Ramp Freedom: Why Shallow Draft Changes Where You Launch
Ask any boat owner about the worst part of their day on the water and you will hear the same answer: the boat ramp. The queuing, the reversing, the audience of fellow boaters watching you try to keep your trailer straight. But the real limitation of most boats is not the queue, it is the ramp itself. Deep-draft monohulls and heavy displacement vessels need a steep, well-maintained, often crowded ramp to get in and out of the water at all. Change the boat, and you change what counts as a launch point.
Why Draft and Trailer Weight Are the Real Bottleneck
Most recreational boats need a decent depth of water at the end of the ramp before they float free of the trailer. That rules out small, shallow, tidal, or poorly maintained ramps, and it is why everyone in a region converges on the same handful of premium launch sites on a sunny Saturday. A Cat Cruisers vessel is built differently. With a draft as shallow as 0.2 m on the 750 and 870, and 0.7 m on the 650, these catamarans float free in water most conventional boats would scrape a hull on. That shallow draft, combined with a genuinely trailerable weight, means a far wider range of ramps become usable, including small, rough, or remote ones that bigger boats simply cannot use.
How Launching a Cat Cruisers Actually Works
To be clear about the mechanism: a Cat Cruisers boat is towed behind a vehicle on a standard road trailer, then launched at a normal public boat ramp, just like any trailerable boat. There is no self-propelled land-to-water system, no retractable wheels, and no road registration as a vehicle in its own right. What changes is not the launch method, it is how many ramps that method opens up to you, because the hull needs so little water to float.
The 650 has a dry weight of around 1,600 kg (about 1,750 kg on its trailer) and can be towed within a 3,000 kg limit, which most mid-size SUVs can handle. The 750 and 870 are larger and need a vehicle rated to tow 3,500 kg or more. In every case, the routine is the same as any trailer boat: hitch up, tow to the ramp, reverse down, float off, park the tow vehicle, and you are on the water.
Ramp Freedom in Practice
Because a Cat Cruisers vessel needs so little water depth to launch, it can use ramps that would leave a deep-draft boat high and dry: a short concrete strip on a tidal creek, a gravel ramp at a low-key regional reserve, a shallow bay access point that only fills at certain tides. That opens up quieter, less crowded, and often more scenic launch points, without the scramble for a park at the one popular ramp in town.
For Australian boaters, this matters more than it might first appear. Coastal and inland waterways are dotted with small, informal, or lightly maintained ramps that go largely unused because most boats cannot get in or out of them safely. A shallow-draft, trailerable catamaran turns many of those overlooked spots into genuine options, spreading the load away from the busiest facilities and giving you more places to start and end your day.
Compared to a Marina Berth
The alternative many boat owners reach for is a permanent marina berth, which solves the ramp problem but introduces its own costs and constraints: berthing fees, fixed location, exposure to marine growth, and a boat that is only ever in one stretch of water. A trailerable design flips that. You store the boat at home, tow it to whichever ramp suits the day's plan, and are not locked into a single marina's geography or waiting list. Combined with a shallow draft that widens your choice of ramps, that trailerability is what gives Cat Cruisers owners the flexibility to chase good weather, good fishing, or a quiet anchorage across a much wider stretch of coastline than a berthed boat ever could.
Protecting Your Equipment
Backing any trailer into saltwater accelerates wear on bearings, brakes, wiring, and structural steel over time, and that is true of every trailerable boat, Cat Cruisers included. Rinsing the trailer thoroughly after each launch, keeping bearings greased, and checking brakes and wiring regularly will extend the life of both your trailer and tow vehicle. It is a normal part of trailer boat ownership, not something a shallow draft removes, but it is a small, manageable routine compared with the ongoing cost of a marina berth.
The Cat Cruisers Difference
For Cat Cruisers owners, the combination of a shallow draft, genuinely trailerable weight, and quiet electric propulsion from twin inboard motors creates a boating experience built around access rather than convenience alone. You are not restricted to the few ramps deep enough for a heavier boat, and you are not tied to a marina. You tow to the ramp that suits the day, launch the way boaters always have, and head out from there. If you have ever missed out on a launch window because the good ramp was full, this is the kind of flexibility worth exploring. Visit catcruisers.com.au/contact to find out more.