Maiden Voyage

M

matt_unique

New member
I splashed Napoleon yesterday. It was a rough day with strong winds and unusually choppy conditions in Salem Inner Harbor. I will post some pictures later. I plan to return today to dive on my mooring for an inspection and add chafe gear to the pennant lines. I mentioned this in another thread but the proximity of my bow cleats is such that in strong/shifting winds the outside pennant line will *just* touch the anchor. I will add chafe gear to that spot just to be safe. Otherwise my custom bow cleats with SS hull chafe work great! I highly recommend this modification even if only for anchoring.

As we pulled farther into the harbor we had solid 3' seas (some whitecaps) with a short period. I still have "monohull" on the brain and I found myself tightening up anticipating a slam but there was none! I am totally impressed with the way the Tomcat just floated over the waves! I mean these would have been boomers at the same speed in a monohull. No offense to the monohull owners! I was cruising on plane at 18-20 knots @ about 3000/3200 rpm with 3 adults/3 kids and lots of gear (tools, dive gear including my lead weight, tanks, etc.), fully fueled, full water tank, etc. I can't say enough how impressed I was with the way she handled the sea! The roughest conditions I had prior to this day (during test drives and sea trials) was 1' chop and I was really curious to see how she would handle more chop.

I cruised about 8nm round trip. I will try to remember to keep a voyage log to then calculate my average miles per gallon. I may spring for fuel flow gauges prior but I would really like for the manufacturers to figure out the current software/hardware bugs so I can use the full capability of my 2008 engines with NMEA 2000 data exchange capability. Prior to then I will take advantage of the knowledge here to figure out optimum cruise speed.

Phew...a lot of blood sweat and tears to get this boat and to get everything installed. It is a beautiful thing to see all the electronics working! I plan to spend some time today with the manuals to figure out how to use my Furuno radar, chartplotter, etc. Some things are pretty straight forward but I need to adjust the sea clutter, gain, etc. I had plans to dive a few miles offshore but my buddies had to back out with other commitments. That actually worked out well - I can futz around all day learning to use my new equipment.

Thanks again for the months of advice, support, and information!
 
Congratulations! Great feeling, eh? :thup :thup

I'll have a few :beer :beer :beer to welcome the latest addition to the Tom Cat Brat family!

Warren
 
Congratulations! Remember in the Cat--power up, not down--stay on a plane in rough water. You may want to go with the Permatrims, if you are going to run in rough water often, and want to run the boat at a slower speed on a plane (speed of plane is lower with the Permatrims).
 
I went out for the 2nd time today. I went into open ocean and it was just a pleasure. The conditions were not too bad - 5' swells and about 1' chop. Yesterday it was 3' chop and I did not go into open ocean with a boat full of kids.

Is the water tank located on the starboard side of the Tomcat? I noticed she lists to starboard and I had no water in any internal area. I believe I have about the same amount of fuel in each tank and the only thing I could think of was the fresh water tank (it's full).

A few other observations...I'm dialing in my Furuno radar (still have a lot to learn) and it seems a target dead ahead shows a bit to starboard. Is there a way to adjust this? I thought I read about this from another thread.

I've got about 5 hours on the engines so I did this for just a few seconds but I had just over 38 knots (44mph) at WOT. I know I have to work on the trim a bit as well.

Thanks!
 
They all seem to list a bit to starboard. That is why I had the big new house battery installed on the port side (not to mention there is not much room left on the starboard side! :lol: )

Warren
 
Yep - my water fill tank and vent are on the starboard side. I was not sure if it may be plumbed over to the other side but it of course would not make sense to have the vent and cap on the opposite side of the tank. This would explain the list. It's not a problem just something I recognized in calm water. I will need to trim my starboard engine a little higher to match rpm's for the same power setting as well.

Thanks

Any suggestions on the radar target showing to the right of center? I read a thread about this somewhere...

Thanks again!

By the way, I added a picture to my album of splash day.
 
I got a reply from Furuno support in about an hour - now that's service! There is a way to adjust the radar....I basically have to approach a good target head on and adjust the image in a few sub-menu's.
 
The boats shortly after Matt's had the water tank put on the port side. I had requested two water tanks-it was too much trouble to put in a port tank, even though I offered to pay what every fee they felt was fair. I was sent a extra tank--but have not yet up it in. I put the freezer, 3 more batteries on the port side and that pretty well levels the boat out.
 
Amazing! It's only taken them 3 years to implement a change suggested by owners two and a half years ago. And they wonder why owner loyalty is lagging a bit...
 
I forgot to mention this but when we arrived at the ramp the Police were towing a Grand Cherokee out of the drink. A guy pulled to the top of the ramp to look out onto the water. The vehicle started to roll for some reason and he jumped out. Imagine? The Police said it happens a few times a year.

I once arrived at this ramp to see a brand new boat sitting on concrete. The driver unhooked everything before backing down the ramp (roller trailer). He tapped the brakes and off she went. Ouch!

We just had 36 hours of rain (torrents today) so I will swing by the water to make sure all is well.
 
It's funny to come across this thread....I spoke to an employee at my ramp/mooring area today and ANOTHER vehicle went into the drink. My buddy showed me the picture in the newspaper from yesterday. They were splashing a boat at low tide and did something very wrong because the boat, trailer, and vehicle went all the way in.

Before I left the ramp today EMS showed up because someone collapsed on the beach and laded face first in the water. A friend pulled him out and fortunately he survived.

What the hell is going on in Salem?!? Unreal...
 
matt_unique":1fzzolea said:
It's funny to come across this thread....I spoke to an employee at my ramp/mooring area today and ANOTHER vehicle went into the drink. My buddy showed me the picture in the newspaper from yesterday. They were splashing a boat at low tide and did something very wrong because the boat, trailer, and vehicle went all the way in.

Before I left the ramp today EMS showed up because someone collapsed on the beach and laded face first in the water. A friend pulled him out and fortunately he survived.

What the hell is going on in Salem?!? Unreal...
Click to expand...

Witches.... must be witches. :wink:
 
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