Fishing Catamaran
 

I posted this on Yacht Forums but I may be a little small for those guys.

I want to go fishing, I don’t want to burn fuel from hostile countries and I want to be able to live on the boat.

The venue will be the Sea of Cortez mostly and points south eventually. The fishing will be marlin, sailfish, tuna, dorado, yellowtail, etc. I need a fishing friendly platform.

The idea of using fuel derived from sponsors of terrorism is off the table. I want to use sail power. I’ve seen a couple catamarans that may fit the bill but I’ve only fished sailboats on the east coast. These were monohull, class boats, sailed mostly at club races. In fact, we came in second one Saturday and I managed to pull in two bluefish as a bonus! Fishing technique is a little different from a sailboat and it helps to have plenty of line capacity but I’m sure this can be pulled off successfully with a little practice.

From a quick look at some of the cats out there, I’m thinking something in the 40’ to 50’ range makes the most sense. Features that look right to me are back stays forward of the transom area, an unobstructed, comfortable area to fish from the back, the tender moved out of the way to the bow, and the traveler located overhead. I don’t want a full time crew around. I want to be able to run the boat with a couple pals or my family. Some of the boats built by Voyage, Privilege, Leopard, etc look like they may work out nicely (especially the Leopards). I haven’t had a chance to look at everything out there so I’m sure there are more to consider. The best thing is I can charter cats in all shapes and sizes and try them out before I make a commitment.

All the boats I’ve seen have full batten main sails. I think I’d like to have a reefing or furling main that rolls up into the boom so I can ditch the sails quickly and maneuver with power once a big fish is on the line. Roller reefing jibs appear to be fairly common. For smaller fish like dorado, it would be nice to just dump the sails and drift once hooked up.

I think those trampolines on the fore deck are a waste of space. Why aren’t these set up for a tender?

How ugly would it get if I tried to aggressively back down on a fish in a cat? Would it just dig a hole and take on water or would it behave more graciously? It looks like fighting a big fish from one transom step or the other would be almost ideal. I was thinking it would be pretty easy to add a railing so a big fish didn’t pull an angler in. I haven’t found a location for a fighting chair yet but it’s something I’d eventually have to consider.

though you didnt state your budget, i think this is the boat for you. plenty of room for those fighting chairs, not a bad deal either for a 10 year old aluminum cat. sorry no furlings at all. if a fish can make you take on water on this thing. time to find a new hobby. good luck!
http://newimages.yachtworld.com/1/1/...?1073442042000

I figure it'll qualify as a second home so that price doesn't scare me as much as the way it looks. The Robertson & Caine, Moorings, Leopard series are much more attractive and the set up in the rear looks like the most fishing friendly of any I've found so far.

Thanks!

I have a friend who delivers Leopards and fishes 6 lines without any problem. You wouldn't want to put a dinghy up where the tramps are though. Bow weight in cats is a negative.

Also, the freeboard on most bigger cats, makes leaving a dinghy up there very difficult, since you'd need davits or something to haul it out of the water. You wouldn't want to drag a dinghy over the decks and scrape the hell out of the decks.

Yea! Now we're talking!

I'd love to know how he sets up. If you get a chance, ask him how he'd set up one of those if it were his. Where would he add rod holders, how about outriggers... I was thinking you could rig something on the back stays for out riggers.

Thanks. You've made my day!

I just hate to see all that space wasted up there while cluttering up the back of the boat. A Zodiac doesn't weigh much, how about if I separated out the motor and only stored the inflatable on the forward deck?

I was kind of hoping it might even be possible to carry two small inflatables under the trampolines of a larger boat. I guess that's out of the question too...

Keeping anything under the tramps is pretty much impossible. If you're in rough conditions they would just get destroyed.
As for the setup, the bigger Leopard's like the 45 or 47 are about 25' wide so you can even fish without riggers. Just rodholders mounted on the rails.

I have to figure out where to keep the tender. I'll need one in the Sea of Cortez to get into lots of places where even a cat won't be able to go, Mulege, for example. I also want it for making bait in the morning while the wife and kids are sleeping in.

There's a rental outfit in La Paz that has these boats available. I have to get down there and take one out for a week.

I'd love to talk to your pal about his experiences with these boats.