DCB Verado 400R Outboard-Equipped 29-Footer Hits 108 MPH

ByMatt Trulio

After almost 200 miles of testing on a Southern California waterway, the top speed number for the first DCB Performance Boats M29 catamaran equipped with Mercury Racing‘s new Verado 400R outboard engines is in. Owned by Javier Raisch, a longtime client of the El Cajon, Calif., custom performance boat builder, the 29-foot cat that debuted last month at the Los Angeles Boat Show reached 108 mph with the engines turning 6,500 rpm.

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Boasting a top speed of 108 mph, this DCB M29 is the first catamaran from the builder with Mercury’s new Verado 400R outboards.

Longtime key DCB team member Tony Chiaramonte piloted the twin-outboard 29-footer along with Mike Griffiths of Mercury Racing during a day-and-a-half of testing. During the test sessions, the duo recorded everything from top speed to water pressure. Everyone involved reportedly was pleased with the results.

dcbm29numbers“She’s a home run,” said Chiaramonte. “People need to understand this isn’t a boat that’s just built for outboards—it’s a 29-footer with the same hull that can handle twin Mercury 700s with NXT1 drives. I mean you can run Arenson drives back there too if you want. It doesn’t matter what you put in it—we’ve done single Mercury 1350s—the thing runs really well and has no ill-handling characteristics whatsoever.

“So for this one to run 108 mph—14 mph faster than the first M29 we built with twin Mercury OptiMax 300XS engines—we’re happy with that,” he continued. “The boat runs 105 mph all day with 32-inch-diameter Bravo One props whether it has one or three people in it and whether it’s full or empty.”

According to DCB’s Jeff Johnston, the Verado 400R outboard-powered M29 proved a solid 10 miles per hour faster than the same model with twin 300-hp outboards. The boat was set up with lab-finished Bravo One 15-1/4″ x 34″ propellers and 1.75:1 gear ratios.

“Basically, Tony and Mike ran the heck out of those engines,” said Johnston. “I believe they said that more than half of the miles they ran were at more than 100 mph. We’re really, really happy with it.”

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