In the world of boats power catamarans are simply a different breed. And for a hardcore offshore angler, they often prove ideal. A well-designed planning powercat builds up a cushion of air between the hulls, which mitigates wave impacts and cushions the blows, allowing you to fish and fish hard when wind conditions have monohulls of the same size sitting at the dock. Many provide spectacular performance, turning that hours-long run to the hotspot into an hour or less. They enjoy an efficiency boost, have more deck space since they carry their beam all the way to the bow, and offer fantastic stability. The newest angling-oriented powercat to hit the water? The Caymas 34 CT, the very first multihull ever built by this manufacturer.
Caymas 34 CT Design
The hulls the 34 CT rides on are semi-asymmetrical in design, have twin steps, and are extremely aggressive with 50/55-degree deadrise surfaces at the bow and 18/22-degree surfaces at the transom. Think: razor-sharp at the bow, deep-V style at the transom. Combine the sharp wave-slicing entries with the powercat air cushion, and it’s easy to see why those who plan to run fast through snotty conditions often opt for a powercat. The hull has a turned-down lip to mitigate sneezing (when spray gets thrown out of the tunnel and blows back onto the boat, a common issue on some power catamarans) and the bow carries some flair to throw spray off to the sides.
Topsides the Caymas features a layout more or less common to offshore center consoles. We don’t want to give away too much or the section on fishing features below will be a short one, but one key design element to consider is sheer deck space. The boat doesn’t narrow moving forward like a V-hull, so the bow cockpit is utterly huge. In fact, it has twice the fishing space found on most boats this size — maybe even more.
Caymas 34 CT Performance
The 34 CT can be rigged with a wide range of powerplants, including 300-hp Mercury Marine or Yamaha outboards, the new Mercury V10 350- and 400-hp outboards, or Yamaha F425s. Only a few of these hulls have hit the water thus far so performance results are limited (and when we saw the boat it was on dry land in the convention center at the Miami International Boat Show), but early reports are that with the V10 400s spinning around 4500 rpm, cruise is in the low 40s and top-end hits 60 mph.
Like many powercats the 34 CT also gains an efficiency edge over monohulls, and in this case there’s the added boost of having twin steps in the hulls. Cruising in the upper 30s you’ll see around 1.3 mpg (as a point of reference many boats in the mid-30-foot range have a tough time staying over one mpg at similar speeds), and throughout the upper powerband the boat maintains around one mpg. Note that with 436 gallons of fuel capacity, that means you can cover 500-plus miles on a single tank of fuel while cruising along in the 36 to 38 mph range — and that’s allowing for a 10-percent fuel reserve.
Caymas 34 CT Fishing Features
However you may like to fish, you’ll discover that this boat is armed to the teeth. Period. The stock pressurized and lighted transom livewell has a whopping 70-gallons of capacity. If that’s not enough for your live-baiting ambitions, there’s an option to plumb two 25-gallon transom compartments and 60 gallons on either side in the deck for a total 240 gallons of capacity. The systems are fed by a sea chest with two 2500 GPH Hooker variable-speed pumps and high-speed pickups.
Rodholders are plentiful: there are seven in the transom, six in the gunwales, 10 in the forward chaise lounge, five in the leaning post, and eight rocket launchers on the hard top pipework. You’ll find tackle stowage in both port and starboard sides of the leaning post, including a trio of Plano boxes plus leader racks. And as far as electronics go, the helm station has space for a pair of 22-inch MFDs or triple 17-inchers. Under-gunwale racks and fresh and raw water washdowns round out the standards, while electric reel outlets, swivel holders, and additional gunwale holders are all on the options list.
Caymas 34 CT Family Features
Although this is by any measure a hardcore fishing machine, Caymas did make an effort to add comfort and family friendliness to the boat. The forward chaise lounge is contoured, double-wide, and bound to be appreciated. The back of the leaning post is bolstered so the slide-out cooler under it serves as a seat, too. A nifty feature not found on most boats of this nature is the bow seating, which folds out of the gunwales. That allows Caymas to keep that bodacious bow cockpit wide open for angling, but still lets the crew kick back and relax when cocktail hour hits.
Then there’s the console head compartment, which has plenty of elbow room plus additional stowage. Some other comfort perks include swing-out wastebaskets integrated into the inwales, a side-entry door with a telescopic dive ladder, and an actuated windshield vent.
Caymas 34 CT Specifications
- Length Overall: 34’3”
- Beam: 10’10”
- Weight: TBD
- Draft (min.): TBD
- Transom Deadrise: 18/22 degrees
- Max HP: 900
- Fuel Capacity: 436 gal.
- Water Capacity: 30 gal.
Powercats aren’t for everyone. They handle a bit different from monohulls, look a bit different from monohulls, and they usually don’t come cheap. But for a hardcore angler, they can be tough to beat. And compared to other fishing boats in this class, the Caymas 34 CT is going to very, very difficult to beat, indeed.
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