Hiya
One clear distinction needs to be made. Inshore fishing is VASTLY different from offshore fishing.
When looking for a ALL-ROUND boat, these are some attributes that one needs to consider. How many crew do you plan on taking? A 18-21' CABIN boat will only allow 4 anglers to fish. For inshore work, you will often need to anchor your boat. This is downright DANGEROUS on a full cabin boat, if the sea is choppy. You need a crew member to walk AROUND the cabin, then go to the bow and pull the anchor. VERY, VERY easy to fall overboard. The ideal set-up on a 18-21' boat would be a centre console. This will allow you to fish 6-8 anglers AND pull the anchor easily and more importantly, SAFELY.
Thika, you make some very pertinent points, BUT, some of them are seriously flawed:
- A high bow with reserve buoyancy (chuckies to trawlers all have this)
- If water DOES come over the bow, it should be shed overboard and not fill the boat
High bouyancy is critical!! The buttcat has its ENTIRE hull foam filled, as opposed to the bottle filled monohulls. A small experiment, take a glass and fill it with marbles. Now pour water into the glass. When its full, pour that water into another glass so that you can see how much water was in the glass with the marbles. You will be surprised to see how much water there is!! This is EXACTLY what happens to a bottle filled hull. There is so much space between the bottles, that HUGE amounts of water can be retained in the hull, should you hole your hull.
A high bow is only a benefit on a BIG vessel. This is a photo of my previous boat, a 26' Buttcat:
As you can see, it is a walk-around cabin, which is quite high. I've taken QUITE A FEW swells over the TOP of that cabin!! So, no matter HOW high your bow is, if you get caught in a 30knt+ NW'erly wind with a swell, you WILL take water over the front. The problem is that you will be riding almost straight INTO the swell and wind. That means your speed will be anything from 8-15knts, depending on the swells. When a big swell rears up in front of you, you have to ease back on the throttles, or else you'll jump over the swell and land in the hole behind it, damaging your boat and possibly your crew. When you ease back on the throttles, as soon as you crest the swell, you can apply power again. When you ease back the throttles, the nose of your boat will drop. IF the next swell is very close, it will simply break/wash OVER the boats nose and or cabin!!
NOW, if you take a swell over your cabin, your boat will have quite a bit of water in it. The next swell will simply dump some more water into the boat, also over the cabin. Since you're moving VERY slowly, your scuppers will be UNDER the water, which means it can't clear the water effectively. That is why the commercial guys have MONSTEROUS bilge pumps, with outlet pipes as big as 100mm, just to clear the water. At this point, you are not yet in danger of sinking, BUT, you are in a very dangerous position of CAPSIZING. The only way to clear your deck is to turn the boat around and run with the sea until all the water is gone. If you turn at the wrong moment, and the swell catches you broadside, with all that water on deck, you will most likely capsize.
Similarly, cabin boats having the windows smashed out by the sea or them simply popping out of their frames due to all the banging is actually very common. Now, on a full cabin boat, should your front window pop out in a big NW'erly wind, you're going to have PLENTY of water INSIDE your cabin, which will add weight to the bow, making you take on even MORE water.........
These are extreme examples, we don't fish in this weather conditions, but often the weatherman gets it wrong and we have to endure this type of conditions to get back home.
- Generous freeboard (high gunnels)
High gunwhles is a double edged sword. For inshore use, high gunwhales are great, especially if you have children onboard. Offshore though, they can be dangerous. The higher your gunwhales, the more water your boat can retain above its deck!!
There are many superb offshore vessels with low gunwhales. Many of the commercial buttcats have very low gunwhales. Similarly, the 620 supercat also has low gunwhales. Even the durban style surf launching boats have very low gunwhales at the back, allowing for water to flow out easier, should one take a wave over the bow. Think about the old surf launching legend, the ski-vee. They too have very low gunwhales!!
My personal opinion is that the monohulls days are numbered. The Cape has always been the stronghold of the monohulls, like Capecraft, billfish, etc. The commercials love them for their weight carrying capabilities. The cats, ESPECIALLY the butt-cat range has done phenominally well in the Cape over the last few years. Over the last three years or so, this is the new boats that were/was/still is at the marina where i moor my boat:
33' Buttcat - Jaguar
33' Buttcat - Dr.Fish
30' Buttcat - Obsession
30' Buttcat - Cabo
28' Buttcat - Sirius
28' Buttcat - Big Fisher 3
28' Buttcat - White Pointer
28' Buttcat - Sea Urchin
28' Buttcat - Ama Feesh
26' Buttcat - Tuna Hunter
26' Buttcat - Ocean Warrior
26' Buttcat - Kingfisher
26' Buttcat - Blue Odysey
23' Buttcat - White Marlin
23' Buttcat - Discovery
That is beside the 4 or 5 new 26' Lee cats, 35' Leecat - Online, the 3x35' Geecats, 900 Cobra cat and the Two Ocean 25 and 32' Magnums cats.
Over the same time period, i know of only ONE 28' Cape Craft - Pinch of Salt, that joined the marina. (Besides the gorgeous 1250 Rodman, which is how-ever in a class of its own!!)
Almost all of the abovementioned boats are used in the offshore tuna fishery, so all these boat owners must surely know something..........
Thika, when i get back to Cape Town, i'm going to take you out fishin' on my boat, then you can also see what the fuss is all about!!
Stonechamp, the 21' Admiral is fairly new to the market. I don't know of anyone who owns one, so really can't comment on its performance. I did how-ever have a 21' Hysucat semi-rigid, which also ran on a hydrofoil system, like the admiral 21 and it was a awesome boat!! The only downside was that it was wet, but it carried a load well and ran phenominally well in ANY sea. If that is the style of boat you're looking for, check out:
http://www.ratcat.co.za/250.html They are the guys who now build the hysucat style/range of boats.
Also worth checking:
Seacat :
http://www.linexyamaha.co.za/products_view.asp?cat=18&subcat=174&subsubcat=293
