Chris-Craft Launches a Fishboat Worthy of the Company Name

They say boats are of the feminine persuasion, and if that's true of the Chris-Craft 29 Catalina, then it's Elle Macpherson, Angelina Jolie, and Misty May-Treanor all rolled into one.

I'm not just talking about looks. Sure, this boat's a drop-dead gorgeous chunk of fiberglass with curves that'll set your heart aflutter. But plenty of hulls on the water fit that bill. The Catalina has smarts, strength and agility, too – like the three aforementioned women.

At a base price of about $187,000, there was very little on this boat not to like. Sure, access to the anchor locker was too small. And the livewell and raw-water washdown share the same pump, which is not my favorite configuration. But overall, Chris-Craft has produced a fine fishing machine.

To get to the Catalina's real character, you have to go beyond skin deep.

BRAINS

There's nothing easy about making a functional blood-and-guts fishboat look slick and serene, but Chris-Craft's engineering team did the job amazingly well. That took some serious brains, and that's where we see Elle Mcpherson come into play. She's one savvy supermodel – ranked number one on Forbes' top-earning-models list this year, thanks to her business moves that include everything from coffee shops to clothing. Smarts are a lot harder to come by than looks.

This is true of boats, too. Take the T-top, for example. Unlike a cruiser that can get away with a convertible bimini top, serious center-console fishing machines need to have a T-top. It supports rocket launchers for additional rod holders and spreader lights for illuminating the cockpit in the pre-dawn hours, and it has electronics boxes for the extra communications and navigation gear die-hard anglers need.

On the flip side, T-tops tend to look boxy. They create tripping points where they bolt to the deck, and they provide a common point of structural failure that often results in pulled bolts and cracked decks. So, one with a Macpherson brain needs curvaceous, powder-coated pipework that matches the rest of the boat's aesthetics. The aluminum would be integrated into the console itself, fastened from the inside, to eliminate tripping points. And the supports would run all the way down through the console head compartment and deck, for additional structural support that made it rock-solid, even in ridiculously rough seas. There's only one T-top that fits this description, and you'll discover it on the Catalina. When you check it out, make sure you climb down into the head and look at the top's legwork from the inside. Note that even down here, in an area few people would notice, Chris-Craft powder-coated the aluminum to match the gelcoat.

Attention to detail like that is rare, and it's not the only example the Catalina offers up. Look at the screw heads, and you'll find that the notch in each and every one lines up in perfect orientation. Teak trim, a rarity in 2009, accents the console and gunwales. Perfectly shaped, solid-teak decking is epoxied in place on the foredeck and swim platform. (For anyone too young to remember the days when the deck of virtually every boat was teak, the wood provides a far surer footing than fiberglass does when wet, so it's the ideal material for areas sure to be trafficked when wet.) Upholstery is filled with dual-density foam, the most comfortable possible. Cleats are pop-ups, through-hulls are 316-grade stainless steel, and hatches are RTM (resin transfer molded), so they're finished on both sides.

You want more brains? The overall design has 'em. The flared bow and outer strakes, turned down at a seven-degree angle, work together to redirect spray away from the boat and keep you dry. I spent an entire day fishing offshore on the Catalina, and despite 20-plus miles of cruising through a two-foot chop, we stayed bone-dry. The inner strakes are also turned down, these at a five-degree angle, to provide additional lift to the hull. The entry, meanwhile, has a sharp, 54-degree forefoot that tapers back through a variable-degree deadrise to 21 degrees at the transom. So far as seaworthiness goes, it's a perfect 10. I do have a beef with the rope locker, though: It can only be accessed through a small pie plate, and I could only get one arm into it at a time. It's a certainty that one day the windlass will get a wedgie thanks to a tangled rode, so straightening it out will be tough.

BRAWN

Sometimes boats that are built to be lookers aren't tough. But the 29 Catalina is every bit as powerful a heroine as Angelina Jolie, as in the Mr. & Mrs. Smith Jolie – where she beats people up and blows stuff to smithereens. The Catalina displays a similarly potent ability to dominate. Specifically, it dominates the ocean, thanks to its bedrock-hard construction. The liner and stringers are a molded grid, affixed to the hull with Weld-On adhesive. Once the grid's in place, Chris-Craft foams all voids. High-stress areas are Kevlar-reinforced, and grabrails, latches and even the cupholders are all 316-grade stainless steel. A through-hull strike plate and an anchor roller protect the bow. The unusually thick, 22-mil gelcoat is backed with a Vinylester barrier coat. Even the upholstery is over-built, with 35-ounce vinyl on the cushions (most boats have 20-something-ounce vinyl).

Thanks to the potent construction techniques, when the Catalina hits a wave, you hear a solid ka-chunk instead of the hollow drumming sound some lesser boats make. You won't feel vibrations or hear squeaks as ancillary equipment shifts and jolts, because everything's buttoned up tight. And at the end of a day of offshore fishing, you won't need a wrench and a screwdriver to tighten everything that shook loose, because on the Catalina nothing is likely to shake in the first place.

Fishboats need to be strong, but brute strength is not enough. Just ask Jolie: If you want to garner the world's attention, you have to offer the uncommon. And when it comes to fishing accouterments, the Catalina does. Naturally, Chris-Craft included all the standards you expect, like four gunwale-mounted rod holders, under-gunwale rod racks, removable coaming bolsters, five rocket launchers across the hardtop, and an aft bench seat that folds out of the way when it's time to deploy the lines.

But then there's the livewell. Most fashion-plate fishboats have small livewells that are essentially built-in bait buckets, but the Catalina sports the real deal. It's a whopping 28-gallon swimming pool that's round, so your baits don't crash into corners and beat themselves up; lit, for those night-fishing adventures; and painted baby blue inside, which helps keep bait calm and stress-free until you sacrifice them in search of larger fish. Chris-Craft gets bonus points for gasketing the hatch and dogging it down securely enough that water shouldn't splash out or overflow when you run with the well full. But the builder also gets a point deduction, because the livewell and raw-water washdown are plumbed to run off the same pump. That means you'll have low water pressure when using both at the same time, and no backup for either if you have a pump failure. The freshwater does have its own dedicated pump, and along with the freshwater washdown, there's a sink at the cutting board on the back of the leaning-post module.

You'll even find some fishing features nearly exclusive to custom-built sportfishing boats. Pre-wiring is run to the cockpit for electric reels ands/or downriggers, and the transom holds additional rod holders. And check out the drink box under the passenger's seat. Flip the seat forward, and you've opened up an electric refrigerator/freezer. Just turn a dial to choose the temperature – it'll go down low enough to form ice crystals in that Coke, if you so choose. Finally, this boat has not two, not four, but six integrated fishboxes. Even the four up forward are insulated so they can be iced and packed with your catch if you run out of room in the two aft boxes. Those two are the largest at 125 quarts and more than six feet in length, and they're also macerated for easy cleanup.

AGILITY

By now it's obvious that the Catalina 29 has good looks, a big brain, and the muscle to match it. What could make it better? Performance, and that's where Misty May-Treanor's traits can be seen. The two-time Olympic gold medalist has speed and split-second reaction time on her side – and the Catalina seems to as ll. When I tested this boat, rigged with a pair of 250-horsepower Yamaha V6 F-250 four-stroke outboards with 204.6 cid, swinging 15 x 21 inch, three-bladed stainless steel props through 2.0:1 reductions, we broke 54 mph. That's fast, but bear in mind that we had a heavily laden boat with full fuel, a complete crew and full fishing gear. Run the Catalina light, trim it just so, and you'll get close to, if not break, 60 mph.

Since top-end is for sprinters, not competitors who need to jump, hit, bob, and weave for hours on end, check out the Catalina's consistency through other parts of the power curve. Look at the 4500-rpm speed of 43.2 mph, and you'll discover that the Catalina bests 1.7 mpg. If you'd rather pull back on the throttles and save more fuel, set them to a 3500-rpm cruise of 32 mph, and fuel economy gets boosted to 2.2 mpg. That's about 10 to 20 percent better than most twin-outboard-powered boats in this class, and it gives you a range of more than 400 miles, enough to fish where the big boys roam whether you're running out of New York, North Carolina, or Newport Beach. That's enough speed and endurance, in fact, to beat the competition.

No matter what speed you do that running at, turning the boat hard over (the wheel has a suicide knob, so you can just grab it and spin) won't cause the hull or props to break free or slide. No matter how aggressive you get, the Catalina's hull digs in, and it maintains a sure footing. Again, credit goes to that multi-strake deep-V hull design.

Or, maybe credit should really go to Elle, Angelina, and Misty. After all, this is one boat that really is a she.

Lenny Rudow was senior technical editor for Boating magazine for more than 10 years, and is currently the electronics editor for Marlin and GoBoating magazines.

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