Microcat or Viper?

[mpbdsnu]

I have just sold my AT Standard Baitboat, and I am looking at upgrading to either a Microcat or a Viper, but I cannot make up my mind?

 

So which do you guys believe is the best option, and why?

 

....and please don't say "a spod" I do enough of that.

[craig2309]

ive got a broadlands boat very basic but easy to work on if they go wrong, which is rare.this boat did well over 200 runs of 150 yds plus in a week and never faultered once

[bushwacker]

Microcat every time. I've had mine for over a year now, and it is by far better than the standard bait boat. I'ts more stable than most others aswell as its as it says, a cat. Because it has twin hoppers that open toward rather than away from the centre line of the boat your baits are in closer proximity to each other etc.

With having twin hoppers you can also drop one side independent of the other or at the same time as each other etc, so that you can send out 2 rigs and put them to different spots along with loose feed that you have put into the hopper along with the rigs.

As for stability they are excellent in all but the cruelest of conditions they are spot on, but this may be due also to the size of them.

With some bait boats that are screw driven they tend to be more prone to getting stuck in weed, but the cat being jet powered they just hop over it as long as it's not really to thick to send it onto it in the first place.

They are a little on the expensive side but you get what you pay for in this life I'm affraid.

 

So in my honest opinion it would have to be the microcat.

[mpbdsnu]

Many thanks for the replies.

 

Bushwacker, what do you think of priming before use and that the battery compartments take on water?

[Neal]

I have a nice dinghy in the garage mate :-)

[bushwacker]

mpbdsnu,

I don't have any problems with the priming, you just have to be aware when you first do it that the water jets are very powerfull. When I first primed mine I didn't give it a thought, pointed the boat with the bows out to the centre of the lake. lifted the stern of the boat, pressed and held the blue button, and ...................got soaked. Much to the delight and amusement of the good lady wife. I thought that it was funny aswell though.

 

The water ingress to the battery compartments is easily solved, either with the addition of the velcro on covers that you can get from Angling Technics, make your own from stisk on velcro and some thick flexible plastic (as I did at first), or as I now do use some black insulating tape around the joints of the covers.

 

If you do get any water ingress through them, you can quickly and easily get this water out by standing the boat on it's bows propped up so that the boat is nearly vertical, and it drains out of the 2 holes at the front, so don't seal these up with any thing. I recently found out not to seal these up as thats the reason for them being there. To be honest I did seal them before I found this out, but have now removed the tape. When you charge your batteries it's a good idea to remove the tape or covers and at least lift them to allow the gases to escape from the hull, as they are extremely corrosive, and explosive,(as I'm sure you allready know) only taking a spark to ignite them and BANG no bait boat.

[mpbdsnu]

Many thanks for your comments.