Dave’s Custom Boats: Invasion of the Wide Bodies
With its M-Series of high-performance catamarans, Dave’s Custom Boats is just—pardon the pun—beaming.
November 30, 2010
There was a time—and it wasn’t all that long ago—when most performance-boat enthusiasts east of the Mississippi hadn’t heard of Dave’s Custom Boats. When East Coast go-fast boat nuts thought of high-performance catamarans, names such as Skater, Spectre and Marine Technology, Inc., came to mind. Located in the small, San Diego-adjacent town of El Cajon and building about 24 boats a year, DCB www.dcbracing.com wasn’t even on their radar.
The cockpit of the M-35 is equipped with an effective wraparound acrylic windshield.
But it is now, thanks to a series of top-flight catamarans that are known as much for their impeccable build quality as they are for superb performance.
“We ship boats all over the country,” says Dave Hemmingson, the principal of DCB. “We have buyers nationwide.”
Founded by Hemmingson, who worked for Eliminator Boats before striking out on his own a little more than 10 years ago, DCB started with small tunnel boats and V-bottoms. But it was the company’s F-Series of catamarans, which range from 26 to 34 feet long, that put it on the go-fast boat map. The cats became a hit with critics at Powerboat and Hot Boat magazines, as well as with discerning consumers. In the best of times, demand for DCB products far outstripped the company’s ability to supply them.
Like the rest of the performance-boat industry, DCB has felt the sharp bite of the recent recession, yet the builder has weathered it better than many—make that most—of its West Coast competitors. There are at least two reasons for this. First, DCB resisted the urge to expand and fill all the demand for its products in the “boom” years.
Despite its relatively short length and wide beam, DCB’s M-31 doesn’t not have a squat or “stocky” appearance.
“Our goal is to build two boats a month,” says Hemmingson. “That’s enough for us.”
The second reason? DCB has continued to evolve its product line, most recently by adding the M-Series of “wide-body” catamarans.
There are two models in the M-Series, the M-35 and the M-31, and as you’d suspect the numbers designate their overall length in feet. Both models have almost 10-foot beams, whereas the F-Series cats generally have beams in the nine-foot range. What that means is the M-35, which was released in 2007, and the M-31 (introduced two years later) are both equipped with twin high-back bucket seats and a four-person bucket-style bench. The F-Series models have twin buckets and three-person bucket-style benches.
The trend toward increased passenger seating has not been lost on DCB’s eastern counterparts, which have also added six-seat cockpit configurations to their option lists. Unlike DCB, however, those builders, most notably MTI and Skater, already had enough space in their existing larger offerings, which reach nearly 50 feet, to add seating without expanding their beams.
DCB handles all its own graphics, such as those on the M-35, right in the gelcoat.
But the DCB M-Series isn’t just about creating more seating for passengers. According to Hemmingson, the wide-body cats boast exceptional drivability.
“The M-35 and M-31 are very simple, very user friendly boats to drive,” says Hemmingson. “The sponsons are wider and the tunnel is wider. The results are increased stability and better high-speed turning—the boats are amazing.”
Another notable difference between the F-Series and M-Series catamarans is in the style and design of their acrylic windscreens. The F-Series cats have F-16-style half-canopies, whereas the M-Series models have completed wraparound windshields. Both are remarkably clear and free of distortion.
“We spent eight months on the tooling for the windshield,” says Hemmingson.
Almost ten feet wide, the cockpit of DCB’s M-31 Wide-Body catamaran comes standard with bucket seating for six.
Base power for both the M-35 and M-31 is twin 525EFI engines from Mercury Racing, though of the eight DCB has built of each model, very few have been ordered with such mild power.
“We’re building one with Mercury Racing 1350s now,” says Hemmingson. “We have some M-35s out there capable of running 170 mph, but that’s not our main focus.”
Prices for the M-Series cats range from $300,000 to $750,000, which definitely puts them at the high-end of the West Coast custom price range. While Hemmingson says he appreciates buyer interest in the new models and how that’s helped DCB in these lean times, he keeps it in perspective.
“Everybody likes the ‘latest and greatest,’” he says. “It’s seems like what’s new is always the most popular at the moment, but we’re still building a little of everything.
“Right now, as we speak, we’re building 35s and 31s for the (2011) Los Angeles and Miami boats,” he adds.
That’s something for buyers on both coasts to look forward to.
Bi-weekly columnist Matt Trulio is the editor at large for Powerboat magazine. He has written for the magazine since 1994. Trulio’s daily blog can be found on speedonthewater.com, a site he created and maintains, which is the high-performance arm of the BoaterMouth group.
