Re: Glacier Bay 260
Fat boy- <br />Don't own one but I demo'd their 22 and the 26 in the past 3 months.<br /><br />Boats are nicely built and any type of catamaran will be a more comfortable ride as opposed to a v-hull. <br /><br />The Glaciers are pricey as compared to Leisure Cat, World Cat and Sport Craft's Cat and PROSPORTS (I tested all of them.)<br />There are 2 types of hulls: semi displacement and planing. in either case, the first thing you need to adjust to is steering. They are like cars in that the turn is flat and your weight is shifted to the outside (turning left you are "thrown right). Getting into the boat from the dock is nice in that the boat hardly "leans' (rolls?) even if you stand on the gunwales.<br /><br />You can't beat the ride in a chop or even just in crossing large boat wakes. You don't need to slow down to avoid burying the bow. <br /><br />The Glaciers are heavier than most of their competition and I really didn't like the performance when runnning on a single engine. The 26' could hardly get on plane with a single engine (the test boat had the Honda 130 4 strokes). It also didn't impress me with its hole shot and overall planing performance. In a chop, at moderate speed (25-30 mph) the motion was similar to a kid's rocking horse, but it did not pound!<br /><br />All cats tend to "sneeze" at times which is when the "tunnel" between the sponsons fill with water in a deep chop and shoot spray forward and to the sides, there is a momentary "shudder" which is normal and does not affect the handling. <br /><br />The other boats had similar rides with the exception of the PROSPORTS Pro Kats. I found out after my demo that they have a planing hull as opposed to the semi-displacement hull. This means that the faster you go the more the hull rises and reduces surface drag. Less HP to maintain speed and less fuel. Also much less "sneezing" than the others. The PROKATS had a tendency to "slide" a little in a beam sea, but getting accustomed to the handling characteristics will remedy that. It really handled well in a following sea, whereas the others required you to back off to avoid losing the plane. The 26' PROKAT I tested was rigged with twin 150 Yamaha EFI and the 22 had twin 115 Suzuki 4 strokes. I really don't remember top end on the 26, but the 22 hit 46 mph with 3 people and half tank of fuel (180 gals cap.) Both of the PROKATS ran amazingly well on one engine, with the 26' still hitting 21 mph and the 22 doing 26 mph!! None of the others came close.<br /><br />With the 10 year hull warranty and the 6 year on the Suzukis I am taking delivery of My 22OO WA PROKAT in March rigged with twin 140 4 Strokes.<br /><br />If you opt for the Glacier I think you should consider at least twin 150 2 strokes or larger.<br /><br />Also check your dealer's reputation, I had no one on Long Island and was not willing to deal with one far away in NJ and another in Conn.<br /><br />Lots of luck and hope this helped!<br /><br />BTW, I just read that PROPSoRTS came out with a new 26' PROKAT that also has a twin inboard diesel option!<br /><br />Big e<br /><br />TSLTW
