Boat Test Aboard the Cougar 8M Cat Cuveran II
Working space is a precious commodity on a fishing boat. That being the case, why then would any charter skipper want to down size from a 32 foot to a 26 foot boat. One reasonable answer might be because its a catamaran. In the case of the Messer's Parry business 'Jensen Sea Angling Charters' at Rhyl, a brand new 8 metre Cougar Cat to be precise. As it says on the Jensen website, she may only be 26 feet in length, but here's how she compares in size to our other boats...
- Jensen (Tony Parry's Offshore 105) – 34 feet x 11 feet = 141 square feet of deck area.
- Suveran (Simon's Parry's previous boat) – 32 feet x 12 feet = 118 square feet of deck area.
- Suveran II (Simon's 8m Cougar Cat) – 26 feet x 13 feet = 160 square feet of deck area.
You could say that the figures speak for themselves. But what's the Cougar 8m like on the water and in service with a paying party. Only one way to find. So it was down to Rhyl to join up with Simon Parry on a trip organised by of all people the Salvation Army as a supported recreational break for a group of their customers.
As always, I arrived well before the designated pick up time so I could have a mooch around the mooring area and draw up some preliminary conclusions before stepping on to board. The photograph of the two 'Suverans' at the mooring tells its own story. Granted, the camera angle does favour the Cat in the foreground. But even when viewed from the other direction the difference between the two boats remains striking. And from whatever angle, it is hard to get your head around the fact that there is a 6 foot differential between the two in favour of the mono hull.
On board, that feeling still doesn't go away. Try as I may, and I tried from every angle and vantage point available to me, I simply could not get a photograph taking in the entire width of the stern. In part that is down to the boat only being 26 feet in length. Had it been a little longer I would probably have got it all in. But that's the whole point here. It didn't need to be any longer. With a beam like that you get more effective fishing space than on a conventional mono hull simply because fishing over the stern is the place to be on any boat for a whole host of practical as well as tactical reasons. From that perspective, this boat was going to make and keep many more anglers happy. But as we all know, fishing isn't only about having lots of elbow room and more availability of prime spots on the boat. First you have to get out to the marks, after which you then have to get back, sometimes chased back by deteriorating weather. So handling, ride, stability and safety, while they are not angling buzz words, from an owners perspective will carry much more weight in the decision making process than a lot of anglers might think.
By virtue of their beam in comparison to mono hulls, Cats are always going to be more stable platforms to work from. On a flat calm sea, you won't find anything better other than perhaps a big angling RIB. But as we all know, the sea is often anything but calm, and working boats frequently have to go out in less than perfect conditions. So how does having two hulls spanned by 'bridge' compare to a single hull over the range of sea conditions found off the North Wales coast. The simple answer is that no independent observer like myself out for a single day assessment is ever going to be able to satisfactorily say, though from what observations I was able to make, coupled to my experiences of fishing from Cats elsewhere over the years, twin hulls win hands down in every department so far as I'm concerned. But for a more informed critique on this particular make and model, its over to the people who have had her out in conditions far worse than any paying customer should have to face, Tony and Simon Parry.
Before airing their views, let me first say that when he's not taking out angling parties, Tony Parry does a lot of work on the nearby offshore wind-farm, skippering their boat on essential maintenance runs out in all sorts of weather, and that boat also happens to be a Cat. So it's no coincidence that they too decided to buy a Cat this time around. And while you might expect the buyer of any new boat be full of praise for their latest acquisition, this was in fact a long considered decision based on a lot of practical experience with both Cats and mono hulls. In Tony's opinion, mono hulls, while they have been excellent work horses over the years, have now had their day. At the time of writing, the Cougar had been sea trialled in winds up to force 6, which is more than paying customers are going to be taken out in, and in terms of stability she performed as anticipated. Its very stable, has a good turn of speed delivering 28 knots flat out and 16 knots when cruising, is very economical to run, which in the current climate is a major plus for both anglers and operators, and handles well in a rough sea at all angles to the wind and tide, sliding over the waves with very little slamming. It's worth pointing out here that while force 6 is not a big wind, in the Irish Sea where we get a smaller shorter wave pattern than in other parts of the country, for a Cat it could potentially be tricky as smaller waves can smack under the tunnel which I experienced some years ago and it is not a very nice feeling. But to date, this hasn't happened with the Cougar and would therefore by unlikely to on an actual fishing trip.
Suveran II has both of her 200 hp Iveco engines sited below deck which means there is no engine cover set in the middle of the fishing area. But like trying to furnish a house that has no fire place, a fishing well needs a focal point to arrange things around and to put tackle and bait boards on. So they have stood a large plastic pallet box in the middle of the deck, which while it takes up room, actually looks and works better than an open space, and can be removed at a moments notice if required. Space in not a problem inside the wheel house either, which at 9½ feet by 8 feet can comfortably seat half a dozen anglers in addition to Simon and a crew. What I did find surprising, though when I think about it, I don't see why I did, was the fact that there is virtually no stowage space beneath or forward of the instrument console. The hulls sweep up at either side to support a short broad flat decked area just ahead of the front windows. But you can't have everything. I personally would much prefer the extra working space. I find that if you have lots of stowage on a boat you will invariably find something to put in it, whereas if you don't have it, you learn to load the thing accordingly.
Though the Cougar 8m could very comfortably fish twelve, for reasons of comfort and having a single twelve person life raft, Suveran II has only been licensed for ten. Without any effort at all, two or even three people can fish directly over the stern. The two anglers fishing in each of the corners, though they are counted as fishing from the sides, are technically also fishing over the back, leaving the other five or six anglers depending on how you play things, spread along the two sides, all of which makes for more comfortable and effective fishing, and if my recollections of charter fishing are anything to go by, less reason for there to be tangles. On the day I joined Simon, probably to a man with the exception of Salvation Army supervisor David Rose, all on board were novices. Just the kind of party likely to give tangling problems. Yet tangles were rare indeed with everyone catching fish, and judging by the banter on board, all happy to be out there giving it a go, which pretty much sums up the comments from other parties that have been out on the boat. Not a negative comment between the lot of them, which if the down sizing from the old mono hull to the current Cougar Cat had meant less room, would have come from some of Simon's regulars either said on board, or as non-repeat bookings, which hasn't to my knowledge happened. One of those rare examples then of smaller actually being bigger, and in many ways, better too.
SEE VIDEO VAULT – Cougar Cat.