How tall is your TomCat in the water?

S

Seaboldski

New member
I’m looking at a covered slip for a TomCat 255 (with the tall radar arch and radome). From the water to the top of the opening is about 9’ 7”. Is that going to be enough?
 
I had heard that, on the trailer, with the old Raymarine radar dome, the height was 13 foot, 8 inches. The newer Raymarine radar dome is about 2 inches shorter, so that'd be 13 foot, 6 inches on the trailer. Subtracting the height off the ground, up to the waterline would get you the water clearance.

Four foot added to your 9 foot, 7 inches, would make it about 13 foot, 7 inches if the radar arch was mounted on the aft section of the cabin roof.

As such, that sounds like pretty low clearance.

I think Brent and Dixie had an especially low radar arch made that barely cleared 12 foot while on the trailer.

If I were close to my boat, I'd measure the clearance from the waterline, but sorry -- too cold and far right now.

John
 
I believe that the height would be ok. I'm putting Reef Madness in the water today and will measure. I have the short radar arch with rod holders, so you'll have to add the difference.

Gene
 
Thanks for the response, John. So, if I followed your math correctly, you’re guesstimating that I’ll have an inch to spare!? Plenty of room! :D

We won’t actually be taking delivery until around June, so I don’t have a way to check this myself. Unfortunately the slip we’re looking at will be gone long before then unless we rent it now. We are going with an aft mounted arch custom made to fit over an inverted Avon Redcrest dinghy. We will be using one of the new Raymarine radomes. That combination might add up to being a bit shorter than the “tall” factory arch and dome, but not by much. The pics on the forum of TomCats with tall arches in the water look scary close to that 9’ 7” height figure. You are right, if I could get a dimension from the ground up to the waterline when the boat is sitting on the trailer, I could probably estimate close enough to make a decision. Is anybody with the late model EZ-loader trailer close to their TomCat?

Steve
 
Seabolski - You could always install a couple of those wakeboard water tanks in your hulls and fill them up, then drive under the canopy.
My motorhome's air suspension has a setting to lower the unit temporarily in order to get it under a short door, then lift it back up when inside.

John
 
Seabolski - You could always install a couple of those wakeboard water tanks in your hulls and fill them up, then drive under the canopy.
Click to expand...

Or just load it down with a lot of extra "goodies". Maybe I'll try that idea on the wife :wink:

It will matter how heavily the boat is loaded down, but if it's that close, you just know someday you're going to whack that radome. Makes me cringe just thinking about it.


Steve
 
Our boat is 6' from the waterline to the top of the outboard edge of the cabin--allowing for the crown, the "bubble" on the top this is close to another foot. Our radar is on a 11" pedistal and itself is another 10" high--so that 9' is the minum. If you figure that the tall radar arch is 24" high--and add the radome you are going to be very close. The other option would be to not put on the radar arch and mount the radar on the cabin foreward top--the avon will still fit aft, the radar will "see" thru the inflatable if necessary. The major plus I see of the radar arch is the addition of rocket launcher pole holders. I have never thought that these add a lot to this type of boat--and thus have not considered the radar arch. All other antennas and accessories can be directly mounted on the cabin top. The inflatable lashed to the hand railings. That way--no quesion about the height--and you are under the 13' 6" on a trailer which is the "standard" for bridge clearance (although there are some which are lower).
 
Does this mean that you might have a covered bearth to sub-let until June ??
Click to expand...

We'll, technically speaking, yes. The contract probably prohibits subletting, I’d have to check. I wouldn’t want to get into trouble at the marina before we even got our boat in the water. OTOH, it would help to defray expenses…..hummm? Are you asking out of curiosity, or are you interested?
 
Bob,

Thanks for the numbers, you're offering some hope here:

6' from the waterline to the top of the outboard edge of the cabin, plus about 24" for the tall radar arch (ours might be a bit lower), plus 9" for the Raymarine dome = 8' 9"

I'm thinking I would like 6" clearance just to be safe. The height of the opening is 9' 7" form the water, so this might actually work. :thup

Steve
 
Steve;

Can they make the arch so that it will fold down and get out of the way? I just put the boat in the water and will measure this evening.

Gene
 
As to Gene's question about folding arches--it is common to see boats with folding half towers and arches along the gulf coast for trailering. Most of these are made of alunimum, but there is no reason that a SS arch could not be made to fold down into the cockpit. I had considered a folding radar pedistal before I found I could get the height down enough with the radar mounted on its pedistal.
 
Can they make the arch so that it will fold down and get out of the way? I just put the boat in the water and will measure this evening.
Click to expand...

I haven't seen the folding arches that Thataway refers too, but I don't see why that wouldn't work. Obviously, if it was made from stainless, it would cost more to fabricate than a fixed arch, and be a bit more complex with bushings and a locking mechanism, etc. I considered the folding pedestal option, but I liked the way the dinghy could be tucked securely under the arch, and the arch gives you a lot more area to mount things without resorting to a lot of additional accessory mounting arms that would be required with the pedestal alone. Either way you need a way to secure everything in the folded travel position which in the case of the pedestal, might mean a brace of some sort if the radar dome folds into the cockpit area. My first choice for mounting the radar dome would be a fixed mount – I’m just a little paranoid about having that be moveable.

Steve
 
Steve,

There are white coated aluminum radar mounts that are adjustable and fold. I saw some in a New England area catalog... trying to think of the name. Ah.. I think it was "Fisheries Supply". They are stable, heavy duty things.

I am guessing you may be pretty close anyway. Maybe you could have the ppl who make the radar arch weld the dome mount just a tad below the normal height. I think they weld that base on top of the pipes. You could get an inch or two without any radar interference.

John
 
Thanks everyone for the information and your suggestions. Looks like I might be OK 'as is', but I will look further into the various options for folding arches and mounts.
There are white coated aluminum radar mounts that are adjustable and fold. I saw some in a New England area catalog... trying to think of the name. Ah.. I think it was "Fisheries Supply". They are stable, heavy duty things.
Click to expand...
John, the only thing I could find in Fisheries Supply was a mast mount. Are you thinking of something like this?

Seaview Power Tower Plus
Hinges at the rear.
http://www.consumersmarine.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?r=view&i=930231&aID=32B4B

Steve
 
Back
Top