HH 44SC: Top 10 Best Boats Nominee Walkthrough

The new HH44 a luxury, high-performance cat for cruising families and couples sailing long distance with a focus on alternative energy. Construction is a carbon-reinforced, foam composite sandwich with infused epoxy resin. The boat’s entire skeleton—bulkheads, beams, hulls, deck—is carbon fiber, with external e-glass, also epoxy infused. Daggerboards, mast, and rudders are also carbon. Twin helm placement in the cockpit let designers lower the coachroof. This lowered boom height, which translates into a lower center of effort and the ability to put more power into the sails. It also allows for a whopping 4,232 watts of solar panels on the coachroof as standard, serving a 43.2 KwH 48V lithium battery bank. This solar array is key to the primary design driver—the boat’s EcoDrive parallel hybrid propulsion system. Two 30-hp Beta diesels join two 10-kw electric motors (each about 15hp) that can be used independently as silent, fume-free, electric propulsion. They can also be used to generate power while under diesel power. And while sailing, the system can generate power through the free-spinning propeller. Stay tuned for a full review at SAIL magazine and sailmagazine.com.