Personal Dive Boat (Catamaran)

[ryoung99]

I know there has been a few threads on this topic, but none on the available cats. At this time I am looking at the following cats

26' Grady White F26 TigerCat
26' Glacier Bay 2680
26' Glacier Bay 2670
25' Glacier Bay 252 Cuddy

Potentially a 29' Pro Sports 2860

All of these boats are around 5000 pounds, thus I can pull them with my RV and/or Excursion. Pulling a boat around is not a problem as we currently have two offshore racing boats of equal or bigger sizes that we haul (and heavier).

I am trying to be honest about the diving we will do with the boats and have come up with the following... Lake Tahoe, Folsom Lake, Shasta Lake, Monterey, Fort Bragg, Channel Islands, Catalina and San Diego. We will take about 1 trip a month on average for a three plus day weekend.

Typically on board will be me, my wife and a buddy or two (although I would open the trips up to dive friends since the incremental cost to me would be zero). We agree that we want a cuddy with either an electric or pump head. A fresh water shower is a must as well. All of these boats meet that criteria. The Grady White is pretty awesom with a full head, and shore power so it is a true weekender. All of them have an electric fridge as well. They are all designed a fishing boats with tanks that we can clean and use a freshwater tanks for camera's and cleaning out gear during the final dive (bonus).

Personally I really think the cats are the way to go in this size boat, and they are relatively affordable (less than $60k used).

Does anyone have any experience with any of these boats as a dive boat? I would be very curious, in theory they sound promising to me, but would love to hear from someone with experience.

Thanks,
Rick

 

[dlndavid]

Don't know much about the boats you listed, but they all sound nice. Where is Shingle Springs anyway, and do you need a buddy?

 

[divetahoe]

I am trying to be honest about the diving we will do with the boats and have come up with the following... Lake Tahoe, Folsom Lake, Shasta Lake, Monterey, Fort Bragg, Channel Islands, Catalina and San Diego. We will take about 1 trip a month on average for a three plus day weekend.

Not a boat owner myself, but if you go to Tahoe, I'll dive with ya!

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Make sure you have getting in/getting out figured out.

It can be a LONG backroll off a boat that size.

It can be a long climb up with a tank on, or a long pull up if you take the tank off (I know
one fellow who's considering a davit with winch to get the tanks back on board).


Chuck

 

[ryoung99]

Thanks for all the thoughts, all these boats have a opening on the stern with a swim platform of some sorts. I will install the right dive ladder if needed.

Thanks

 

[Tom Winters]

Those are all good boats, although I would pass on a Grady White cat. They have their loyal adherents - I'm just not a big Grady White fan.
You can't miss with either a Glacier Bay or the ProKat. Towing in your area will be a challenege though with all those elevations to consider. Whatever hull you get will be ok, but choose your engines wisely. There are some large outboards that I would tend to avoid and some that I would jump on in a heartbeat.
Again, these are all my personal choices - other people love the stuff that I would avoid like the bubonic plague.
Have fun with the cat though - great dive boats!

 

[ryoung99]

Tom,
I have never dealt with ob's before so I would love to hear more of your thoughts.

This is coming around nicely, the wife told me that we had to sell our extra house (went into escrow today) and I have to sell one of our other boats (which I am showing this weekend), it is priced right so I expect to sell it in the next couple of weeks. With the sell of the house, we are writing a second deed of trust, and the interest earned will pay for the boat payment and insurance. I love those kind of deals.

Just to give all of you some additional insight, currently I race offshore powerboats with Pacific Offshore. We have won a few championships in the last couple of years, I have attached a photo of the race boat.

Here is the other boat for sale if anyone is interested...

http://adcache.boattraderonline.com/6/4/6/79590846.htm

Rick

 

[dlndavid]

<snip>
Just to give all of you some additional insight, currently I race offshore powerboats with Pacific Offshore. We have won a few championships in the last couple of years, I have attached a photo of the race boat.

Here is the other boat for sale if anyone is interested...

http://adcache.boattraderonline.com/6/4/6/79590846.htm

Rick

Thought I recognized you, Pittsburg Seafood Festival 2003.
Your boat.
Your Shirts.
Your wife?

 

[mike_s]

Thanks for all the thoughts, all these boats have a opening on the stern with a swim platform of some sorts. I will install the right dive ladder if needed.

Thanks

I have a friend who has a Deep V center console that they dive out of.
THey are looking to replace it with a Catamaran and get one like you
said above because of the openeing in the stern (between the engines)
and the swim platform area. They did say that was much eaiser for diving.

The cat is also a little more stable on roll of the boat while at anchor at
dive sites, which they said is nice for keeping the boat stable while trying
to "walk" on the boat with dive gear on.

You will however need to figure out a dive ladder for it as the wimpy
swim ladder just won't cut it.


One thing major you need to think about on engine choices is
whether you want 4 cycle or 2 cycle since you want to use
the boat in Lake Tahoe. I *think* that they outlawed/banned
2 cycle engines on Tahoe a couple years ago to cut down on
water polution there. Hopefully some of the California folks
here can verify this for you.

The 4 cycles cost more and weigh more also. But they
are cheaper to operate based on gas consumption, but
require oil changes the 2 cyles don't. So pro's and cons
to both.

I've never had an "Evinrude" before, but they have a new
2 cycle outboard that is supposed to be cleaner than
than the new 4 cycles. I would look into that.
The presentation I saw on it was very impressive.
(anyone used one of these?)

hope all this helps.

-Mike

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Two-strokes don't require crankcase oil changes like a four-stroke, but they burn
expensive two-stroke oil. Typical gasil ratio is 50:1, two-stroke oil is about $12 a
gallon if you shop around, so oil will add about .25 to the price of a gallon of gas.

Some two-strokes are banned on Tahoe, some are not. Here's the skinny on
Tahoe http://dbw.ca.gov/Pubs/Blt/