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When it comes to politics you’ll hear as much misinformation as you will truth—and the same can be said about powercats. So, what’s for real, and what’s not? Here are three myths about cats which you’ll hear, but you should NOT believe.
1. Cats have no resale value - Savvy shoppers will check out the book value on used cats as opposed to used monohulls, and discover that this is a load of you-know-what. A 2005 26’ Glacier Bay Canyon Runner or a World Cat 250, for example, has an average resale value that sits right in-between a 25’ Grady-White and a 26’ Sailfish. That sounds mighty strange for a boat that doesn’t have a good resale value, doesn’t it? In fact, selling a cat is no different than selling any other used boat. It may take a while to sell and you will have to find the right buyer, but sooner or later you’ll find ‘em—and you’ll get a fair price.
2. Cats flip over - As cat fan and owner I was disturbed to hear that someone had flipped an 18’ Nautico powercat in the Ocean City inlet. So I did some investigation, and discovered that this happened in the middle of the night, while the boat was being operated by a drunk captain, and an opposing current and 25-knot winds had created six to eight foot waves. In these conditions, anything from a monohull to a motoryacht would have been in serious danger – much less an 18 foot boat with a drunkard at the wheel. But I kept investigating… and couldn’t find anyone who had a direct experience with flipping a cat. In fact, I couldn’t even find anyone who had good second-hand info on a modern powercat that had flipped. Google it – all you’ll find are assertions and rumors that have no facts to back them up, whatsoever.
3. It’s tough to learn how to run a cat – Well, why don’t you tell that to my 10 year old sons, because they don’t have a problem with it! If you’ve ever run a powercat, you may have found it a bit different from running a monohull. Of course, if you’ve ever run a 24-degree deep-V and then a lobster boat, you certainly noticed quite a difference between those boats, too. People seem to forget sometimes that all boats run differently. Sure, someone who’s new to cats will find it a bit unfamiliar at first. In fact, going from one cat to another will also require a learning curve. But it’s no different than the differences between different monohulls.
Are there other false rumors out there about cats? Yep – plenty of them. In fact, this much-maligned design probably accounts for more misinformation than any other modern powerboat. Why? Blame it on overzealous monohull salesmen, the ability to spread falsehoods at lightning speed over the internet, or whatever you like – just don’t believe it, when someone tell you cats have no resale value, the flip, and they’re hard to run.
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