| Glacier
Bay 2270 Isle Runner |
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Glacier Bay founder and designer Larry Graf started playing around with
power catamaran designs more than 20 years ago in 1986. His primary goal was to
design a hull that could run at high speeds without planning. After four years
of testing scale models and full-size prototypes, the first production Glacier
Bay – a curiouslooking 24-footer powered by a single 90 hp outboard – debuted at
the Seattle International Boat Show in 1990.
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Today, the company operates out of a 125,000-square-foot facility employing
200+ boat-builders and manufactures 16 models ranging from 22 to 34 feet, all
based on Graf’s original concept – a highspeed displacement hull.
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The 2270 Isle Runner, recently winning the 2007 Imported Trailerable Boat of
the Year, is Glacier Bay’s 22’ cuddy model, which is also available in 26’ and
30-foot versions, and the cuddy itself on the 2270 is remarkably roomy. That’s
due in part to the raised foredeck, which rises well above the gunwales, and
also in part to a thoughtful layout. From the portside door, two moulded steps
lead down into the port hull, where a six-footer can stand straight up – nice
for pulling on clothes out of the weather when it’s your turn at the wheel. Just
forward is a portable toilet, and along the port wall are racks for four rods
and lots of storage.
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Stretching from the inner edge of the port hull to the outer edge of the
starboard is the piece de resistance – a full-on, real, rectangular queen-size
berth in a 22- footer. The area is ventilated by a pair of portlights and a
skylight, and a panel on the aft bulkhead offers easy access to the wiring. To
work on it, you’d just seat yourself comfortably on the mattress.
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The cockpit isn’t huge, but it’s deep and uncluttered, with nice high
bolsters that hit you on the upper thigh. The test boat had a sizeable live bait
tank behind the helm seat which was fully plumped with its own electric pump and
drain setup. Under the deck are two big, insulated fish boxes – each 132cm long,
38cm wide and 30cm deep – with hydraulically assisted hatches and their own
electric pump-outs. The best thought out fish boxes I have seen for a very long
time. Removing a few screws allows the boxes to be lifted out for full access to
the twin 240L each fuel tanks.
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Hatches in the transom offer easy access to the 22L freshwater tank, the
fuel-water separators, and the main battery switch. To starboard is a hatch
holding three tackle boxes and on top of the transom is a sizable cutting board
with holders for knife, pliers and lures. Forward under the starboard rail is a
saltwater washdown hook-up, and inside a snug fiberglass pod beneath the
helmsman’s chair are the dual batteries. A matching pod beneath the companion
helm chair contains a large bulk storage area.
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The helm is comfortable, that rotates 360 degrees, as well as sliding fore
and aft, and the raked windshield does an outstanding job of shielding the helm
from both direct and eddying wind. The throttles are nicely positioned, and the
tilt wheel accommodates a variety of driving styles. The electronics panel is
directly above the wheel and could accommodate a pair of seven-inch
displays.
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Beneath the helmsman’s feet is something unusual – lift-out fiberglass hatch
that accesses a sizable compartment perhaps 125cm deep. It seems like an
excellent place to store emergency gear, but the floor of the compartment is
covered in nonskid as well and is apparently intended also to accommodate very
tall drivers. Good thinking.
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The optional stainless canvas top provides full coverage with the wrap
around clears fitted, and a useful mounting point for radar equipment, with six
rocket launchers, a pair of spreader lights and ample room for mounting other
VHF and GPS equipment.
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The ride, though, is what really sets Glacier Bay apart from all other cats
(and of course mono hulls). Their displacement hulls are the result of a
fundamentally different approach to boat design, and there’s no mistaking that
on the water. To begin with, when you push the throttles forward, there’s no
bow-rise whatsoever.
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To reach plane, a conventional hull must “climb” up and over its own
bowwave. Then, once the hull “passed” the bow-wave, the entire boat rides much
higher in the water than it does at rest. The sensation of the hull rising up
onto plane is so natural to people who spend a lot of time on planning boats
that its absence is really, really strange.
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And it is indeed completely absent on the Glacier Bay. There’s no vertical
component at all to its acceleration; you just go faster without rising a bit.
The sensation, for me, was that of being “stuck” to the surface, the way an
amusement park racecar is locked down to its track.
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Crossing wakes was especially weird. Almost instinctually, I anticipated the
brief feeling of partial weightlessness that comes when a planning hull launches
off a wave and then falls back to the surface. But it never came. It wasn’t that
the Glacier Bay didn’t respond to the wake at all – it’s not that smooth – but
the response was both smaller and of a different nature than that of a planning
hull.
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I’m inclined to say the difference has to do with the fact that when a
planning hull hits a wave, its bow reacts first and most – we all know, after
all, that the farther aft you get, the smoother the ride. But it seemed that the
cat’s knife-like entries simply sliced into oncoming waves rather than rising up
on them, while the wider mid and aft sections of the hull responded more
noticeably to the wave. I think it would take some getting used to, but once you
acquaint yourself with the motion and action of this hull, you would never get
into a mono hull again!
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Displacement cats such as the Glacier Bay trade a bit of top-end speed for a
softer ride, but the 2270 is no slouch, reaching a top-end speed of 38 mph at a
6,000 rpm. At a 4,100 rpm cruise, she ran 26 mph. Coming out through the rough
water, pointing the Glacier Bay 45 degrees off the seas and throttling up, I
learned another of the oddities of the displacement hull – amazingly, it
actually gets smoother the faster it goes.
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At an 8 mph troll, the ride was nothing to complain about but nothing really
spectacular, either. But at cruising speed, it was unbelievably smooth – minimal
pitching and nothing even close to a hard landing. At 35 mph, it was smoother
still, although a bit scary for the uninitiated.
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Running directly into both the wind and the swell at 25 mph, the Glacier Bay
finally lost its strange “grip” on the water and even went completely airborne
once, but there was still nothing like slamming. With a following sea, she
tracked predictably – contrary to conventional wisdom about excessive bow-steer
in displacement cats – and I found I could let go of the wheel without deviating
more than five or 10 degrees. This just amazed me.
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As for the much-discussed problem of “sneezing” in power catamarans, it just
wasn’t apparent. The only situation in which any mist at all was visible coming
out from between the hulls was running hard downswell, but there wasn’t much of
it and after a minor correction to the trim of the engines, the phenomena
disappeared and the hulls cut through the swell like a knife through
butter.
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Overall, this boat is a sensational package. The standard features included
in the base boat specification are very comprehensive. It has all the fishing
amenities that any hardcore off-shore sports fisherman would desire with the
creature comforts, safety and style to spend a pleasurable day on the water with
the family.
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Glacier Bay now has dealers in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria,
Tasmania and Western Australia.
Please check their website:
www.glacierbaycats.com.au
for all their contact details or contact them directly on:
0418
388 827. |
