Roof size on tomcat 255?

Y

YesBye

New member
Joined
Jul 26, 2025
Messages
5
Reaction score
1
Hi to all.
Does anyone have their T.C. 255 accessible to measure the size of the flat raised portion of the cabin roof between the handrails on the tomcat 255. And how much is lost due to radar arch? Trying to figure if and how to best do solar up there and was leaning towards glue down flex panels.

We don’t have our boat yet and scrambling to see if we should get Bellingham to put this on before we take delivery…. Which is very shortly. We’ve called off any installation right now due to my inexperience and can always revisit it later.

>>>>>>>Anything we should get done now at factory ie switch panel capacity etc to facilitate this later? <<<<<<

an Ordering Oversight on my behalf!!!

Rob
 
I would want some air circulation beneath the solar panels.
 
Thanks Bob,
I just saw someone premounted their glue downs on what sounded like chloroplast panels to keep them cool. Mounting rigid panels also gives chance for double sided panels. Don’t want to lose spot for tender transport up there either….

It’s feeling like a rabbit hole right now. I asked MWMI to hold off proceeding for now till I wrap my head around all this If I can understand it fairly quickly would get Bellingham to proceed which many said factory install is way to go but … confused on exactly what we should be asking for.
 
Hi Rob,

We have the next Tomcat to be built behind yours.. I was up at NMI last week for a factory tour and got the chance to look at your build and snap a few photos. Looks great, NMI does nice work. Cannot help you on the solar question, but since your deck hasn't been joined to the hull yet, as of last week, I was just going to throw out there to add a midship cleat on both sides. Both Dr. Bob and John from Cat-O-Mine recommended this fairy inexpensive upgrade and ii makes docking/controlling the boat so much easier. In speaking with Greg last week he mentioned after my TC, NMI will probably be making the midship cleat stanadard moving forward. Enjoy your new boat!!

Michael
 
Granath said:
Bob and John from Cat-O-Mine recommended this fairy inexpensive upgrade and ii makes docking/controlling the boat so much easier. In speaking with Greg last week he mentioned after my TC, NMI will probably be making the midship cleat stanadard moving forward. Enjoy your new boat!!
Click to expand...
Hi Michael,
Thanks a bunch for that. No cleat mid cab was about the only thing about the TC that didnt sit well with me having to hang a bumper from the roof midship. I was going to ask for a custom cleat there but talked myself out of asking as I thought that would be a mold change to do it strong enough. I also thought with the narrow side deck it could be a tripping issue going up the side. I think you are correct though this would be a good add. Hey shoot me some of your pics you took of our boat!
 
Are you guys talking about adding a cleat at the aft end of the cabin? I considered adding a cleat forward, in line with the anchor cleat, finding the one near the captain seat adequately positioned and easy to reach from the windows, but I won’t argue with Bob and John, they have a lot more experience than I do. I also have fender hanger at the captain and adjacent window, they work quite well and allow to put your fender on from inside the cabin.
images.jpeg
Rob, if you still need the roof measurement, send me a PM with exactly what you need and I should be able to get those to you this afternoon.
 
I am a bit confused--doesn't the Tom Cat have a cleat just outside of the helm and navigator's side windows? I have used a folding down device for fenders and put an extra side cleat at the very aft of the cabin on the inside of the gunnel in the cocpit. I have put several jam cleats on the back surface of the aft cabin bulkhead--I take a line from the bow cleat and the cleat outside of the side windows. I have the rest of these lines, and a line from the cleat inside the cocpit, into coils on the back side of the cabin bulkhead inboard to have all of the lines available in hand along with stern line, which is coiled inside the cockpit combing. Thus one can step ashore with all lines to control the boat, using spring lines, from the first cleat on the dock to control the boat in difficult docking situations.

Unfortunately the majority of my photo album didn't transfer over from the old site. I had a number of photos there which appear to be lost. I had photos of some of these modifications.
 
Hi Rob!
Congrats on a great boat, you’re going to love it!

I can’t measure at post-op day #3 after major surgery; doctor’s orders no climbing around on the boat for six weeks. I plan to wait until the day after tomorrow for that. I’m a terrible patient.

Anyhows, we glued down a Renogy 100 watt semi-flexible solar panel (the only one I could find that would fit) over Coroboard ‘plastic cardboard’ using Gorilla Glue structural adhesive about five years ago. It hasn’t come off yet, but it’s a 15 year old boat, and cosmetics aren’t as important to us now but would be more so on a brand new boat. I regard every interior roof penetration as a future potential leak, so led the cable over the eyebrow to enter the interior under there to the aft cabinet then inside the port gunnel panel to the house battery with a Blu Seas 15A breaker and a Victron MPPT controller. The panel was under $120 with free delivery from Home Depot. It overhangs tad on one side due to installer error. If this amateurish DIY approach leads to early panel heat failure, I’d just pry it off and slap on a replacement. Our perspective is that E0 marina gas in Canada is running $7/gallon, or $1,050 per fillup. We concur with Bob that 200 watts of solar is generally needed to replace the fridge plus other overnight loads. We got over 90% SOC per day replacement on a remote section of the lower Tombigbee over three full sunny summer gale days,but that of course is unusual. If you have a dog you’ll want a kayak that will shade a solar panel. There are big portable panels to cover a bimini that would hard to store and deploy.

These boats have utilitarian systems, which is a feature, not a bug. Any local RV tech could mount your panel with much prettier results. That part of the roof is curved, not flat. An additional panel would be shaded under the 24 inch radar dome and mount and rooftop AC. Our only regret is that too much air flow from the Dometic AC is sent aft rather than towards the berth, but with 15K BTU and Dometic Smart Start board it cools pretty quickly. Other than where that 14” square hole is cut the factory default should be fine. Keep in mind you want to be able to remove the AC shroud to clean the coils and you’d likely have to remove the radar dome and mount to do that.

Another major factor to consider is to try to be able to get your air draft under eight feet, even if you have no current plans to do the Triangle Loop into Canada (the historic and free LaChine Canal goes right through downtown Montreal and avoids the horrid commercial Seaway Locks). It’s the top right red triangle on our Route to date; we plan to cruise it again this summer.
https://parks.canada.ca/lhn-nhs/qc/canallachine

Also, the vast majority of southern state and county road opening bridges have an 8 or 9 foot clearance that you can squeeze under without waiting an hour or two for an opening. We get to under 8 feet by removing the radar dome (4 bolts plus two quick disconnect cables). Removing a factory arch is another matter. Most Southern RR bridges are only 3-6 feet closed.

Agreeing with midship cleats both sides. We chose a big folding one on the starboard side after removing the blackwater Y valve that was in the way.

The big Blue Seas switches with pop-out breaker buttons take up a lot of panel real estate, esp if you prefer separate 12 inch displays for the Admiral as well as the captain. My approach is simply to protect small loads with a compact Blue Seas ATC fuse box (no switches, pull the fuse for ‘OFF’) under the helm for DC fans, Blue Seas digital helm voltage readout, hard-wired NEBO Gold box, stereo, AIS, Victron 702 monitor, etc etc.

It’s not a boat mod, but if you ever plan to cruise outside the US including Bahamas or Canada, there are advantages to obtaining an official Radiotelephone Operators and Station license and MMSI number from the FCC rather than a free one from BoatUS.

Don’t fret if it takes you and your crew a few years to figure out how you like to cruise. Over the years our priority has shifted to minimizing the time required to convert from Cruise Mode to Underway Mode and back. Your mileage will vary. PM or call with any questions we can help you with and welcome aboard!

Johnradar.jpgloop.jpgpanel.jpg
 
thataway said:
I am a bit confused--doesn't the Tom Cat have a cleat just outside of the helm and navigator's side windows? I have used a folding down device for fenders and put an extra side cleat at the very aft of the cabin on the inside of the gunnel in the cocpit. I have put several jam cleats on the back surface of the aft cabin bulkhead--I take a line from the bow cleat and the cleat outside of the side windows. I have the rest of these lines, and a line from the cleat inside the cocpit, into coils on the back side of the cabin bulkhead inboard to have all of the lines available in hand along with stern line, which is coiled inside the cockpit combing. Thus one can step ashore with all lines to control the boat, using spring lines, from the first cleat on the dock to control the boat in difficult docking situations.

Unfortunately the majority of my photo album didn't transfer over from the old site. I had a number of photos there which appear to be lost. I had photos of some of these modifications.
Click to expand...
1774116429406.jpeg
The current cleats are in the red circles. I think people were talking about one near the blue blob between the two. Currently If you want a bumper where the squiggly red lines are you either hang it from the roof rail or add hardware near the blue blob. Stock photo and all very very precise technical terms used blob squiggly etc. Rob.
 
Excellent post by John of "Cat o mine" and thanks to "YesBye" for a photo of current cleats position. I call the cleat on the foredeck the "bow cleat", the one on the side, the "amidships", although it is not really amid ships, and the furthest aft, the "stern cleat". I put the fold down fender tie poin in the "squiggle area", the next "amidship cleat" inside the gunnel/combing right by the aft cabin bulkhead.

I have one concern about "factory installations", in that they don't drill out, cut back core and fill with thickened epoy around where any pentrations in cored deck or hull are located. this includes forward opening hatch, radar arch, thru hulls etc. It takes more time and would cost more in the base price. There are some boats which have built in laminations of core material which is solid and never have any core issues. When we repaired my Caracal Cat, the cockpit floor needed to be removed to access the inner bulkheads in the amas. We put back solid blocks of fiberglass or similar material when we re-cored the deck (and used a rigig foam instead of balsa for the deck core.

One advantage of factory install in the boats with liners, is that more wiring and fittings can be hidden under the liner, and in unlined interiors, the wires are bundled at the time the other wires are pulled. I don't know how much customization is allowed in the basic boat. When I purchased my Tom Cat, I ordered a seconf water tank to the Port side. At the end of the build I was informed that they didn't want to put the extra water tank (or they forgot?), so they were just sending the tank loose on the bunk of the boat. Putting that tank in and running the hose/fill connections would take no more of an hour of labor time--which would of course be billed to the buyer. The water tanks were put on both the Port and Starboard side of the boats.

One other modification I added to all of my boats was a 18" to 24" grab rail across both sides to the forward end of the roof overhang, so there was a place to grab before you got to the hand rail near the raised cabin house, and a hand rail on the overhang part of cabin roof, unless there was a radar arch leg near there, so there was an easy hand hold comming out of the cocpit and transfering to the side deck to go forward or if crossing from one side to the other on the fore deck.

The other issue with solar panels was mentoined, and that was the dinghy placement for carrying, or kayaks, SUPaddle boards etc. Several boats solved that issue by putting the dinghy (or solar panels) over the cockpit--and making the Bimini a perminant structure, not the folding bows which most of us have. Some boats ever made that roof cantilevered, and plastic or other material than cloth covered. Some of the cantileavered tobs were made here in Pensacola. Blue Coral towers is an outstanding fabricator, and the only one I would use in this area, but they wanted $10,000 for the cantileavered frame without a covering. If I was buying a new Tom Cat, I might consider such an aft cockpit cover. Problem might be trailering--have to be very tighly laced to avoid any tearing when trailering at highway speeds.
 
On the solar panels: I would urge you look at the flexible solar panels and attach them to the corrugated plastic for cooling. I attached mine using 3M VHB tape and then taped the front and back edges with butyl rubber RV repair tape. This allows for smooth airflow when trailering. The corrugation were placed AT 90 degrees to the long axis to allow for the best cooling.

The solid panels with glass have two major issues as I see it: 1) they weigh a lot and can raise the center of gravity of the boat significantly that may make the ride in choppy waters uncomfortable. 2) trailering at highway speeds can exert an significant upward force and reduce gas mileage.

I would also suggest you look into the newer CIGS panels. These have a higher efficiency when the sun is not directly overhead, or if the panel is shaded in some parts (like a radar arch). If only a part of a regular panel is shaded the output from the panel will only be as high as if the entire panel were shaded. The CIGS panels have shunting diodes in each section so unshaded sections will still produce at their maximum.

Also, be sure to use a charge controller that is MPPT rather than PWM. There is a difference in their overall efficiency, especially in low light.
 
Back
Top