Power Catamaran World

World Cat acquires Glacier Bay

Founded in 1990, Glacier Bay became the best-selling powercat brand in the U.S. before running into financial difficulties. The popular 3080 Express Cabin is shown.

World Cat, which has battled Glacier Bay Catamarans for market share for more than a decade, has purchased the assets of shuttered Glacier Bay in a deal sealed February 20. Nevertheless, the two brands will remain competitors.

Glacier Bay, based in Washington, has run into financial difficulties in recent years and shut down the factory this winter. World Cat, based in North Carolina, is backed by the financial strength and management smarts of its parent, Hornet Capital. The holding company also owns American Composites, a leader in outsourcing services for the FRP industry.

Andrew Brown (left) and his partner, Chris Brockway (right), are majority owners of the parent.  Brown continues as president of World Cat while Brockway is the new president at Glacier Bay. Together, they dominate the small powercat market, even without the recent failure of Twin Vee.

In a statement, Brockway describes Glacier Bay as Mercedes-Benz and World Cat as BMW.

"They have very distinct brands and different customers," Brockway said. "Our goal to keep these brands separate and our challenge is to continue chipping away at the V-hull market.  We need to continue to educate the marketplace as to the significant advantages of owning a power catamaran. The V-hulls are our competitors . . . they have historically owned the market share we seek.”

Indeed, monohulled boats own about 90 percent of the U.S. market for fishing boats and sports cruisers.

"World Cat has competed with Glacier Bay for over 10 years and this competition will continue in the future," Brockway said. "World Cat will focus on the performance of their semi-displacement hulls and Glacier Bay will continue developing full displacement cats. 

"World Cat will stay a fishing boat that can cruise while Glacier Bay will continue being a cruising boat that can fish."

Brockway said he and Brown are  “thrilled to be able to carry on the strong tradition of high-quality displacement cats as pioneered by Glacier Bay. The union of these two brands will provide incredible synergy and ability to serve our combined customers better. We are extremely fortunate to have this opportunity and look forward to meeting all of the customers and dealers.”

Brockway, six days after the deal closed, took charge of the Glacier Bay Online Forum to announce the acquisition and extend a welcome to existing Glacier Bay owners:

"Glacier Bay has thousands of satisfied owners, a huge global brand, and is the father of the power catamaran market in the United States. Glacier Bay owners are proud of their boats and the incredibly soft and stable ride in rough water. They are passionate about the brand, their dealer, and their fellow Glacier Bay owners. Along with our loyal Glacier Bay dealers, we intend to do the right thing for you all and continue taking care of your service issues. Our customers are our best sales people! We need to take care of the brand advocates and our most valuable asset . . . YOU!

Currently, Glacier Bay offers 14 models, from the 2240 Dual Console to the 3480 Hardtop. In the World Cat stable, there are 10 models, from the 230SF Center Console to the 320EC Express Cabin.

Glacier Bay was founded in 1990 by Larry Graf. He left in 2005 and has been developing and promoting a power proa under the Aspen Catamarans banner.

World Cat has a reputation for building quality boats that perform well in all weathers and seas. The high-performance 250DC Dual Console is pictured.

Boat-handling in heavy weather

For a larger view of the photos, click on the images. Larry Graff, founder of Glacier Bay Catamarans, knows something about boat-handling in heavy weather as he has set several offshore records with his cats, including the first New York-to-Bermuda record in an outboard-powered boat.

In Cat Connections, a newsletter for Glacier Bay owners, he outlined what he has learned about handling small powercats in nasty seas:

Several Glacier Bay owners have requested a story on best procedures and techniques for running in severe seas offshore, should they get caught in a gale or more. Safety offshore actually starts at the dock, with your choices in the following areas:

• Passengers should be seated and have a hand hold when running in an open
sea. Open sea boating passengers’ should be limited to the number of available
seats.

• Always insure your bilge pumps, all 4, are operational and that your bilges are dry. Should you have one hull partially filled with water, your catamaran (which is typically exceptionally stable) will begin to react like a mono-hull with water in its bilge. As a sea rolls the boat the water in the hull rolls with it, limiting the hulls natural rebound capability. Keep your bilges DRY!

• General boat maintenance; electrical systems, plumbing, proper water sealing
and pre-trip inspections and testing of your systems. Every system MUST be
110% operational, period! Fix it or don’t go.

• Proper safety equipment and easy access to the equipment, should you need it in an emergency. Too many owners (Captains) bury their safety equipment and gear under a wide array of other gear which gets put into the boat later. When you need your safety gear, you will most likely be in a RUSH and the situation will not be easy.
• Cargo – fish coolers should be stored bellow deck in the fish wells, other heavy items must be ratchet-strapped in securely on non-skid mats. Shifting weight is unsafe.

Once you’ve made sound choices before departure, you’re ready to begin your trip offshore. Here are boat handling techniques and special areas I do either for safety or for the comfort of all aboard. These two issues often go hand in hand, I think your best choices typically come when you consider your passengers fun and comfort. If it’s a “Harry or Scary” choice it’s probably the wrong one.

• Keep a continual eye on the seas as you work through them. If the boat’s motion is uncomfortable, trim up or down, change your heading a bit or adjust your speed up or down. The boat should feel good. In large tight seas (5’-10’), you may need to run up sea 20-30 degrees for a period and then run down 20-30 degrees to give the hull a chance to slice steep waves, as the hull moves through it.
• Trim your boat (side to side), level using an equal amount of port and starboard engine trim. Trim just to level, some websites recommend “twisting the boat into the seas”, but this can leave you in an unstable position, should an unexpected wave hit. Do not have more than 3 bars of trim difference between your port and starboard engines.

• In very large seas, when you have long distances to go, I have recently developed the “Lake Illiamna” system that recognizes and uses the fact that LARGE TIGHT seas typically have 2-3 “big ones” and then a series of 6-7 smaller more manageable waves. I set my engines so that one engine is at, say, 3200 rpm. I maintain 10 kts and with both engines at 3200 rpm, I maintain 16 kts. As each large set comes, I pull one throttle back to near idle and let the other engine consistently maintain my chosen “big wave” speed (10 kts), as soon as the big set clears I again match both engines to 3200 rpm (16kts). This system gives me an easy, predictable way to match the current seas without over shooting my desired speed or undershooting. Over a period of time, I will switch which engine I use as the “rest motor” to match the fuel burn rates.
Running Down Swell Into an Inlet - The thing to remember here is that the big
wave you’re on is a spinning bail of water. If you are on the front/down swell
side, it’s rolling forward at 8-12 kts. If your running at 18 kts, your actual speed
through the water is 8-10kts. This is not much to maintain steerage. I like to wait outside the inlet and watch for a period when there is no traffic and then hop onto the back side of ONE swell and ride it through, matching my speed to the swell. My props are always in the water, as are my rudders. The spinning bail of water is working for me rather than against me. Visibility is one problem with this technique, so at times you may need to nudge up for a peak and then back down into the base. You also have to keep an eye on the wave behind you so you don’t get overtaken.

• Watch the horizon for fast moving larger vessels, ships, or military vessels. They can throw exceptionally large and aggressive wakes which can stack/combine with the existing seas to build an exceptionally bad wave set.

• Watch for aggressive wind shifts. If you have winds above 15-20 kts that make a 180 degree swing in direction in a short period of time (20-50 minutes), expect very aggressive steep seas and occasionally a rogue wave-set to build in short order.

These are my personal techniques and don’t come with any guarantees. I recommend you work your way up incrementally in larger seas to familiarize yourself with your boat’s capabilities . . .

The dramatic photos of the Wildcat 36 and 40 used to illustrate heavy weather were shot during sea trials in gale conditions off the Irish coast. For more heavy weather photos and information on the Wildcats, visit Safehaven Marine. For video of the Wildcat 40 in action in Force 7-8, click here or here and hang on.