot l.o.a.
Cruises at 28 knots or so.
Can be moved in almost any direction from standing position etc.
Will withstand one compartment fully flooded.
Its a very interesting boat.
I know that one has been built with two more being built ready this July.

Its a possible boat for me next year, when I might be able to afford such a boat - I am spending the year deciding - so will no doubt blow hot and cold on a number of boats but at the moment this one has captured my imagination.

Comments on it would be appreciated.

Kind regards
Paul



Paul<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by Gludy on Sun May 26 09:09:42 2002 (server time).</FONT></P>
 
Re: GLUDY Cara Marine

I have the full spec emailed to me by CARA send me your email and I'll send it to you.
Very very impressive spec I must say.

cneighbour
 
Web Link is:-
http://www.caramarine.ie/
Not a very informative site.

I have the spec which was sent by Cara and it is very impressive.

The last 2 boats I know that went to the Channel Isles - one hit a net - out of action for 4 dayss - the other messed up their props - out of action for weeks.
Neither would have happened with a jet drive.
The jet drive site explains how you can move in any of the 360 degrees in a controlled manner - you can crawl sidewys out of a berth!

The web sitee on the drives has videos that explain it all fairly well:-


Paul
 
Water jets + pilot boat build quality = squillions of quids, I bet. Anyone know what these Cara things cost? North of a million for a 50 footer I reckon
 
Thats reasonable if you think anything costing £630k can be called reasonable.
One point though. Because the engines are not under the saloon but back aft, you do seem to lose some accomodation volume compared with a traditional flybridge/aft cabin boat. There still seems to be 'engine space' under the saloon if the picture is to be believed so whats in there?
Personally, if I had a spare £630k, I'd blow some of it on a Broom 50 which will probably have much the same accomodation volume as the Cara,knowing I'd get my money back when I sold it and blow the rest on a Ferrari 550M
 
Re: GLUDY Cara Marine

I know this is a very old thread but a Cara 60 has come up for sale and I am interested.

My boating involves coastal passages along the Pacific Ocean so a decent swell combined with wind waves can make it tricky. Currently my 38 Cigarette does it quite well but I would like something bigger that I can stay on with friends.

Time has shown that not many were built and I am trying to find if there were any handling or build issues that may have surfaced.

It is interesting that I have never seen one with many hours which makes me wonder why.

Yes it is ugly, time hasn’t helped change that.

Yes it is an unknown brand and resale will be very hard when I decide to sell.

Yes only 4 or 5 were built and 2 are currently for sale.

Yes it is a very inefficient use of space. A similar vintage Princess with much larger engines is in the same asking price range and it has a lot more usable room and a much higher quality looking interior.

Having said all of that, at the right price it may be of interest considering it has pilot boat heritage but pilot boats don’t often have jets.

My man worry is the jets. For a boat that claims to have rough sea heritage I am not convinced that off the plane with a following sea that it would be fun to be on. Would coming off the thottle down a wave mean no steering when you need it most?

Any comments are most welcome.
 
Re: GLUDY Cara Marine

Can’t comment on Cara but have a little experience with jets. Low speed manouvreing they are great, low speeds off the plane you need to work the steering a bit to track straight (but you get used to it) and on a 12m cabin RIB in lumpy conditions in the Irish Sea I didn’t have any complaints but then we were keeping the power on. The builders (Redbay) had some concerns that there may be the odd issue in a following sea but they were pleased with the way it handled. Lots of wind farm support vessels with jets in the North Sea.

Not a common option on leisure boats though and fuel efficiency might be a consideration.
 
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Re: GLUDY Cara Marine

And there was me thinking that the ghost of gludy had reappeared to entertain us once more;)
 
Re: GLUDY Cara Marine

Whitelighter said:
This thread is 16 years old...
Click to expand...

It is but at least the Kubcat did his research to see what information there already is on the forum instead of just posting a question.
I was surprised to see the ghost of Gludy resurrected too! Originally posted the month before I joined the Forum! :)
 
Re: GLUDY Cara Marine

I sea trialled one of these in Kinsale in circa 2004. One thing I remember vividly - I executed a 360 turn at 26 kts without a hint of lean. My SWMBO was chatting to a crew member in the saloon and didn't even notice the turn. We were also able to hold position against a cross current of four or five knots without any steering or throttle adjustments. Although the general build quality seemed good, I seem to remember we were a bit underwhelmed by the interior configuration.
 
Re: GLUDY Cara Marine

It is comforting to know that water jets are used in some pretty big seas.

My knowledge of jets is very limited. I have seen many claims, usually by jet manufacturers, that they are more efficient at speed.

What do you think the fuel efficiency penalty would be for a boat such as this?
 
Re: GLUDY Cara Marine

Haven’t visited the boat yet but it certainly doesn’t look like a well thought out use of space looking at the photos and in my opinion, time hasn’t been kind from a visual perspective.

The sea trial does sound positive though. Thank you.
 
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