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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
● Either
    Gaboon ply/epoxy, CNC-cut by MTG for quick build time, cost-effectiveness and ease of repair, or
    Only from MTG, lightweight, balsa-composite panels - in full boat lengths, vacuumed and CNC-cut 
● Radius-chine design for good looks, resale value and a quiet night at anchor
● Dual 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"

       
              
      
● The design of DH 550 is a collaboration of designer Dudley Dix and boatbuilder Philip Harvey.
An 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’ disapproval 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 many years and in Dudley Dix boats since the early
1990’s. 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 Wild Vanilla were quick to build and fair.

The DH550 is a big and powerful boat for crossing oceans.
Bridgedeck clearance is a whopping 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 central saloon with galley, steering, navigation, dining and relaxation areas. Forward of the saloon is a working cockpit with 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 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 cost-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 five boats building since boat #1.

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

Dudley Dix Designs