TomCat 24 sea-trialed by Bob Austin

Before moving to power from sail, Bob Austin, a retired physician, shown at the helm of his TomCat, left tens of thousands of ocean miles in his wake, including cruising his own boat across the Atlantic and racing to Hawaii from California several times. After owning a trawler yacht, Bob and his wife Marie decided to downsize. Here is his account of sea-trialing the TomCat 24. The report was first posted on Power Catamaran List:

We looked at several other boats in our quest for a trailerable catamaran cruiser. We would like to have a cruising range of over 300 miles, enough storage for 10 days food and gear, an easy to get in bunk, a head with shower, and speed up to 30 mph. This needs to be trailerable behind a standard tow vehicle, and without permits. We currently own a 22-foot C-Dory Cruiser which is light, but hard to get into the bunk and no head (portipotty under the bunk).

This is my impression of the TomCat 24.

General fit and finish was typical of the C-Dory line. The interior was spray gel coated, but not polished. The hull to deck joint fasteners had epoxy or some other sealant over them like the classic C-Dory.

The side decks were extremely narrow (4 inches). The hand rail on the cabin top was way inboard, so walking along the side deck was difficult--and almost impossible to undo dock lines from the side. There was just a side cleat about 1/3 aft, no foredeck or anchor cleat--no forward cleats.

The windows were very large--the middle foreward window opened to allow a breeze, aft windows opened about half way, sliding windows opened slightly over a foot. The boat was cool enough under way--but at rest, a bit hot in the enclosed pilot house when it was 90 degrees outside.

The cockpit was good size about 7 feet x6 feet and self-bailing. There is a built-in seat/ice chest/fish box aft, and a nice diving platform/swim step.

Headroom was 6 feet 4 inches, with a two-burner diesel stove and sink as in the traditional C-Dory with helm seat on the starboard side. Both dinette seats faced foreward and could seat four inside the pilot house on the port side. The bunk is athwartships, about 7 feet x 48 inches, comfortable and very easy to get in and out of. The head was under the steering console and difficult to get in and out (for a person 6 feet 2 inches and 200 pounds). Head room in the head was about 5 feet--cramped at the best.

Sight lines were fair foreward--but the bottom of the opening window (middle of three windows) cut off sight about 100 feet out, so for me a natural position did not give good visibility--I would adjust the seat height (not easy to do).

The hulls are definitely "planing," with a sharp entry, but becoming V almost immediately. The boat had twin 115-horsepower Yahama 4-stroke counter-rotation outboards. Maneuvering was excellent. The boat came up to speed as a planing boat would--but definitely there was a difference at 17 mph, where power could be backed off--indicating this as the best planing speed. The top speed with full fuel and four adults was 35 mph. Best cruising speed was at 4,000 RPM which gave about 24 mph and a fuel consumption giving 2.9 miles a gallon. (This is about 0.7 mile per gallon better than Glacier Bay 2690--whose best speed seemed to be around 24 mph and 2.2 miles a gallon.) The sea was very flat and we ran back across the wake (which was minimal). Even on this I felt that there was some "slap" with the TomCat and we felt that the Glacier Bay rode better; however, the motion of the TomCat was not as "quick" as the Glacier Bay.

On the Glacier Bay 2690, the head was much easier to access. The galley was smaller and dinette was smaller, with less storage in the Glacier Bay. The visibility in the Glacier Bay was better, as was the access to the foreward deck--and deck hardware. There was no opening windshield in the Glacier Bay but I feel that top opening hatches facing forward would give adequate ventilation.

The Tom Cat 24 with 116 gallons of fuel would have a range of 290 miles with 10% reserve. The Glacier Bay 2690 with 180 gallons of gas has a range of 350 miles with a 10% reserve.

Running the TomCat 24 on one engine gave a max of 10 miles per hour. Anything more and the engine was lugging as the boat had to get over a "hump" to get more speed. The Glacier Bay was able to get to over 15 mph (but has 35 more hp/engine).

We also looked at the Twin Vee 27-foot weekender: work boat construction, not well finished, no headroom in the cabin and the demo boat leaked badly! World Cat had a very nice fit and finish. The bunk in the 28 footer was too small, the head was unusable when the bunk was made up. It was much more of a fishing boat. The Sea Cat, was not quite as nice as the World Cat--and had the same short-comings--none of these boats had an adequate galley for full-time trailer-cruising.

All of these boats require at least a 3/4-ton truck preferably a one ton--since the towing weight gets close to 10,000 pounds, including trailer. My friend with the TomCat 24 felt that his 1/2 ton was struggling, even in flat Florida.

--Bob Austin

As it turned out, the new TomCat 255, which replaces the 24 in the C-Dory line, addressed some of Bob’s concerns, and he and his wife Marie purchased one which they happily cruise from their home in Pensacola, Florida. As many of their boats have been named, the TomCat is called Thataway.

The saddest day

They say the two happiest days in a sailor's life are when he buys his boat and when he sells it. I can certainly say what is one of the saddest times: The day the boat is hauled out for the winter. Especially when the boating season has been as short as ours.

At Last was hauled at her home port, Frenchman's Bay Marina in Pickering, Ontario, which, happily, is only five minutes from our home overlooking the bay and Lake Ontario. Thus, we will be able to visit as often as we like over the winter months.

We were one of the last boats hauled out in mid-November. The plan is to be one of the first back in before April's end.

TomCat 24 TomCat

No, this TomCat hasn’t run aground. Her owners are gathering clams by the bucket in Kachemak Bay, Southcentral Alaska, after easing unto a sandy gravel clam bed to await the ebb of the tide. In all, 190 quarts of razor clams were taken for a feast that won't be soon forgotten.

John and Shanna Stauffacher purchased the 2000 TomCat 24, powered by twin Honda BF90s, in July 2006 to use it the way Alaskans use their boats: They hunt bear and deer, they fish, they harvest clams, shrimp and crabs. And, yes, they cruise, exploring glaciers, fiords and historic sites, and there is always wildlife to sightsee.

Their homeport is Sterling, Alaska, but they regularly trailer to Homer, Seward and Whittier. John is shown below on the ferry between Ketchikan and Haines right after they first bought the boat.


Here’s how John explains why he and his wife, Shanna, shown above with the black bear, started thinking about a power cat to replace their aluminum monohull:

We were interested in a power cat for one main reason: We were tired of getting beat up in the tight chop that is common in the saltwater of Southcentral Alaska in a monohull boat. Secondary was the better fuel economy of power cats.

Why did you decide on the TomCat?

We weren't previously familiar with the TomCat until my wife saw the one we bought for sale at boattrader.com. I wasn't sure I was interested, but my wife kept pushing me to call the owner. I did some investigating online and discovered the C-Brats site where I got some basic questions answered. I also had a good conversation with the C-Dory factory which helped me arrive at a proper used value. At the time, C-Dory still had all their sales information available online for the TomCat, including magazine articles. (See link at top right.)

What are the highlight experiences with the boat?

Our highlight with this boat was an eight-day seven-night bear hunt in May, 2007. We departed the port of Whittier and never used any other port services until our return eight days later. We stayed comfortable and well fed for the entire trip.

What’s next?

We plan an 800-mile trailer ride to Haines, Alaska, to cruise the northern Inside Passage for the month of June 2008. In May 2008, we will make our annual week-long hunt for black bears in Prince William Sound.

What's your background in boating?

Our TomCat is our second boat. We still own our first boat, an 18-foot Harbercraft/Jetcraft aluminum monohull. Everything we do with our Tomcat we used to do with our first boat; we just weren't near as comfortable and we had to pick our days because of the weather.

We've really enjoyed this boat, but . . . we've had some real problems to overcome, the biggest one being trailering this boat and the damage done by the trailer to the boat. (More on that in a future post.)

John and Shanna call their TomCat 24 TomCat, at least for now:

We starting using the name TomCat as soon as we bought the boat. It was mid-July of 2006 and we were in the middle of our high use season. This was supposed to be temporary, but until we work on becoming a little more creative, it has stuck.

Click here for the Alaska Adventure Journal site maintained by John and Shanna.

Lake Ontario all to myself

Ice! I slid down the icy dock to At Last, our TomCat 24, and almost lost my footing climbing aboard. The deck was covered with ice bubbles.

The heavy dew had frozen into bubbles over all horizontal surfaces. Additionally, I had to scrape the windshield before I could get under way, but soon the morning sun warmed the boat and me. Thus began my first singlehanded passage with the TomCat, a 40-nautical-mile run across Lake Ontario, from Frenchman's Bay to Port Dalhousie and back the following day.

We never expected to purchase the TomCat this summer and had made all sorts of plans, including a three-week holiday in Italy, by the time we had the chance to buy Goose from Ed Devlin on Long Island. Which is why, when most boats have already been pulled out for winter storage, we're just getting started with boating.


It was an excellent passage out and back, running at about 20 knots in seas up to 3 feet, generally on the beam. There was one ship on the horizon, headed for the Welland Canal, on Saturday, and no one out there today, except for two boats heading out of Frenchman's Bay as we came home.

The Yamaha 100s worked purrfectly and the Wallas was all you'd expect a stove/heater to be on on a day when temps hit all of 5C. Klean Heat, a synthetic kerosene, burns cleanly as advertised.

Not only did I have the lake to myself, I was the only guest at an all-but-deserted Port Dalhousie Pier Marina. Which just made the weekend that much more perfect for me. And the blues--the other reason for heading across the lake--were simply outstanding at the Lion's Tavern in Port Dalhousie. If you're ever cruising these waters, and you appreciate the blues, make a point of catching Suzanne Hyatt and the Odyssey Blues Band on Saturdays from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m.