DCB Completes New M28R Catamaran With Mercury Racing 450R Outboards

Just five days before Christmas Day, DCB Performance Boats tested a brand-new M28R catamaran with a pair of Mercury Racing 450R outboard engines on Lake Elsinore in Southern California. Though another M28R originally equipped with naturally aspirated Mercury Racing 300Rs was repowered with 450Rs a couple of months after it was completed, the more-recent 28-footer is the first to be originally equipped with a set of the 450-hp supercharged V-8 outboards. The engines are mounted on STR X-Act brackets.

This M28R sport catamaran with Mercury Racing 450Rs is the latest outboard-powered beauty from DCB Performance Boats (click image to enlarge). All on-water images courtesy/copyright Kris Wesenhagen/KKJ Media.

“With 36-inch pitch props it was on the limiters at 126 mph,” said Jeff Johnston, the president of the El Cajon, Calif., company. “It should be a 130-mph boat with the right propellers.”

The cat, which was ordered and purchased by Andy Anderson of Nisswa, Minn., will be on display (booth 5C) at the Los Angeles Boat Show (Jan. 9-12) in Pomona, Calif. The M28R is Anderson’s third DCB. A former Mod VP racer on the International Outboard Grand Prix circuit, he owned a trio of 19- to 22-foot DCB offerings—all powered by outboards—since the early 1990s.

“I have always been an outboard guy,” said Anderson, who plans to use his new cat in his home state as well as other waterways in the upper Midwest this season. “I’m just super-pumped to run it. “

“The 450Rs make this boat super happy,” said Tony Chiaramonte, a member of the DCB owners group who handles all of the company’s testing and deliveries.

Check out the full video walkaround of the new DCB M28R with Mercury Racing 450 outboards

Tipping the scales at 5,050 pounds without the 115 gallons of fuel needed to fill its tanks, the full-carbon-fiber, foam-cored boat was laid up—as are all DCB creations—with the Vacuum Infusion Process. DCB dressed the half-capped 28 footer with its Phase III gelcoat package color-coordinated with its all-Alcantara interior that carries from the cockpit to the cuddy cabin. Helm station electronics include two Simrad NSS9 Evo3 nine-inch touchscreen monitors flanking a 10-inch Garmin GPS unit.

Worksmanship of the latest M28R is up to DCB’s rigorous standards.

In addition to bucket seats for the driver and copilot, the owner opted for a three-seat rear bench with folding armrests rather than a four-person bench. Cockpit amenities include DCB’s Interior Rigid LED lighting package (mood lighting, courtesy lighting, LED cupholders) and a Stage III stereo system with a Fusion head unit, two hard-wired remote controls, two JL Audio amplifiers, eight JL Audio M6 midrange speakers with LED features and a pair of 12-inch JL Audio subwoofers. For easier stern access to the cockpit, the builder surfaced the cat’s 40-inch billet swim-step with SeaDek material.

Anderson will meet his new beauty in person for the first time next week at the Los Angeles Boat Show. He should have it back in Minnesota by the end of the month.

“DCB has the best fit and finish of any boat, bar none—it is the Ferrari of performance boats,” he said. “Tony, Jeff and the entire DCB gang once again outdid themselves. No one builds like DCB. I’m excited to get it back here.”

DCB Completes New M28R Catamaran With Mercury Racing 450R Outboards

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