The 36-foot Pro Cat will have a tunnel hull design and plenty of angler amenities. Production is expected to begin next spring.

The 36-foot Pro Cat will have a tunnel hull design and plenty of angler amenities. Production is expected to begin next spring.



Brand new fishing boat designs and brand new boat companies are as rare as grander marlin. But occasionally a wheel is reinvented and a new hull splashes onto the market with all the fanfare of a big blue.

Pro Cat hopes its 36-foot offshore catamaran will be one for the record books. The neophyte boat company out of Fort Lauderdale expects to begin production soon, with hulls available next spring or early summer.

"It seems like the catamarans I know of out there that are center console fishing boats — at least the ones that are tunnel design cats — they seem to be ex-race boats," said John Connor, Pro Cat vice president for product development and testing. "Pro Cat has been willing to start with a clean sheet of paper, to do a lot of testing to evolve this into the best fishing machine that can happen. I don't think that anyone has taken the design to the level that Pro Cat is willing to go to."

Connor should know. He has been building catamarans since 1972 and has 25 years' experience in offshore powerboat racing. He is also president and founder of Connor Marine Engineering. As a result, his company has developed state-of-the-art tow-testing methods for the Pro Cat hull that most small boat builders could never afford.

John Connor, at helm, tests a model of the Pro Cat hull on a Fort Lauderdale canal.

John Connor, at helm, tests a model of the Pro Cat hull on a Fort Lauderdale canal.



Pro Cat was started in 2000 by a group of marine professionals including Connor, Valentine Jenkins, Allan "Brownie" Brown, Victor Kasatshko and Doug Kelly. Their intent was to design a sportfishing boat for tournament anglers, offshore fishermen, charter fishing and dive boat captains, and for use as large yacht tenders.

Jenkins is vice president of operations. His resume includes experience as the former vice president of operations for Chris Craft Boat Company, production manager of Egret Boats, plant manager and prototype manager of Mako Marine, and vice president and general manager of the Cigarette Boat Racing Team.

Brown, vice president and chief engineer, has been involved in all aspects of boat manufacturing, from mechanic to project engineer, business director, partner, president, general manager and inventor. He has held management positions at companies such as Donzi, Cigarette and Nova, and he served as advisor to the record-breaking Gentry Transatlantic Challenge in 1989.

Kasatshko is Pro Cat's president and founder. He has a master's degree in architecture and formerly served as president of Designtech Construction Company and Nautilus Construction Company, both in Miami, and vice president of Freedom Trading SRL of Bucharest, Romania.

Kelly is the former editor of Sport Fishing magazine, former managing editor of Florida Sportsman and an accomplished radio, television, video and seminar producer. He is Pro Cat's vice president for public relations, media and advertising.

"A catamaran's speed capabilities certainly are known and accepted. They're capable of more speed than a monohull and they're safer at high speeds than a V hull," Connor said. "I think what we're also finding here as we're turning this into a fishing boat is the stability of a cat, especially at trolling speed, is going to add a lot of benefits for fishermen."

Connor began designing and testing hull shapes during the last year using a 6-foot scale model boat, a test boat and a Fort Lauderdale canal. He employed the same basic techniques that larger boat builders use in indoor tank facilities that cost as much as $50,000 a week.

Testing a scale model of the Pro Cat helped developers determine the best hull design in terms of speed and stability.

Testing a scale model of the Pro Cat helped developers determine the best hull design in terms of speed and stability.



He attached the 6-foot model of the Pro Cat to a beam that hung over the water off the test boat?s bow. As he drove the test boat, he could watch the performance of the mini-hull as it ran parallel to his skiff. He measured top speed for a variety of weights and horsepowers and used the same computer programs that help design $5 million yachts.

"We've taken the parameters of creating a stable fishing platform, taken all the requirements and gotten the optimum performance that we can with this length and beam," Connor said.

What the team has developed is a tunnel hull design more than a traditional catamaran. Cat hulls are symmetrical and the same. A tunnel boat has a right hull and a left hull. which are opposites. With a vertical side to the tunnel, the boat develops a "wing effect" down the middle that provides aerodynamic lift.

"A tunnel hull is much like a V hull with the center carved out of it and with vertical sides to the tunnel," he said.

The hull will be built using composite foam-core construction. And although the production details are not yet complete, Connor said the manufacturer will use the most modern techniques including vacuum bagging.

The 36-foot long, 10-foot wide Pro Cat should achieve a top speed of 64 mph. With its 350-gallon fuel capacity, its range will be about 300 miles with twin 300-hp outboards.

The vessel, at 8,000 pounds, is heavy but trailerable with the right vehicle, Connor said. Tournament anglers, especially those on the Southern Kingfish Association professional tour, often must pull a vessel more than 500 miles to locations throughout the southeast.

Pro Cat's team consulted with SKA anglers to create a deck design that would highlight fishability. Features include multiple livewells, large fish boxes, easy access to electronics and batteries, a transom platform to aid in fish fighting and engine/prop repair.

"This boat has excess livewells," said Jenkins, operations vice president. "It has a main livewell that's divided into two portions aft of the steering section. There are two 40-gallon halves. You can take the divider out if you choose, but you could put blue runners on one side and pilchards on another."

Toward the bow, there are two auxiliary livewells; each holds 8 gallons of water to keep smaller chum baits. Fish boxes will be located on either side of the boat. They measure 6 feet long by 30 inches wide.

"I think that the main feature of the boat, which is not something you'd notice on paper is the fact it's a cat," Jenkins said. "That lends stability to the boat at low speed or at rest on the sea. A deep V rolls quite a bit.

"The cat also takes advantage of aerodynamics that deep V's aren't able to enjoy. They (deep V's) bore a hole through the air with brute force. A cat gets lift because it has a tunnel that traps air. That tends to lift the boat, Being a step-bottom, it runs flat, pretty horizontal. It's not near as much the carnival ride, the hobby-horse motion of a deep V."

The cat's engines can be set wide enough apart to allow a platform at the transom where the crew could work a fish, correct a prop problem, or a swimmer could climb aboard from the water.

Batteries will be stored in a locker above the deck so they're the last items to sink if the boat is somehow swamped. The locker is immediately in front of the engines, so the cable runs are short.

On the cockpit sole beneath the covering boards on the floor are long cabinets fore and aft with lockable rod storage, Jenkins said. The vessel is also equipped with tackle drawers and a bin-style locker for life jackets.

Coaming pads follow the gunwale almost all around the deck. Beneath the pads up forward is some horizontal storage. Behind the steering wheel, there are stand-up bolsters and a leaning post. Connected to that, going further aft, is the main livewell and the bait station.

"Most of the cats you see are warmed-over race boats with poor compromises made to fishing," Jenkins said. "This boat will have a minimum cockpit depth of 28 inches everywhere. Race boat cats keep them pretty low so you have visibility and less boat out there pushed through the air. But we looked at the human factors first. A boat that comes up to the bottom of your pockets is pretty comfortable as far as human geometry goes."

Plans also call for the Pro Cat to come standard with these other features: Custom hard top, custom rocker plates, f/w and s/w washdown, second tackle station, head with plumbing in the console (and mirror, light, f/w outlet), downriggers, custom chum grinder/macerator, twin tuna tubes, anchor storage, ladder, all instrumentation and lighting, over-size custom console, transom door, lockable electronics box, lockable rod storage, dry storage compartments fore and aft, pop-up stainless cleats, cooler seat fwd of console, bumper rail.
With twin 300-hp outboards, the rig will retail for $155,000 to $160,000. That estimate, however, is very preliminary until hulls are in production.

Whether the Pro Cat creates a new industry standard as its team proposes will likely depend on arbitrary markets and angler whims. But in the opinion of old salts such as Connor and Jenkins, one of the main arguments has already been settled.

"With equal power, the cats are faster boats. That's why they ocean race them," Jenkins said. "All things being equal, they're not equal. The cat enjoys some advantage."

Editor's note: Keep checking www.boats.com/fishing for periodic updates on the Pro Cat and its evolution toward 2002 production.