Cat Myth 1
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Cats don't track well in a following sea.

A lot of boaters worry that driving a cat boat isn't relaxing, because they think they'll have to constantly watch the sea and where they're going. This just isn't true. A catamaran is much better than a monohull in a following sea, as a mono will plow into the front wave as they come down, then turn or pitch-pull when they plow into this next wave. But cats are more bouyant in the bow, almost removing this worry.

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Cat Myth 2
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Power catamarans don't look like a traditional boat.

Every boater is aware that Australians and New Zealanders know their boats. And catamarans aren't ugly to them: despite a much smaller population, there are four times more power catamarans in Australia and New Zealand than there are here. They know that the smoothness of the ride, especially in their infamously rough water, is superior to any monohull's.

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Cat Myth 3
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Cats are awkward to drive and hard to get used to.

Some customers believe that it's too difficult to learn how to drive a power catamaran, and they worry that they'll never get used to the awkwardness. But cats are incredibly simple to operate: once you learn the basics of keeping a proper trim you'll be 90% of the way to being an expert. Experienced boaters will tell you that learning to drive a catamaran was easy...and they'll never go back to a monohull.

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Cat Myth 4
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Cats always turn outboard and can throw you from the boat.

One of the worst lies that monohull dealers tell consumers interested in a power catamaran is that they will get thrown from the boat, especially if they need to turn sharply at high speeds. While it's true that at slow speeds and slow turns, our boats do tend to lean slightly outboard, the effect is so minor no one's in any danger of ending up in the water. At high speeds, however, power catamarans bank inboard, just like a monohull.

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Cat Myth 5
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Cats have trouble drifting in beam seas and can tip.

Many boaters believe that because catamarans have two hulls close together, the boats have a violent rock when drifting, and are even in danger of tipping. In fact, it's just the opposite: the twin-hull design allows for a smoother drift in beam seas, one that settles much faster than a monohull. As for tipping, the PowerCat Group associates with dozens, if not hundreds, of lifelong boaters, and none of us have ever heard of a single catamaran tipping over.

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Cat Myth 6
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Cats can't handle rough seas.

Some customers have the impression that cats are fine in three to five feet seas, but only monohulls can handle seas over six feet. Monohull dealers don't clear up this myth, of course, and say that cats are great in a bay but not in rough seas. We're not sure where this myth got started--maybe from racing cats, an entirely different craft--but it's just flat out wrong: catamarans are superior in every way in rough seas. For millennia, fishermen have trusted the twin hull design to get them through big seas.

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Cat Myth 7
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Experienced boaters prefer monohulls.

Customers are often told that when it comes to experienced boaters, they prefer monohulls over catamarans. Some dealers even hint that buying a catamaran is buying a dying breed of boat. But the truth is that boaters with experience with both kinds of crafts almost always prefer cats. In Australia, a country that knows its boats, catamarans are a whopping 45% of the market. The PowerCat Group's customer base is made up of experienced boaters who understand the advantages of a catamaran: 76% of them have owned three or more boats, and they choose a power catamaran.

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Cat Myth 8
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The build quality of cats are bad and the companies are poorly managed.

Power catamarans are a niche product in the US, and some consumers have negative feelings about niches, thinking that niche products can't be as high-quality as mainstream ones. But the PowerCat Group was specifically founded to create a modern boat company that deliberately went against boating industry practices like inbreeding and fear of change. We utilize innovative and cutting-edge materials, processes, designs, and management techniques to build the highest quality boats on the water. PowerCat Group is expertly managed by experienced executives, and has grown even in tough markets.

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Cat Myth 9
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Cats angle or pitch for no reason.

Boaters are often told that the main weakness of the twin hull design is that the two hulls fight each other for dominance, each one pulling in opposite directions. In fact, some dealers claim that you can't even hold a cup on a catamaran because you're so busy fighting the wheel. The truth is nowhere close. Though catamarans are different boats from monohulls, with a unique handling all their own, learning to drive a catamaran is much easier than driving a conventional boat.

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Cat Myth 10
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Cats can flip in rough seas.

Most people's first experience with power catamarans is watching the exciting racing catamarans on TV...and watching the dramatic crashes. But a racing catamaran is as different from our cats as an Indycar is from a luxury sedan. Simply put: power catamarans don't flip over in rough seas or anywhere else. One of our expert bloggers, Dean Travis Clark, recently took a 26' cat from the Midway Islands to Hawaii, a trip that regularly featured eighteen foot seas. Try riding one of those in a 26' monohull!

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Cat Myth 11
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Cats are bad in a head sea.

Customers are often told that catamarans have a history of bad performance in a head sea, making the ride uncomfortable or even dangerous. But in fact, thanks to the twin-hull design, catamarans actually perform better in head seas, compared to monohulls. The secret is how the unique hull design handles displacement.

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Cat Myth 12
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There's no resale value and no market for traded cat boats

Another topic monohull dealers mislead potential customers on is resell value for catamarans. They claim that if customers buy a cat they'll be losing too much money, because they'll never be able to sell it. And it's true, you rarely see a used power catamaran...but only because owners love their boats so much they never want to sell them! Of all the power catamarans sold in the last 10 years, only 4% are available for resale. With so few used boats on the market, the resale value of these boats is actually quite high.

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Cat Myth 13
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Cats are hard to trailer.

Because of the unique twin-hull design of the power catamaran, boaters often wonder how easy it is to trailer them. Aren't they difficult to load on a trailer? Can't they be a complicated to drive down the road? As with so many of the previous myths, the truth to this one is the exact opposite: the twin hulls actually make the boats easier to trailer and easier to transport. Every catamaran trailer has a tracking pad that guides the hulls as you load or unload the boat. The unique design of the power catamaran creates less air resistance when on the move, meaning the boat is not only more fuel efficient on the water...it's more fuel-efficient on land, too!

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Cat Myth 14
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Cat boats are weak and can break in half.

Of all the myths you hear about cat boats, this one is the most outrageous. There are rumors that, because of the twin hull design, cat boats are weak and prone to breaking in half. This simply isn't true...no one we've worked with or talked to has ever heard of a cat boat breaking in half. At the PowerCat Group, we've done every test we could think of to disprove this. We've put poles down the center with weights on each side, we've put a cat boat on blocks with weights in the center...we've even dropped a boat from fifty feet! And each test had the same result: none of the boats came anywhere close to breaking.