Cat Fever Pictures Finally Posted

B

Bad Boy

New member
This website was invaluable for me to see what others have done to their boats and it inspired me, so I thought I should probably share my album.

I am going to set up Cat Fever for offshore fishing as well as lake fishing. There is quite a bit more to do, especially with electronics. I will post the electronics pictures in about three weeks.

My friends think there is something wrong with me because "a new boat shouldn't take so much work" and ask, "Why are you tearing up a new boat from the factory?". My wife thinks my projects are over the top and I spend too much time on the boat, hence her nickname for me..."Bad Boy"
 
Wow Bad Boy, nice work! Like Jim, I really like all of your mods. Very professional. So your boat is all white with no stripe?

BTW, I like the name! :thup

Peter
C-Dancer
 
Very nice work! Can I ship my 27' down to you for some similar mods? :)

Very well done. And the lack of stripes makes that one plain cat. Quite different looking.
 
Very nice mods! Most people need to live with their boats for a while before deciding what to modify. I am impressed with how you knew what you wanted from the get-go! :thup

Warren
 
Thanks for the pictures. Like you, I have found this forum a wonderful source for ideas. We take delivery of our new boat tomorrow. Will probably not start the mods til Saturday.
 
What a great way to open up the cockpit and allow a removalble baitwell! so easy to clean,drain, etc.. the factory ought to do something like that. I know the built in baitwell looks good, but it interferes with alot of electrical and plumbing and the drain level can be a problem too.


John
 
Finally got most of the electronics done. Expert Marine Electronics of Baldwin Park, California, did a great job. Wiring was meticulous and owner was very knowlegeable. I added those pictures and some other projects in my Cat Fever photo album.

All electrical go through four 6-volt AGM batteries, providing 440 amp hours. Engine batteries are only for starting but can be combined with house batteries in emergency.

By the way, for the TomCat owners, don't you think it would be a good idea to be able to build a fuel manifold so that both engines, running one at a time (during trolling) or together, can draw from two fuel tanks simultaneously? It seems to me that if I troll on one engine and lose track of the hours run before switching to the other engine, I risk running one tank much lower than the other.

My thinking is that a manifold would treat the two tanks as one. I have a design in mind but was wondering if there are any drawbacks one of you may have encountered.
 
Bad Boy,

Wow indeed! Do you hire out? :lol: Very nice work for sure.

Warren (Doryman) has a new fuel manifold like you describe. It's a very nice mod done at EQ Harbor Service. Maybe he'll post a photo of it.

I like the look without the stripes. All the best,
 
Warren,

Thanks for the picture. Do you normally run with the by-pass valve open or closedf? Your picture looks like it is closed. If it is open, can you run with one engine and draw fuel equally from both tanks?

George
Cat Fever
 
Bad Boy":9l5fcr0i said:
.

By the way, for the TomCat owners, don't you think it would be a good idea to be able to build a fuel manifold so that both engines, running one at a time (during trolling) or together, can draw from two fuel tanks simultaneously? It seems to me that if I troll on one engine and lose track of the hours run before switching to the other engine, I risk running one tank much lower than the other.

My thinking is that a manifold would treat the two tanks as one. I have a design in mind but was wondering if there are any drawbacks one of you may have encountered.
Click to expand...

One possible problem that comes to mind is that when the boat is heeled over to one side, all the fuel in the higher tank will now flow downhill into the lower tank. At minimum you can have fuel run out the vent, worst case scenario you will induce a list that can affect stability and might even lead to capsize. Since this is a cat, I doubt that it would go that far, but thats why you don't see such systems on monohulls very often.
 
If what you want to do is simply keep the two tanks approximately level, you might try the manifold idea with check valves leading into the manifold from each tank supply line.

Fuel from the higher side/tank would supply the engine with the main value(s) in the "both open" configuration, but would not flow from a higher tank into a lower tank, whether the difference is from usage or healing.

Fuel could still be selected from one tank only via the same control valve(s).

Of course, the idea would have to be tested out to see if the check valves were sensitive enough to prevent cross flow.

Just another thought to add to the mix!

(We also may be stalked from behind by the KISS Principle Whammy Stick as we go further down this torturous road!)

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
Bad Boy":22y000q2 said:
Thanks for the picture. Do you normally run with the by-pass valve open or closedf? Your picture looks like it is closed. If it is open, can you run with one engine and draw fuel equally from both tanks?
Click to expand...

I don't know for sure but I doubt it. I would have to ask Les. Maybe he will see this and answer. I am not sure that it is designed to draw from both simultaneously.

Bad Boy":22y000q2 said:
By the way, for the TomCat owners, don't you think it would be a good idea to be able to build a fuel manifold so that both engines, running one at a time (during trolling) or together, can draw from two fuel tanks simultaneously? It seems to me that if I troll on one engine and lose track of the hours run before switching to the other engine, I risk running one tank much lower than the other.
Click to expand...

My recollection of the discussion with Stan was that I can run both motors off the left tank or the right tank, or I can run each motor off the tank on its side. So, with this mod, if you do run out of gas on one side I can switch both motors to the other side. Come to think of it, that implies that both motors do not have to be running. So, in effect, that achieves the same result that you want, no?

Warren
 
This all seems like a bit of overkill to me, as well as injecting an opportunity to foul both engine's filters with bad fuel accidently.

I mean, the thing holds 300 gallons of fuel... How much do you use trolling? At hull speed, that is about 6 gal per hour, or 50 hours of motoring. Or 300 miles of traveling without keeping track of fuel? I don't really see using one engine as a significant drain on either tank.

Each engine has it's own fuel monitor on the Honda digitals including flow, hours, total gallons used, etc.. So just look at your gauges and rest one or another of the engines if you want equal tanks.

And, if one tank has some water in it and you get in rough water with both taps open... now you have NO engines running while you go aft to drain the water from the filter bowl.

But, you guys have done so much great work to that boat that I really admire. I'm just more of an 'end user' boatwise. I want to spend minimum time working on the boat's hardware!

Thanks for posting,

John
 
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