DCB Tests New M41 Widebody

After a full year of building the highly anticipated M41 Widebody, Dave’s Custom Boats (DCB) dipped the boat in the water for the first time on Friday afternoon at San Diego’s J Street Marina. Company founder Dave Hemmingson e-mailed a handful of images this evening after a few hours of running the 41-foot catamaran in the bay and out in the Pacific Ocean. Needless to say, he was ecstatic.

After a day of testing the new M41 Widebody, the energy level at Dave's Custom Boats is out of this world.
After a day of testing the new M41 Widebody, the energy level at Dave’s Custom Boats is out of this world.

Calling the M41 Widebody an “absolute home run,” Hemmingson said the boat, which is powered by twin Mercury Racing 1350 engines, reached a top speed of 170 mph around 6,200 rpm during the first day of testing. He added that the catamaran “has lots left in her” since they didn’t want to push the boat too hard its first time out.

DCB’s Tony Chiaramonte said he’s never been in a boat that was so amazing right off the trailer.

“Seriously this boat rock-solid at any speed—it’s so nice,” Chiaramonte said. “We ran it up to 170.4 mph with a pair of Mercury Racing 17”x41” propellers turning in. We tried a couple of props, but we were really out there to get a feeling for what the boat can do. There were some 3- to 4-footers and good crosswind in the ocean today, and it handled all of it perfectly.”

Chiaramonte said DCB will be taking the boat to Arizona’s Lake Havasu in the next couple of weeks to dial it in more and turn it over to its proud owner, Win Farnsworth. Speedonthewater.com will provide updates as they’re made available. You also can follow DCB’s efforts in its InsideOut column on its website.

Click images to enlarge

dcb_m41_test_front dcb_m41_test_stern dcb_m41_test_side
dcb_m41_test_rear1 dcb_m41_test_rear2 dcb_m41_test_trailer

Related stories

DCB M41 Widebody Almost Ready for Testing

Rigging Process Underway on DCB M41 Widebody

DCB Set to Raise the Bar Again

DCB M41 Widebody Ready for Rigging

Layup Begins on M41 Widebody from DCB

DCB Pops Bottom Mold for M41 Widebody

DCB M285 Widebody Catamaran to Follow M41 Model

DCB M41 to be Offered With or Without Center Pod

First Look: Class-A Surface Renderings of DCB M41 Widebody Cat