big cat beam: wide vs narrow ?

[adamysr]

I'm looking into purchasing a central marine 53" mystic or a mhz 55"/138 and noticed that the beam width is pretty different on each one. Mhz is more narrow at 14.1" and central marine is pretty wide at 17" according to Rick (ose website says 16.1" i believe ?). What are some of the pros and cons on the wider vs narrow hull ? I'm a noob so any info on the topic is much appreciated.

[785boats]

The wider beam cats are better suited to oval racing where the turns need to be taken at full noise. Narrower cats have a tendancy to flip & roll in the turns.
The narrower cats are more popular for point & squirt straightline speed runs. They generate a bit less lift & stay on the water better at higher speeds.

[adamysr]

Thanks for the reply. I don?t plan on doing any racing, the build would just be for fun And playing around locally but there almost always wind with some chop. Is one hull better suited to handle 5?-6? chop ?

[Dr. Jet]

Years ago I had an MHZ Micro Iceberg, and it was one of the "Narrow" aspect ratio hulls. It was stupid fast in a straight line, but exactly as 785 said, it wanted to flip and roll in the turns. I too am a "Fun Runner" and I eventually sold the hull because I wasn't having fun retrieving it every time it went around a corner.

If I were ever to buy another cat hull, I would lean towards a wider, lower aspect ratio one for this reason alone. My BBY Micro Scat Cat is one of those wider hulls and I never let off the throttle to turn.....

[JestDanny]

Thanks for the reply. I don?t plan on doing any racing, the build would just be for fun And playing around locally but there almost always wind with some chop. Is one hull better suited to handle 5?-6? chop ?

How much wind an chop ? I know your looking at a large size boat / hull but? caution / disclaimer.
Cats don't like or fare well with to much chop, with to much wind an chop, cats can become unstable real quick, fat or narrow tunnel makes no difference in that case. Cats run an handle best in fairly flat water, big wind, big chop, big speed = big crash.

[adamysr]

thanks for the reply's. I'm sure a big mono will do better in choppy (5" to 6") conditions but I have always really liked the cats. But in general it seems the wider beam will be more suited for what I'm looking for.

[Dr. Jet]

Remember this too (and it may be one reason modern cats have such narrow tunnels): Cats "fly" because they pack air in the tunnel, and ride partially on the lift created by that. The wider the tunnel, the more air that you can pack in there; the faster you go, the more air you pack in there. If the cat weighs X grams and the air packed in the tunnel produces X+1 grams of lift, it's time to get your cameras out.