TOPIC: Bearcat powered Power Cat 14T

Finally got some time to play.
I launched my 1961 Power Cat 14T with short shaft Bearcat 55 yesterday.
She ran fine, I put a new 14 pitch prop on her and haven't yet done a wide open throttle run to see if pitched correctly.
Was pleased that the little hull floats the portly 55 just fine on the 15" transom. This is the $200.00 Power Cat/trailer that I bought in 2009, sold it, bought it back for $200.00. Donated the DR Merc 800 to Doc Frankenmerc and installed the B55.
Ran her around on a single 6 gallon tank for a couple hours, still have half a tank left. Of course! Even took good ol' mom for a ride, she liked not seeing or smelling any smoke. Probably the biggest surprise was the noise, it wasn't as bad as I thought. I don't have any sound insulation in the hood yet, that's coming.
It's nice running a boat that turns almost flat, hardly any banking in a turn. I have her across the street from me in the water, well on the gravel at low tide. Will be taking her out whenever tide allows to get some time on her and will report back.

Glad it got wet

This package is a ball. I've had it out every night on the high tide. The old saying the smaller the boat the more it gets used is holding true at this point.
Boy that engine is nice for putting around. I have two 6 gallon tanks in her right now and haven't used much. No smoke, I don't even recall smelling any exhaust at all come to think of it. It idles all the way down to 600 in gear. My dogs jump right in and wanna go, will post some pics later of that.
I had a neat little Skagit 14 down at my beach a few years back, same length as this boat. While it was a fun boat, there is no comparison ride wise to this T. No comparison beaching it either, step on the bow of this little thing it's not a problem. Bottom line this boat is way more fun, although it is small so have to watch the fetch of the waves since it's a couple miles of open water in any direction here. Right now I'm thinking I'm done with monohulls, although I'll likely never sell my Dolphin. I think I"m going to sell my nice Skagit though. But that's another topic for a different forum.
The site is having an issue so later will post a pic of a telltale stream at idle using one of my impellers and having cleaned out the block water jackets. I'm getting several calls a week re low water flow, overheating etc. Hopefully this pic show's the target we should all shoot for telltale-wise.
Finally, we hopefully have some guys coming to the forum soon. One guy Paul is having a ball with a bigger boat running twins in NY. Funny, he called awhile back and did the craigslist collection exercise, and now has a couple nice running Bearcats and some spares. And a couple guys in Idaho should be on here soon too.

Good to hear someone's enjoying their Bearcat! I haven't even got mine wet this year. Sounds like a you've got a good one. Idling at 600 rpm, nice. Mine Homelite is 550 to 600 when I'm trolling and it will do it all day long. Last year we put it in the lake, set it at trolling speed and it idled along for 7 straight hrs, I not once touched the throttle. I think I might run the "F" block this year, it's been sitting since '09.

What ever became of the last 85hp you bought? I haven't had my 85 out since the Fall of 2010, been pondering selling it again.

Dick
U know how sweet they are for putting, they just idle all day like a clock back on the transom
Power tilt would b nice but not a big deal really
The 85 is sitting in shop since oct 11
Hey since yours is ready to go call me I want it, it would go on the other Powercat I am getting and save me the trouble of prepping mine. Call me we can work out first right to buy it back, that way we know it will have a good home

Bill, I'll give you a call in a few days. Still pondering, I don't use it and it's taking up space......................

Great, I can help you with your problem and you can help me with mine.

Friend of mine stopped by and returned my Bearcat hauling trailer today, he also picked up some hoods and controls. Showed him the little 14T and B55, he was surprised at how much room is inside due to the cat beam.
Ok will look forward to our chat.