Reviews
& Articles 35 Express
Boat Test No. 866 Stalking Tall Cabo 35: Rises to the
occasion.
Boating
By Peter Frederiksen
 You know the car commercial where they roll
a marble in between the crease of the hood and fender? Big deal. If the
car was really cool, the marble would roll up the hood. Good thing for
car makers that Cat Harbor Boats, builders of the Cabo 35 Express, isn't
in the automobile business. These guys could make that marble stay in
the groove, roll uphill over the windshield and back down the trunk crease
doing 30 knots.
Case in point: you only have to drop the center hatch over the engine
compartment to appreciate what this new boat is all about. The hatch
doesn't slam, but sort of eases down. And it doesn't slide into place
until you step on it and turn the stainless-steel latch-the type of robust
hardware required by the Coast Guard on passenger-carrying vessels. The
hatch's resistance to closing is the result of its tight fit with the
gasket material. In fact, this tight fit is the reason why there's a
woooosh of incoming air at WOT. With an eager pair of 422-hp 3208TA Caterpillars
under that hatch, Capt. Mike Moe of HMY Yacht Sales and I ripped along
at 39.5 mph in the ocean off Miami Beach, never recording louder than
93 dB-A. For comparison, when I tested the Blackfin 33 Combi (January,
1994) with identical engines, the sound level reached 98 dB-A going 39.3
mph.
Shine On Brightly
And it wasn't just the hatch. Every piece of machinery in the engine
room fits like the tail on a tuna. The hatch, for instance, lets you
take a quick look underway. But a strap needs to be added to keep it
open while you're moving. For main access, a Bernell hydraulic system
rams the bridge deck skyward for routine maintenance.
"Brilliant" aptly describes the machinery space. Polished aluminum
engine mounts gleam brightly in the snow-white gelcoated bilge with a
white fiberglass diamond-plate deck. The Cats are painted a dazzling
white with chromed accents. Hooking up our DZL fuel flow gear, I lost
white paper towels three times.
Straddling the Cats, Recor 900 filters have fuel pressure gauges to change
elements. I also like the inspection plates over the fiberglass fuel
tanks which contained the pickup and return fittings. You can clean out
these tanks with less effort than it takes to vacuum a rug.
The engine room resembles a loaded tackle box. Every base is covered.
Through-hull fittings are labeled. Wiring is bundled, loomed and run
in conduit as are the Aeroquip fuel lines. Chafing gear is added where
the wiring passes through stringers and bulkheads. I could easily get
outboard of both engines and there wasn't one mechanical, plumbing or
electrical accessory that was difficult to reach.
The exterior is teak-free and the fiberglass work (solid-glass bottom,
Baltek end-grain balsa coring above the chine) is seamless.
Hi Ho Cabo
The biggest attraction of an express fishboat is the ease with which
it can work an offshore edge. How it performs is another story. The Cabo
can handle bluewater chores as easily as a tuna bends a rod.
Virtually every piece of gear a tournament angler needs can be stowed
in cockpit lockers for the ride out, yet can be reached easily even before
the turbocharger spools down to trolling speed. Two fiberglass consoles
are the heart of this fishboat's cockpit.
The port side console holds a bait prep station. Rods stow dry and safe
in a locker below. The starboard side console starts out as an insulated
ice chest or stowage bin and converts to an optional freezer. Console
tops have heavy-duty stainless locking clasps. Undo them and the lids
pop and stay open on gas struts. Say good-bye to pinched fingers, a nice
thought especially if the boat bucks into a sea when you reach inside.
Park yourself atop these consoles and it'll take one sneaky fish to steal
a bait without your seeing him first.
The 7'6" long by 10'10" wide cockpit sole has a gentle crown
and deep gutters to sluice water out the scuppers quickly. Molded nonslip
grips feet like mackerel scales cling to a rod.
A pair of insulated fishwells, each 4'6 1/2" long by 1' 2" wide
by 1'1" deep, drain through pump-out systems. These wells also have
locking hatch pulls that you pack them full of block ice for the ride
off shore you won't have cubes when you start fishing.
If there's any drawback with express boats, it's the compromised visibility
underway. Lower helms make it difficult to see over the bow. And it can
get worse when the windshield frame or the enclosure zipper cuts into
your line of sight. You either duck down, stand on your toes or flip
on the autopilot and hope for the best.
Cabo snuffs out this problem by using a big windshield. I was always
looking through glass regardless of the running angel, or whether I was
sitting or standing. However, the large windshield means when you take
water over the bow and it hits the glass it's not going to stop until
it pours over the frame and splashes into your face or slides up the
enclosure. Our test boat had neither a windshield wiper nor an enclosure,
so plowing through four-footers pushed hard by a 25-mph ocean breeze
made it a little damp, but only at displacement speeds. At cruise, the
Cabo runs clean and dry, outrunning all but the most obstinate wind-blown
spray. Backing down, it pivots like a blue-claw crab in a bucket willing
to settle for a finger as its last meal. In a trough, the Cabo, with
its 17 1/2-degree transom deadrise, prop pockets and reversed hard chine,
rolls once, checks its motion and stabilizes.
Express Yourself
While the Cabo's mission is offshore fishing, you won't be short-changed
if you decide to spend the night on the hook. There's a full-sized berth
forward and the galley is equipped with a dual-voltage refrigerator,
microwave, electric cooktop, deep stainless-steel sink and Corian countertops.
Opposite the galley is a convertible settee and dinette. The head has
a shower and a SeaLand Vacuflush MSD. Fairly standard stuff, but the
varnished teak joinerwork features basketweave fronts that allow fresh
air to circulate inside. It take a lot of man-hours to create this level
of finish and it reflects Cabo's goal of producing a first rate fishboat
that can run with the best.
In this case, the direct comparison is the Blackfin 33 Combi which lists
for around $198,000 with V-8 gasoline 454 Crusaders, although the Combi
is 1' narrower and 1'7" shorter. Base price of the Cabo with the
same engines is $217,300. However, fishermen will want the diesels, which
makes the price gap shrink. A comparably rigged Blackfin with 422-hp
Cats runs around $300,000 while our test boat, which had optional a/c,
ice maker, Corian countertops, plus 5kw Westerbeke genset, custom Pipe
Welders tuna tower and Rupp outriggers, came in at $316,725. In all,
clever thinking and incredible detailing. It's too bad Cat Harbor doesn't
build cars.
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