Power cats offer a lot of advantages over monohulls, but there are
trade offs. Power cats are usually more efficient than monohulls, since they are pushing two skinny hulls through the
water rather than a big fat
hull that takes more power to get going. So you can get decent cruising speeds -- 14-16 knots -- from a power cat with much smaller engines than a similar-sized monohull. Also power cats are usually softer riding in
head seas, and are a bit more stable when they are at
anchor.
On the down side, power cats are very weight sensitive. You cannot load them up with heavy granite counters, huge
fuel tanks and other heavy items because the performance drops dramatically as the weight goes up. Also, power cats can have a quick snap roll in beam seas that is unpleasant. Accommodations down in the hulls can seem cramped, especially with regard to floor space. And sometimes
engine access can be difficult since the engines are jammed down in the skinny hulls. One final disadvantage to power cats is finding slips -- many power cats in the 45-foot range have 21-foot beams, which greatly limits slips you can squeeze into.
There are several new power cats coming on the market. However, power cat companies seem to come and go --
Manta,
PDQ, Transocean, and one or two South African power cat companies have all gone out of business in the last few years. One or two
charter companies offer big power cats like the
Leopard 46 in the
Virgin Islands and
Bahamas -- your friend should try out one to see if he likes it. The
Maine Cat listed above is a fine power cat, but it is a little bit of a "purist" power cat -- very light, very thin, efficient hulls, not designed for four staterooms and big crowds. A company in
Florida called
Endeavour builds big power cats -- 40, 44 and 48-footers. They are decently built but not everyone finds them visually appealing. The 48-footer in particular has a bit of a floating condo look to it.
The French build some interesting power cats. I'm notr sure if it is Jeannau who build the
Maryland 37 and bigger power cats, and there was a nice power cat called the
Lagoon 42 that was popular here. There are several power cat
internet forums.
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