Lagoon Powercat in St Kats

[vjmehra]

Its actually been there for a while, I'd just never noticed before!

Has anyone on here every helmed a powercat before, how do they compare to a similar sized mono?

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

Has anyone on here every helmed a powercat before, how do they compare to a similar sized mono?

I'm bumping this, just because I'd be interested in the answer to this as well. Anyone?

Cheers
Jimmy

 

[Firefly625]

I'm bumping this, just because I'd be interested in the answer to this as well. Anyone?

Cheers
Jimmy

Well… here's a guess. Quite manoeuvrable, but width can be a handful, but Really stable....and roomy! ;-)

 

[Mr Googler]

I've played with smaller cats from powercat and cheater marine.

Excellent in a chop especially short sharp stuff. You are talking 30 knots without spilling the g&t, whilst all around are at semi displacement. Can "spit" water out the front. This is due to air pressure build up as the bow comes down. I drove a photography boat for cowes week, one year with a cat and the photographer was very happy until we came off the red jet wash a bit keen and he got "spat on"

Very stable at rest but can make you feel a bit sick as they sort of twist rather than rock. I felt a bit odd a few times at rest but never had on monohull. Your gonna need a wider berth JTB

 

[Kawasaki]

[QUOTE

Has anyone on here every helmed a powercat before, how do they compare to a similar sized mono?[/QUOTE]
Yes
A circa 50 footer
Plus similar vessels to windfarms etc
As FARSCO said, they can 'twist' a bit
Especially into a chop on the forward quarter but apart from that they are incredibly seaworthy imho

 

[Jonmendez]

Yup driven several, Med and back and in the BVI's The Lagoon variety are pretty good until its gets to a F6 on the bow as they slam a bit then, otherwise the space is amazing. Slight reservations to how they are constructed as its a sandwich - to save weight, and thats great when its holding together, but when you have seen one thats been on a reef you gulp slightly at how thin it all is underwater.

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

Your gonna need a wider berth JTB

Actually that one's quite easy - buy the berth next door (it's currently for sale). Somebody else has already done this on my quai. Only obvious downside is you're paying 2x service charges, but equally you would get 2x rental income if you're away in the summer months.

Cheers
Jimmy

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

[QUOTE
Yes
A circa 50 footer
Plus similar vessels to windfarms etc
As FARSCO said, they can 'twist' a bit
Especially into a chop on the forward quarter but apart from that they are incredibly seaworthy imho

Yup driven several, Med and back and in the BVI's The Lagoon variety are pretty good until its gets to a F6 on the bow as they slam a bit then, otherwise the space is amazing. Slight reservations to how they are constructed as its a sandwich - to save weight, and thats great when its holding together, but when you have seen one thats been on a reef you gulp slightly at how thin it all is underwater.

Interesting stuff, esp Jon's comments about heavy weather slamming, and build quality. I am reminded of wakeup's yoghurty pot comments on another thread...

They do look interesting though. I remember watching the P1 powerboat racing off Brighton years and years ago, it was a fairly rough day and various boats were heading out to spectate. The monohulls were definitely having a hard time of it, getting kicked about all over the place, but at that time there were two Lagoon Power 43's in Brighton (I think one of them was called Top Cat), and one of these took a load of people out. I can remember being struck by how little it seemed to be affected by the sea state, although iirc he had a bunch of people in the seating at the front of the boat, and they got properly soaked!

Cheers
Jimmy

 

[kcrane]

I chartered the Lagoon a few years back for a couple of weeks around Florida. The sea conditions weren't challenging, worst case was less than a metre, so I can't speak to heavy weather handling, but I do recall we were making tea on the move and carrying cups up to the flybridge. At modest speeds not sure I'd be doing that in the V48 There was a storm as we got back to Miami, but we were in before the sea kicked up.

Can't remember the engine size, they weren't that big, but it was happy to cruise at 11-12kts, when it was quite relaxed and quiet on the flybridge.

The hulls are far apart, the beam must be 20ft or more, so you spin on the spot with one ahead and one reverse. It isn't that high either, so not too bad in a cross wind. We had to slot it backwards between posts on a few occasions and found you had to get it right from the beginning, once committed you couldn't shuffle left or right easily (no thrusters).

There is a lot of space, but as others have said before, the space isn't evenly distributed. The saloon is fine, probably similar to a 40 odd foot flybridge monohull. The aft cabin is huge, as you'd find on a 60ft mono, but a little short of headroom. The cabins in the hulls are narrow, but no worse than third cabins usually are on a 50ft'r.

There was a lot of space on the aft deck and if I recall the bathing platform was roomy as well. There is a sitting area in the bows, but that needed cushions etc. to make it work well and they weren't in evidence.