tom cat help

[drjohn71a]

Gene,

I only had the week over Christmas at Edmonds to evaluate the Permatrim performance. Roger and I both felt the boat hit a plane much faster than most have reported. Just leaving the engines trimmed level, it planed at about 12 knots, but I have not been on the boat for over a month now. Also, the water was so rough most of the time we were cruising, that there was not much time for casual comparisons.

Both Roger and I felt the Permatrims were wonderful for keeping the bow down while going upwind into large waves. Really reduced porpoising. We did have a chance to compare the 'bow-down' effect of engine tilt, versus just running them level upwind, and there was a day to night difference there.

Re: the canvas - I'm really glad I got it, but the back support rods would interfere with fishing. Fortunately, the support rods come with quick-connect pins with a cable to keep them handy. I just unpinned them and used shock cords to tie the bow to the the radar arch.

some of the C-Brats with CD 22's have put sliding tracks for the supports in order to slide them forward for quick folding storage of the top.

I think I saw someone on this site who had a "free-standing" bimini setup which had a rod running fore-to-aft between the two supporting bows. As for me, I am thinking of putting a rod up to the cabin or radar arch, along with a rod in between the two bows, which would eliminate the need for the aft support rods. I have seen some ppl who had a cantelevered overhead canvas support which was somewhat permanent, but opened up the stern a about half the gunwale length for fishing.

John

[billtwymank]

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Lady KC has a vinyl covered wall panel behind the helm.

I have now cut a hole in this panel and installed a simple plexiglass cover for quick access to this area.

I will now post some pictures under Lady KC photo album.

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