Salt Water/ Offshore/ Rough Conditions. Catamaran Coaches?
Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2015 5:58 am
Hi all,
New member here. It's great to have a chance to see everyone's opinions and knowledge show on so many topics.
I've done a fair bit of research and would like to hear from some people with experience:
The boat I am looking for will be used in rough, choppy, salty water. It will have the crap pounded out of it on a daily basis with wind commonly over 25kts. By "choppy" I mean- if it's less than 2' (trough to peak) we consider it a relatively calm day. 4'-5' is not rare.
I finally (and reluctantly) ruled out getting an aluminum tritoon, although I So! Much! Wanted! to get some nice, slick performance-hulled beauty to burn around in- all the ones I looked at seemed to have too much fancy stuff up top and not enough meat below. I've read the horror stories of corrosion despite the anodes, the bottom paint, and the rinsing after each use. And I learned about the shoebox-like aerodynamics of a fenced pontoon boat trying to maneuver around in strong wind.
Has anybody here had any experience with any fiberglass/epoxy boatmakers, along the lines of Catamaran Coaches out of Bradenton, Florida? They appear to make tritoons (oops, sorry JC, "triple pontoons"), except out of glass instead of tin cans; I contacted them and received useful replies with good information.
But I would like to hear from someone who's either bought or ridden in one. Please share what you've learned about the following:
1) Appearance close-up
2) Horsepower needed (significantly more than aluminum, due to more weight?)
3) Hull Design: Are all three hulls mini-V's? How easily do they plane, how do they bank into turns, is the center pontoon much larger? No strakes i guess?
4) Rough Conditions Performance. I'd love to hear from someone who's battled some chop or strong conditions.
5) Build Quality. (Rails, finish, captains console, etc)
Also if you have a tin-toon and have thrashed about in some waves, I'd be happy to hear from you too.
I'm going pontoon if I can, because for my work i need a lot of deck space, people need to be able to get in and out of the water easily, and I hate crawling over piles of people and loose equipment on Zodiacs. Also I'm in a remote location and need to be able to beach the boat or repair it myself.
Thank you all! I'm looking forward to hearing from you.
Matt-0
New member here. It's great to have a chance to see everyone's opinions and knowledge show on so many topics.
I've done a fair bit of research and would like to hear from some people with experience:
The boat I am looking for will be used in rough, choppy, salty water. It will have the crap pounded out of it on a daily basis with wind commonly over 25kts. By "choppy" I mean- if it's less than 2' (trough to peak) we consider it a relatively calm day. 4'-5' is not rare.
I finally (and reluctantly) ruled out getting an aluminum tritoon, although I So! Much! Wanted! to get some nice, slick performance-hulled beauty to burn around in- all the ones I looked at seemed to have too much fancy stuff up top and not enough meat below. I've read the horror stories of corrosion despite the anodes, the bottom paint, and the rinsing after each use. And I learned about the shoebox-like aerodynamics of a fenced pontoon boat trying to maneuver around in strong wind.
Has anybody here had any experience with any fiberglass/epoxy boatmakers, along the lines of Catamaran Coaches out of Bradenton, Florida? They appear to make tritoons (oops, sorry JC, "triple pontoons"), except out of glass instead of tin cans; I contacted them and received useful replies with good information.
But I would like to hear from someone who's either bought or ridden in one. Please share what you've learned about the following:
1) Appearance close-up
2) Horsepower needed (significantly more than aluminum, due to more weight?)
3) Hull Design: Are all three hulls mini-V's? How easily do they plane, how do they bank into turns, is the center pontoon much larger? No strakes i guess?
4) Rough Conditions Performance. I'd love to hear from someone who's battled some chop or strong conditions.
5) Build Quality. (Rails, finish, captains console, etc)
Also if you have a tin-toon and have thrashed about in some waves, I'd be happy to hear from you too.
I'm going pontoon if I can, because for my work i need a lot of deck space, people need to be able to get in and out of the water easily, and I hate crawling over piles of people and loose equipment on Zodiacs. Also I'm in a remote location and need to be able to beach the boat or repair it myself.
Thank you all! I'm looking forward to hearing from you.
Matt-0