Arrowcat 30

Weekend getaway

With the Brisbane Boat Show now a fading memory and the ink dry on the receipts for four deposits, it's been a great debut for the ArrowCat 30. And why wouldn't it be? Here's a manageable weekender that doesn't break the bank, while providing typical big-boat range and performance for a cat.

The hull heralds from New Zealand's revered naval architect Roger Hill, a specialist catamaran designer, while production takes place in a dedicated factory in Jiangmen, China. It's been a successful partnership producing, says the brochure, a fast, light, strong, fuel-efficient boat that is exceptionally stable and dry under way.

Trade-a-boat had the opportunity to see whether the ArrowCat 30 lived up to these claims one sunny day off Mooloolaba, where a swell of about 1.2m and small chop was running, and the wind barely reached five knots from the northwest. Perfect cruising conditions.

ENGINE OPTIONS
Rigged with a pair of counter-rotating 175hp Suzuki outboards, the demonstrator has its minimum recommended horsepower. The maximum is a pair of 225s. You can also opt for expensive diesel inboards in the form of Yanmar 4BY 180s with Bravo Two legs.

But as Trade-a-Boat discovered, the 175hp rig wasn't lacking in the power department. Unless you are looking for really snappy acceleration, the pair of 175s will do nicely, exhibiting plenty of torque throughout the throttle range, with the obvious economical advantage at the point of purchase and the fuel dock.

The dryness of this hull was a pleasant surprise. Even though the conditions were calm, there wasn't a drop of spray on the toughened glass windscreen. A robust wiper system was fitted just in case, while the curved plexiglass side panes had hardened glass sliding windows for ventilation.

A slapping sound created by waves hitting the top of the tunnel between the hulls was audible, but there was no jarring when planing into sharp chop. Water noise on the hull sides was much lower, due to composite construction above the waterline.

The manufacturer says there is no timber in the hull, thereby removing issues associated with rot. And chopper gun isn't used to lay up any of ArrowCat's hull structure. Below the waterline is solid glass with 22 layers of material handlaid to give an average thickness of about 15mm. Above the waterline is a sandwich of 20mm Airex foam core encased in 8mm of handlaid fibreglass.

The cutaway in the transom is quite wide, thereby granting good access out onto the swim platform between the two engines. While high enough to stop water splashing aboard when backing down, the cutaway did allow a high level of ambient engine noise to escape into the cockpit and saloon under full throttle. This is something we are not used to with four-stroke outboards on cats with high transoms.

The boat's hardtop is a boon to keeping the Queensland sun at bay, but it and the upright cockpit liners will relegate rod fishing to the swim platform. That's fine, since it's traced by a heavy-duty stainless steel framework that provides security at sea, which also has a few rodholders fitted. A removable barbie and boarding ladder were supplied, appeasing dads with tongs, hungry crew, divers and swimmers.

Back outdoors, the cockpit has two gas-assisted hatches that lead into the bilges, which are each fitted with a bilge pump. The plastic freshwater tank is mounted forward under the deck, where you can make at-a-glance guestimates of its levels through the opaque sides. The aluminium fuel tank is aft, with easy access for maintenance to its fittings, and there is space left over for dry stowage.

Underfloor options include a generator, air-conditioning unit, refrigeration - there are some terrific portable AC/DC fridges on the market - and insulated lift-out icebox or killtank. But at 160lt in volume, the insulated box would be difficult to lift out and clean. So if you choose the box, as this boat had, then do fit a macerator pump.

Hatches in each side of the cockpit liner lead to narrow storage recesses, the saltwater deckwash and hose, and the aforesaid macerator pump. You could also stow fishing tackle, dive gear, and mooring lines.

OUT AND ABOUT
Steps in the cockpit liner, which harbour a 12V power outlet and a decklight, allow you to mount the gunwale and move around the outside of the cabin. We thought the boat could do with more handholds, which are thankfully easy to install. But once you reached the sidedeck, it was easy going using the handrail on the cabin roof while traversing the narrow foot-over-foot deck.

Incidentally, the cabin doubles as sun baking space and, should you have a rubber ducky, a mounting spot for it. An engine mount for an outboard up to 6hp has been manufactured in the cockpit handrail should it be required.

The bow has a Maxwell Freedom windlass with up/down foot controls nearby, as well as a remote at the helm. A compartment alongside the winch holds the LPG bottle and there's a BEP auto shutoff valve connected to two sensors. The gas bottle locker is sealed in such a way that leaking LPG cannot find its way back aboard but vents to the atmosphere instead. An important safety issue.

SALOON TRICKS
In the saloon, Canadian cherrywood is used on the galley fascia and on the dining table that drops down to form a second double bed. That table has hinged leaves that, when closed, expose handrails for those seated when underway. A good design detail.

The L-shaped lounge has stowage under and behind it, while its aft end hosts the battery banks and isolation switches - a welcome change of venue rather than buried in some near inaccessible part of the bilge. The batteries include two start and two house batteries, all deep cycle and totalling 240amp/h of operational use.

The cherrywood joinery is very neat and there are drawer sets of varying depths that will hold vertically stowed glasses and bottles. The drawers are all dovetail joined on a sliding rack system made from Zincalume steel rather than the plastic rubbish we have to put up with even in our own homes these days.

The galley module consists of a Corian top in which a twin-burner gas stove is installed between a food preparation area and a sink. The small electric fridge below the stove will hold the basic kitchen foodstuffs. As it's small, you will need further cold storage or iceboxes aboard.

Stairs for'ard of the dining lounge on the port side lead to the private shower and single berth opposite, tucked under the saloon deck. The latter is large enough for an adult to crawl in for a snooze but it's even more useful as storage space, especially with rod racks for the tackle.

The forward end of the galley has an upholstered seat where you can sit and converse with the skipper at the centrally located helm. Directly in front of this rebate, a stairwell leads down to the main berth and the second under-saloon-deck single berth.

The main berth sits on top of the high tunnel midships so there is not a lot of headroom above the mattress, which is typical for this style of boat. Shallow stowage areas are behind vertical hatches in the companionway next to the berth, and freshwater plumbing and wiring looms are serviceable.

AT THE WHEEL
The helm module has various sloping facets and rebates to hold all the instrumentation and more. While fitted with a Raymarine combination unit, future ArrowCats will have Simrad electronics as standard. A pair of 12in screens could be flush-mounted here.

The helm was connected to individual Sea Star hydraulic rams for each outboard. However, steering was not light under hand so future models will have a power steering pump added to fix this issue.

From the helm, views extend in all directions and the saloon is open, airy and well lit by natural light. Interestingly, this was a manoeuvrable boat going astern, too. Going forward, it proved nice and smooth.

 At 4800rpm, our GPS registered 36kts and we wrung out just another three knots at WOT of 6000rpm. Another of these boats rigged with a pair of 225s has been clocked at 50kts, we're told.

All up, the ArrowCat is a good value rig that will comfortably host weekends away and is ideal for coastal travel with its capability to handle rough seas.

While predominately designed around cruising, there is potential for a little fishing to be thrown into the equation. Yes, China does seem to be getting its act together in the boatbuilding scene. Just don't ask about the rabbits.

LOWS