Carolina Cat 23CC

When team of design @ Carolina Cat decides for building crossover boat of fishing for the flats & off shore they did not kid around. Carolina Cat 23CC has draft of some flats boat, roominess of center console, legs for the long distance, & rough comfort of deep-V.

Key Features

Anchor bow area locker under the center forward seat

Port & star board forward 150 quarts insulated fish boxes along with over board drains

Cushioned bow area seating for five adults along with integrated rails of grab

Stainless through-bolted bow eye

Storage console for portable slide-out head (star board side)

Electronics area of mounting for twelve inches display

Non-skid aft deck platform of casting

Thirty gallons live well between flip-up aft seats, lighted along with over board drain & fiber glass lid

The mission statement

Mission of  Carolina Cat 23CC is for providing main attributes of 4 distinctive boats types in to 1 all-purpose boat. This Carolina Cat seems as if it is pulled off & given us boat that can get in to shallow water, has good range of almost 300 miles @ best cruise, exhibits handling of ride capabilities necessary at off shore conditions & has roominess combined of center console & deck boat.

The distinguishing features

• Redundant systems. The 2 engines are well connected to the independent systems of fuel & separate systems of electrical. Failure in 1 system leaves second in the play. Unless you’d manage for filling both the tanks along with fuel that is contaminated from same marina it’d be rare occurrence for finding your self with out ability for having the boat that you’d get at home.
• Twin engines on 22-footer.  It is far & away main feature which cats bring to table which no mono hull gets to touch. Just for trying to find 23 ft. center console having twin engines.
• Structural 7 year hull warranty. Apart from security of the systems are completely redundant, some things will get you comfort level like company which stands behind the product.
• Seating for ten.  There was no problem for loading the boat up along with friends & family. And you should remember that it is 23-footer.
• Stability – while anchored, trolling or in sloppy sea way lateral stability is very important feature & this 23′ cat does have it.
• Off shore or in shore.  The low draft makes it inshore boat but as she is cat & comes with relatively high bows that she handles reasonably off shore conditions from comfort stand points & sea-keeping.

Handling & performance

My Carolina Cat 23CC had length over all of 22’7″ (or 6.88 m), beam of 8’6″ (or 2.59 m) & hull draft of 11” (or 28 cm). Having empty weight of about 3200 lbs (or 1451 kg), two people & test power I had test weight of about 5,024 lbs (or 2278 kg).

Fuel burn & speed. Having pair of the 115-hp Yamaha four-strokes that are bolted to stern that I reached top speed @ 6000 rpm speeds of 44.7 mph. For this speed, the fuel burn was about 20.5gph giving range of about 188 miles. The best cruise had come in @ 3000rpm & 19mph. This speed gave me fuel burn of just 5.55gph for a range of about 295 miles or more than 17 hrs of the running time.

I had very quick time plane of about 2.6 seconds, and reached about 20 mph in just four and half seconds & had accelerated to about 30 mph in around 7.6 seconds. They are really impressive numbers irrespective of the way that you slice. On acceleration 23CC exhibits ten degrees rise of bow.

The handling. Let me get right to meat & discuss the most surprising characteristic of this boat: the capabilities of handling. As a characteristic of the catamarans you will remain one level during slow turn but still lean around ten degrees in to high-speed hard over turn. While taking the power off, she does settle back in to water at level attitude.

However, as impressive as the numbers are, I got totally blown away by what had come next. I tested share of the boats that were designed for operating in skinny waters & all of them shared same attributes – hull that was relatively flat which goes where not a lot of people can, but it just isn’t good for handling anything more than an average wake of the passing bow rider. Along with this attribute that is planted firmly in the head, I zigzagged across wake of camera boat. This experience was really anti-climatic. There wasn’t any expected pounding and spray coming & over rails or some squirrely handling, like the wake wasn’t existing at all.

I did spot ferry that is cross-sound around 5 miles (or 6.4 kms) distant & even for this range I’d clearly see turmoil that was being generated behind. It was perfect and I put throttles to stops & did blast to ferry & blasted to ferry and the 3-4’ (or 9m-1.2m) wake which closely following behind. This is where I could test the 23CC coupld steadily increase the increments for edge of the envelope of performance.

I had started out very slowly going over waves & found that 23 CC still tends for slice through waves. It is really consistent along with the other cats which I have tested along with the narrow bows. I also saw that while encountering the waves, it isn’t a good idea to slow down. Hence, I started to put in more of power.

Approaching waves at very high speed got me bracing for an impact and it had never come. 23CC sliced through and went going. Adding more of power on Carolina Cat 23CC will cut through waves & launch in to air, going at level attitude before it very well sliced through next wave. I was glad to see that the more I have given, the better this boat had responded. It is clear that the draft shallow boat will easily handle herself very well in the conditions of off shore.

In sea way she clearly won’t exhibit characteristics of pounding of flats boat. This narrow entry which catamarans simply have cut through easily the waves as hulls are very narrow. Further while they are coming down there aren’t any large and flat surfaces which slam in to water.

The now. There is big deck of casting at bow that is measuring around 28″ x 5′ 9” (or 71 cm x 1.75 m). 6” (or 15.2 cm) the pull-up cleats are for either side & in corners of forward are the separate lights of nav which I’d like for seeing flush-mounted.

Bow has seating U-shaped topped along with comfortable cushions having added support under legs. There is storage under center seat & for porting & star board are 150 quart (or 142 L) fish insulated boxes along with over board drains. There is enough of seating in here for 5 adults & because seating runs from about 35” (or 88.9 cm) to 27 ½” (or 69.8 cm) apart, I would like to see Carolina Cat offers table bow pedestal as option.

Along with cushions that are removed non skid covers of hatch created one more elevated deck of casting & grab recessed rails will be keeping lines from any snagging. LED light courtesy is totally forward & shines on to deck.

Console

I measured 17” (43.2 cm) between the bow seats and the forward console seat, and 2’ (.6 m) between the console and the bulwarks. Caprails come up 22” (55.9 cm) from the deck and that height looked consistent all way back to stern. Forward seat is on the top of cooler which gets molded in to console & deck & it includes the grab handles of stainless for either side. My test boat got fitted along with t-top optional along with canvas over head & frames of aluminum having spot light bracket.

Post leaning. Leaning post is padded nicely & there is room below for the carry-on cooler. Helm gets mounted to side of port of console & stainless steel wheel gets connected to hydraulic single ram steering.