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55 wood-epoxy catamaran 

DH 550 Wood Epoxy Economical Fast Ocean Cruising Catamaran  

DH 550 Wood/epoxy cruising catamaran
Cruise in luxury

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Design Features
● Large, capable, fast-cruising catamaran by Dudley Dix Designs
● Wood/epoxy, for quick build time, cost-effectiveness and ease of repair
● Or lightweight foam composite optional
● Radius-chine design for good looks, resale value and a quiet night at anchor
● Two separate cockpits
   Conventional aft cockpit, under cover, for relaxation
   Forward cockpit, abaft the mast, for unobstructed vision aloft and sail handling  
● Helm station inside, with unobstructed vision forward  
● Shallow draft
● Separate dining and lounge areas in huge saloon
● Large galley up on the bridgedeck
● Two full size heads with enclosed shower stalls
● Four private sleeping cabins (flexible accommodation arrangements)
● A great boat for long distance cruising, live-aboard, or charter

      

        

     

Enquire here about this boat Multi Hull Technologies Group  


Photos below are Sister-Ship
DH 550 #1, "Wild Vanilla"

 
              
      DH 550 #1, "Wild Vanilla"

● The design of the DH 550 is a collaboration of designer Dudley Dix and boatbuilder Philip Harvey.
Dudley Dix Designs bring 30 years of design and boatbuilding experience into the project, and Phil,
15 years of professional boatbuilding and catamaran sailing experience. Between them, they have
produced an astounding ocean-cruising catamaran with striking good looks and high-performance
characteristics.

The design is for construction in the “Radius-chine and flat panel system”; a fast building method
initially developed to overcome sailors’ intuitive dismissal of multi-chine yachts. However, the design
provided other significant benefits such as quick build-times, inherent form-stiffness, the higher resale
value of round-bilge boats over multi-chine boats, sea-kindliness, and reduced hull-slapping when
at anchor.

The concept has been in use successfully for over twenty years and in Dudley Dix boats since the early
1990’s. His first radius chine boat was the Didi 38 monohull “Black Cat”, which he built to iron out his
“design to construction” issues, and in which he then sailed across the South Atlantic three times.
Since then he has developed performance-oriented radius-chine designs between 21 and 42ft LOA.
As of October 2006, nearly 300 of his boats are sailing worldwide or being built.

As successful as the radius-chine design has proven to be when applied to even quite beamy monohulls,
this project has shown conclusively that the method really comes into its own for planking the much finer
lines of catamaran hulls. The hulls of Phil’s DH550 were quick to build, and are fair and pleasing to the eye.

The DH550 is a big and powerful boat for crossing oceans.
Bridgedeck clearance is 1m (39”) to arch over slamming wave peaks in big seas.
The hull/bridgedeck junction has received particular attention to ensure that the loads imposed by rig and
seas are properly transmitted and diffused. Carbon composite chainplates, laminated to the inside and outside of the hull, spread the rigging loads down into the hull skin, longitudinals and bulkheads. The mast stands on top of a massive transverse bulkhead, configured as an I-beam and spreading the compression load laterally into the hulls, and tied into longitudinal bulkheads that spread the load fore/aft into the bridgedeck structure.

The hulls interior arrangement is four sleeping cabins, two in each hull, and a heads/shower area midships in each hull for convenience and privacy. This arrangement is suitable for 4-couple bare-boat charter work. Alternative hull accommodation arrangements are also possible, with a larger owner’s cabin in one of the hulls, or perhaps an office or a workshop.

The bridgedeck arrangement is a very long and wide saloon with separate galley, steering, navigation, dining and relaxation areas. Forward of the bridgedeck enclosed accommodation is a small working cockpit that gives access to the base of the mast and all control lines. Aft of the saloon there is a large relaxation cockpit protected by the roof overhang, with easy access to transom steps down to swim/boarding platforms and a full-width aft bridgedeck platform.

The underbodies are clean and easily-driven, with long waterlines for high performance. A vertical daggerboard in each hull gives windward ability along with the ability to enter shallow water. The composite fixed rudders extend to below the propellers to protect them from damage.

The rig is aluminium; double diamond with shrouds angled well aft for support in all wind directions. The headsail sheets lead to the forward Cockpit, as does the mainsheet, which first sheets down to a traveller on the cabin roof directly over the companionway bulkhead, thus leaving the aft cockpit free of lines and clutter.

The DH550 with its economical build system and renewable efficient materials, huge saloon, twin cockpits, and countless desirable design features, is a quantum leap forward towards affordable comfortable fast cruising.

The design is proving popular, with boats #2, #3, and #4 started building as boat #1 was nearing completion. The 55 footer is the first in a range of a radius-chine catamaran series being developed by Dudley Dix and Philip Harvey.

Contact Multi Hull Technologies Group Pty Ltd Australia for updated pricing and delivery of the DH550