Small but Fun Boat Show

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Salmon Slayer

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All:

This weekend we had a small but fun boat show in Juneau put on by the Rotary Club. There is a new C-Dory dealer here, Panhandle Boats, and they had a 22' Cruiser and a Tomcat at the show which was fun to see. I have been hearing about all of the quality control issues lately but I came away impressed with the build quality of both and I got some ideas for my own boat.

There was another powercat of 30' length that looked very much like a C-Dory made locally in Juneau by Blackfeather boats that was very interesting. There was also a good representation of Hewes Craft and other Aluminum boats and they continue to impress with their functionality and build quality though the prices are getting outrageous.

One thing that was very noticeable was the adverts for a large number of twin engined inboard gas guzzlers that people are trying to unload. There are a lot of good deals to be had right now if you can stand the fuel prices but if nothing else, it made me feel pretty good about my efficient little boat.

My only purchase at the boat show was a pair of binoculars but I decided to buy a Yamaha 4 stroke 2.5hp outboard for the Zodiac...about $775.00 and very light weight based on what I saw there.

Its now snowing heavily but all in all if was a fun harbinger of spring.

Andy
 
Andy wrote:

"There was another powercat of 30' length that looked very much like a C-Dory made locally in Juneau by Blackfeather boats that was very interesting."


Andy-

That Blackfeather 30 Cat (or ChillKat 30) is made from some molds that we originally developed by C-Dory!


B~C's (Ken's) summer job in Elfin Cove had him running one of those cats.

There's some discussion of the origins of the boat and his evaluation of it in the posts about Ken's summer job or "vacation", quoted here:

B~C wrote:

I think I found out why the C.K. may have some quality issues, it was the first one that BlackFeather ever built. Come to find out, the boss bought the mold from C-Dory and gave it to them in exchange for a completed boat.

Sea Wolf wrote:

So the ChillKat from Blackfeather was originally the mysterious TomCat 30 built by C-Dory, right?

B~C wrote:

I would say yes, ....... they have two of the old TCats and are borrowing the CKat. They look to be identical boats, a minor difference or two in the transom area and the head location.

Later, B~C wrote:

"ChillKat- I liked it, it ate up wind chop and made for an excellent fishing platform. On the bigger water, it would crash and bang and sound like the damn thing was breaking apart. The flat turns made one be very cautious for fear of throwing somebody overboard. One of the reasons I found out that they didn't order a new one was that they had a hard time getting that one done. They recieved it half way through last season after sending a crew over to help get it done. I guess their buying experience wasn't that pleasant...granted it was the first one that they built. The boat had twin 225hp yamahas and would burn about a gph very every knot, I noticed that about 18knts was about 18gph.....28knts= ~28gph. One thing I didn't care for was that it sat pretty heavy in the stern when fishing, it wouldn't be uncommon to have standing water at the back of the cockpit. But,I liked it and hope to get assigned to it next year."

Blackfeather Boats website. ***Be sure to look at the new trunk cabin cruising model!***

Just thought some of our C-Brats would enjoy some C-Dory history!

Joe. :teeth :thup

ChillKat.sized.jpg

Chillcat 30 at Elfin Cove, Alaska, 2007. Photo by B~C

*****(Note that all-chain drum windlass!)*****
 
Interesting comments on the ChillKat--the fuel numbers are certainly what would be expected--but not what the company put out.

It sounds as if those hulls need to be deepened. I found out a couple of days ago, that one of the 60 foot custom cats was bult over weight, and when fuel was added was several feet below its lines in the stern. The builder and architect bit the bullet and cut the hulls, bulding new bottoms about 3 feet deeper than the origional. That (in a lesser amount) would improve both of the smaller Cats.
 
Wow, thanks Joe. I knew it looked like a C-Dory product even down to the "eye brow" over the front windshield.

I will have to go back and look up that series of postings about Elfin Cove. I had trouble accessing the Internet when I was overseas last year and must have missed it. Thats a very cool place.

Andy
 
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