Small power cat
Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: General Forums
Forum Name: The Boat Shed
Forum Description: Discuss all things boating.
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=137409
Printed Date: 07 Jun 2026 at 11:55pm
Topic: Small power cat
Posted By: Shambles
Subject: Small power cat
Date Posted: 09 Jan 2023 at 6:56pm
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Hey guys, I would love if someone with experience with one of these boats could come and give me some tips and tricks on operating one. Kingfisher minicat 450. I have a fair bit of boating experience, Stabicraft, Surtees, Smartwave and Extreme. This Minicat is different tho. Keen to have someone come aboard and help me tame its quirks. Can anyone help me out? |
Replies:
Posted By: jules75
Date Posted: 13 Jan 2023 at 11:23am
| Hey mate. What quirks do you have with driving your cat? |
Posted By: Shambles
Date Posted: 14 Jan 2023 at 2:16pm
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At anything under 4500rpm (17knt) it feels stable/safe. Over this, starts to feel unpredictable. Like it wants to dig in and turn. This happens more in mirror calm conditions. It tends to like a little bit of chop. Crossing boat wakes is another. It feels like the wake gets stuck between the hulls, and then your just along for the ride. In a following sea, it also wants to push the bow sideways. To combat all of this I just slow down, re group, then carry on. Most of the time slowing down and turning the direction the boat wants to go, then start again. All this said, it’s 4.5m and I go pretty much everywhere. I have a heap of experience with mono hulls, but this is different. Maybe all it takes is to force the boat to go in the direction I want to go in. More time behind the wheel will sort it I’m sure. Would love to take someone with experience out though. |
Posted By: Saltysee
Date Posted: 14 Jan 2023 at 3:09pm
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What configuration is your power cat? How many people or things do you have in the boat and where as in loading? |
Posted By: Kandrew
Date Posted: 14 Jan 2023 at 5:58pm
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Shambles wrote:Posted By: Shambles
Date Posted: 14 Jan 2023 at 6:09pm
| 60hp Honda 4stroke, centre console. Usually 2 pob. I run really light but have everything on board. 2x 25l totes at the back, 1 each rear corner. Central livebait tank at the rear. Tackle in waterproof ammo boxes x12 in storage shelves just off the floor, x6 each side. Haswing trolling motor and lithium battery up front. And a 75l sturdy chillybin that usually sits centrally up front (depending on how fat my passenger is) this can also be moved port, starboard to suit. Also moved to the rear if required. |
Posted By: Shambles
Date Posted: 14 Jan 2023 at 6:33pm
| Thanks for your reply Kandrew. I have pretty good trim control and understand where my cavitation plate should be while underway. The water exiting the tunnel is vastly different to water leaving the stern of a monohull. Do you have single engine cat experience? |
Posted By: Kandrew
Date Posted: 14 Jan 2023 at 7:43pm
| No not at all but what you are describing is classic bow steering which means the boat is sitting to flat instead of planing on the back part of the hull. |
Posted By: Shambles
Date Posted: 14 Jan 2023 at 7:57pm
| I feel I run pretty rear heavy, and trim accordingly. If you’re free for a run at some stage, I’d love to take you for a blat. Open to all suggestions. |
Posted By: Kandrew
Date Posted: 14 Jan 2023 at 10:08pm
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I would suggest watching the other small cat manufacturers videos on YouTube and see how their boats run and the hull angles they run at. Couple of other questions, are you running a foil on the outbourd, I have had problems with them on other small boats in swells where the wave pushes up under the foil pushing the bow down making the boat bow steer. What prop are you using, 4 blade props have more bite and give the hull a lot more lift. |
Posted By: FishyHooker
Date Posted: 19 Apr 2024 at 10:15am
| Hi Shambles - Did you ever get to grips with the minicat?. I'm currently looking at one and think it fits my purpose almost perfectly, but interested to know if you got on top of the handling quirks?. |
Posted By: D Fish N Sea
Date Posted: 05 May 2024 at 9:02am
| Following as am also looking at one of these. |
Posted By: Keith C
Date Posted: 05 May 2024 at 12:36pm
| I can recommend looking at the Fatcat as well if you are in the market for a small cat. |
Posted By: Shambles
Date Posted: 05 May 2024 at 3:17pm
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Sorry about the very late reply, couldn’t post for…I don’t know. Never got the hang of the cat. Had an offer from a guy that had one. Never eventuated unfortunately. I have since sold it. Loved the looks, stability at rest was second to none. I just never felt like I was in control, not predictable. I was told by numerous people to drive it hard, like a go-cart. Tell it what you want it to do. I’m definitely not shy on the gas pedal, just didn’t feel right. |
Posted By: XKR
Date Posted: 04 Jul 2024 at 10:04pm
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New here, saw this thread and thought I could offer some advice as an owner of a KF510 cat but probably a bit late is it looks like the OP has sold his 450. Maybe this will help other prospective buyers I have had the same issue as Shambles in smooth water going full noise.As some of you suggested bow steering was what I suspected but no longer believe this to be true. At speed these cats generate a lot of lift between the hulls which help keep the nose up. Have loads of time behind the wheel of fast monos and the biting in and turning in my KF510 is exactly the same as having an unbalanced athwartship load in a mono. The difference is in a mono you just tend to lean to one side slightly and get pulled in that direction, compensated by holding the wheel to the other tack slightly which keeps you tracking straight. Easily fixed by adjusting trim tabs if you have them or shifting your load around. This unbalanced athwartship load has a slightly different behaviour in a small cat vs a mono. When it first happened to me it was very unsettling. Thing is that you only need a very small load imbalance for one side of the sharp cat hulls to dig in and the helmsman's correcting of this on the fly starts a chine walking scenario.
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