When I decided that I was physically ready to start offshore fishing again, I knew that my first choice in boats would be a catamaran because I loved the soft ride on my World Cat 266SF. Since I'm married now I also have to factor in my wife's wishes. Since my wife has done very little offshore fishing (though she loves boating) I brought her up to speed on the choices/decisions involved with selecting an offshore boat (where EVERYTHING is a compromise). Kelly really does not like the pounding/slamming associated with mono-hulls so it was easy to convince her of the merits of a catamaran. Since I really liked my 1999 World Cat 266SF we put World Cat at the top of the list for boats to investigate. Our first test drive (unplanned) was on a World Cat 330TE and this was probably a mistake since it became the benchmark my wife used against other boats. The 330TE has an unbelievable ride and I probably would have bought a 330TE if it had been available back when I was stock-option boy and had bought the Mirage 32. Given my wife's wish-list it seemed as though the 270SC (walk-around) was the best option on paper, but when we sea-trialed one we were both somewhat disappointed in the useable cockpit space and the ability to safely walk-around the bow. We decided that the 270TE was the best option (certainly for me, hopefully for Kelly as well) since I occasionally fish by myself. One thing we learned is that World Cat strictly enforces dealer territories which meant that we had very little leverage in negotiating a discount on a new (current model) boat since we could ONLY negotiate with the local dealer (Rockledge Boating Center). The local dealer seemed unwilling to negotiate more than 9% off MSRP so we decided to purchase a leftover new 2003 270TE from Lentine Marine in Stuart, FL rigged with new 2004 Yamaha F225 engines. The purchase price of our 2003 270TE is about $35K less than what Rockledge would sell us a 2005 270TE. I actually much prefer the helm seat layout of the 2003 with the 4 built-in rocket launchers on the seat back versus the 2004/2005 which has 3 rocket launchers in the helm seat of which 2 of the 3 are used up to mount the removable seat back. Our 2003 leftover has some cosmetic 'challenges' from sitting on their lot for 12-18 months, but a good detail job should fix it right up (ed: it cleaned up nicely).
We also looked at all the Glacier Bay, ProSports, and Twin Vee catamarans but we decided that the World Cat's best fit our needs. If ProSports did not have such a bad reputation (stuff I've seen first hand and stuff I've read) the 28SC would have been a very interesting option.
We will not be getting a trailer with the boat since I have no desire to tow a big boat at this point and we don't have a capable tow vehicle either. The boat will be kept on a cradle at Scorpion's New Port marina in Port Canaveral.
I plan to install a RayMarine C120 system as the main nav/sonar/radar. I would like to install the 4KW (or 10KW) 4' open array antenna however my electronics budget won't accomodate that antenna so I'm undecided whether to get a smaller radome or wait for a budget supplement to get the open array.
I am also undecided on the autopilot. I've had the Simrad AP-11 on two boats and really liked its overall performance but I don't really care for the Simrad outboard rudder angle feedback mechanism. Which is why the Nautimatic Gladiator TR-1 looks so intriguing. Once Nautimatic releases a version of their control head unit with an LCD display I will probably make the decision on which autopilot to install.
Here are some photos of the 270TE sitting on the dealer's lot waiting to get rigged. In these photos there is a pair of Yamaha 150 outboards hanging on the back of our 270TE. The 2004 Yamaha 225s on the 270SD sitting to the right of our boat will be rigged on our 270TE.
Here you can see the leaning post helm station configuration with the 4 rocket launchers mounted on the seat back. I think this is a much better design than the standard 2004/2005 270TE design and is very similar to the leaning post design I had custom built for my 1999 266SF.
The boat was delivered to my marina in early October 2004. I installed a RayMarine C120 Chartplotter/Fishfinder multifunction unit with GPS antenna, DSM-250 sonar module and transom mounted transducer. Eventually I will add the radar antenna and possibly move to the shoot-thru M260 transducer.
I finally got the name on the boat. Because the boat is USCG documented the name and hailing port must be visible. The split (walkthru) transom caused problems coming up with a reasonable design/placement of the name.
I also installed some Alpine 6666 marine speakers up towards the bow and I ran the speaker cable up into the T-top upper electronics box. I plan to install a Pioneer CD/MP3/Satellite head unit in the upper electronics box.
Per my wife's request, I had Sunshine Welding construct/install two fold down seats right in front of the transom live-wells. Even though they only have one leg each, they appear to be very sturdy, and were mounted with beefy back-plates so they should be quite durable. When folded down they don't get in the way at all and when they're up, there's still plenty of room to move around behind the helm leaning post/tackle station.
I also replaced the leaky engine well bilge access plates with larger Armstrong 10" deck plates that are completely watertight. The larger deck-plates make it much easier to perform maintenance on the bilge pumps and should make it much easier when I get around to installing the Airmar M260 transducer.
April 2006 -- We sold the World Cat 270TE after we bought the Pursuit 3070 in February. We paid $78K for the boat and sold it 18 months later for $74K. The World Cat was a great boat and I miss it. The guys who purchased the boat from us had just finished rigging it for "otherside" tuna fishing when it was stolen from their driveway, stripped, and then burnt such that the only way it was identified was the VIN number on the trailer. Ouch.
