HH44Review & Buyer’s Guide: The Hybrid Carbon Catamaran Explained
The boat they sold as a Tesla
Some boats become famous for their passages. The HH44 became famous through YouTube — first as a showcase, then as an anti-advertisement.
In 2022, Jason and Nikki Wynn — Gone with the Wynns, one of the biggest sailing channels in the world — ordered hull #3 of a new 44-foot carbon hybrid catamaran from HH Catamarans. Millions watched “Curiosity²” being built: the EcoDrive parallel hybrid, four kilowatts of solar on the roof, the promise of essentially infinite range. Cruising World called it the “Tesla of sailboats.” In 2024 the model collected the industry’s headline trophies: Sailing World’s Boat of the Year, SAIL’s Top 10 Best Boats, Breakthrough Launch of the Year at METSTRADE.
And then the same millions watched the same boat eat its own anodes and intercoolers with stray current, watched batteries overcharge mid-passage — “sizzling batteries, and toxic fumes” — and watched the Wynns sell her back to the yard and buy an aluminum power trawler instead. At auction. “No survey, no sea trial.” Anything never to see stray current again: “hello PTSD… the invisible killer of boats.”
The HH44 lives between those two stories: the most technologically ambitious cruising catamaran under 45 feet — and, simultaneously, a boat whose early hulls carried documented teething problems on top of a million-and-a-half-dollar price. Both stories are true. This dossier keeps both open.
“Because there’s so much here that we’ve never seen in any boat before, I feel that we need a year to watch these boats and customers in the field and ask how they’re doing.”
The jury turned out to be prophetic.
Verdict
What kind of boat is this — if you’re seeing her for the first time
The HH44 is a 13.6-metre cruising catamaran in carbon and epoxy, built by Hudson Yacht Group at yards in Xiamen, China and Cebu, Philippines. The underwater appendages are by Morrelli & Melvin; the general design is by James Hakes. Three things separate her from anything in a charter catalogue.
She’s carbon. In SC form: carbon hulls, a Marstrom carbon mast, C-shaped carbon daggerboards, carbon bowsprit and rudders. Racing-boat material in a cruising shell — stiffness and lightness her fiberglass classmates don’t have, at a price that reflects it.
She’s a hybrid. EcoDrive is a parallel hybrid by the UK firm Hybrid Marine: two 30hp Beta diesels (later hulls 38hp, with a 40hp Yanmar option), each with a 10kW electric motor coupled through a belt and clutch. A 43.2kWh lithium bank, a 4,232-watt walk-on solar roof. The boat can motor silently under electric power and recharge from her spinning propellers under sail. How much of this she actually delivers in the real world is the central argument of this dossier.
She comes in two characters. The SC (Sport Cruiser) — carbon rig and daggerboards, roughly 80% of orders. The OC (Ocean Cruiser) — aluminum mast, mini-keels, white gelcoat, simpler and cheaper. Hulls, interior and hybrid system are shared.
She is young: first hulls 2022–2023, around 38 sold, and in 2025 the line evolved into the HH46 — the same design with extended transoms and new rudders. For a buyer that matters more than it sounds; we’ll take it apart in the market section.
The yard: Chinese capital, New Zealand hands
HH Catamarans was founded in 2012 by Paul Hakes — a New Zealand builder of carbon race boats — and Hudson Wang, a Chinese industrialist who has put, per Yachting World, some US$50 million and 1.2 million square feet of manufacturing space in Xiamen behind the project. The yard’s formula: top-flight carbon technology at Asian production cost. The bigger HH50–HH66 built the brand’s reputation; the HH44 was the attempt to package the same philosophy into the most popular size — wrapped in green.
Then come two events a buyer must know.
The move. HH44 production expanded from Xiamen to a new yard in Cebu, Philippines. The first boat finished by the new factory happened to be the Wynns’ “Curiosity²” — with all the consequences of a first pancake. The Wynns, on their own blog: “The boat wasn’t in great shape, many of the jobs didn’t get done, and not all the work done was up to spec. This is a new factory for HH, and CURIOSITY is the first finished boat they have worked on.” The yard answered with new Cebu management and, in 2025, a new head of boatbuilding operations over both factories.
The founder’s exit. In June 2024, Paul Hakes left HH — after twelve years — and founded a competitor with his son James: Shift Yachts (design in New Zealand, production in Thailand; first model the Shift 54+, hull #1 expected around 2028). By Hakes’ own account, HH president Seth Hynes also departed and helped build the new brand — a detail worth re-verifying against HH’s current masthead, but Hakes’ exit is documented in his own words to no-frills-sailing.com: “the wheels started turning in June 2024, this is when I gave notice to HH Catamarans.”
The yard is alive, building and selling. But an HH44 buyer is buying a boat whose chief architect left to build her spiritual successor under another flag.
Living with her: what the journalists measured and the owners say
Under sail, the HH44 is one of the quick ones. Yachting World logged 7.5–8.5 knots upwind in 11–15 knots true; SAIL saw 9 knots at 40° apparent in 17 knots, 10.2–11 with the board down, and double digits under the gennaker. A delivery crew, per the yard, hit 23 knots taking the test boat south to the Caribbean. Hull #4 “Abide” sailed the Salty Dawg Rally (Hampton to Antigua, ~1,000nm) with “sustained boat speeds in excess of 10kts and maximum speeds in the high teens while surfing waves in two meter swells” — figures from the builder’s own bulletin, with no independent confirmation, and that caveat is the honest one.
“The HH44 is without doubt one of the best sailing boats in the world on two hulls. And although it is sinfully expensive at around 1.6 million euros, its sales figures leave many models of the same size in its wake. There are already 40 orders.”
“Sous voiles, avec ses étraves inversées et ses jupes échancrées, le HH44 conjugue modernité, élégance et sportivité.” — “Under sail, with her inverted bows and cut-away sterns, the HH44 combines modernity, elegance and sportiness.”
The living volume draws praise: over two metres of saloon headroom, “phenomenal ventilation at anchor” through huge opening Lewmar windows, a C-shaped aft galley, semi-custom forward cabins (doubles, a Pullman, or a workshop). The yard is unusually honest about weight — every option is labelled in kilograms (full air conditioning: “a whopping 200kg extra”).
The complaints come with names attached too. Toby Hodges, Yachting World: “I did find the helms on the HH44 a bit crowded and with blind spots.” SAIL noted glare from the saloon door at the starboard helm. no-frills-sailing.com: the hull windows sit “so high that you cannot look out whilst laying in bed.” The fine bows steal forward-cabin volume. And motoring speed on the base Beta 30s: user Letterkenny, Cruisers Forum: “I still can’t believe how slow it is under motor.” Later hulls moved to Beta 38s — a quiet admission that thirty wasn’t enough.
The hybrid, on paper: 7.5 knots under electric power, ~18 miles of range, regeneration of “up to 2 kW per shaft at 10 knots,” a bank big enough to run “the A/C overnight without the need to run a generator.” The only independently measured figure is SAIL’s: “about two hours of full-throttle run time at 8.5 knots.” Everything else traces to the builder. Tellingly, HH itself won’t sell an all-electric version — president Seth Hynes, to SAIL: “we felt that it doesn’t qualify for being a safe bluewater boat… the redundancy of having a traditional diesel with the electric drive was the way to go.”
The stray-current debate: the corrosion that “never happened”
Inside the Curiosity² story sits a fork the community has never closed — and it matters more than any specification.
The Wynns’ version, documented on their blog and channel: the mast’s lightning protection, grounded through the conductive carbon structure, was driving stray current through the boat. The symptoms, per forum summaries on YBW and Trawler Forum: “rapid degradation of the engine anode, aggressive rusting on metal hardware, and pitting on aluminium components like the mast base,” a prematurely eaten intercooler, damage to rigging and stainless fittings, a degraded anchor chain. Plus — separately — a battery-overcharging event at sea: “The overcharging event should not have happened and it took us all by surprise.” Plus cracks in the laminate, delaminating solar panels, an unreliable fridge, and “a huge hole in our boat mid-passage.”
The yard’s version: the problem was “tracked to an electric cooling pump off one of the engines” — a point defect, not a systemic flaw. HH brought in ABYC experts Nigel Calder and James Cote to audit the electrical installation, fitted stray-current monitoring and alarms across the fleet, and — after buying back and reconditioning hull #3 — commissioned an independent survey by Simon Pickering, whose conclusion was that the boat “never actually experienced any stray currents” and is “safe, seaworthy.”
Both sides speak under their own names, and the claims flatly contradict each other: eaten anodes and chain on one side, “no stray currents” on the other. Note two weights on the scale — the survey was commissioned and published by the yard itself, and the Wynns’ boat was the first hull out of a brand-new factory. Neither fact settles anything; both belong in the reckoning. The community hasn’t reached a verdict. Neither will we: for a buyer, the fork collapses into practice — a specialist corrosion survey with silver/silver-chloride half-cell readings and a stray-current test is mandatory on any early hull, and it costs less than an intercooler.
The epilogue: HH bought hull #3 back, reconditioned her in Cebu, and listed her in Sydney “with an as-new warranty.” The Wynns bought an aluminum GlobeMaster 50 LRX — at auction, no survey, no sea trial — explaining the choice in terms of self-reliance and “hello PTSD… the invisible killer of boats.”
Buying a used HH44: what to check
From here on, this dossier switches to survey mode.
Stray current and bonding: check number one
The lightning-protection and bonding scheme on a conductive carbon boat; Ag/AgCl half-cell potential readings; a stray-current test. Inspect engine sacrificial anodes, intercoolers, the mast base, stainless rigging and the anchor chain for accelerated corrosion. Confirm whether the factory stray-current monitoring system (retrofitted fleet-wide) is installed — and demand the paperwork.
Battery bank and charge regulation
The Wynns’ overcharging event points to a regulation gap in early systems. Capacity-test the LiFePO4 bank; check for an external smart regulator (the marine electricians the Wynns consulted recommended Wakespeed or Balmar); verify temperature sensing and alarms; pull the BMS history.
Hull number and factory
Xiamen or Cebu, before or after the Cebu management change — it directly shapes the risk profile. The earliest Cebu-finished hulls (the #3 era) only with a full survey and documented remediation. Get the hull’s warranty-work history in writing.
Engines
Beta 30 or Beta 38 / Yanmar 40. On sea trial, check motoring speed into wind and chop: the “how slow it is under motor” complaint belongs to the thirties.
Carbon and mechanicals
Infusion quality, daggerboard cases, rudder bearings, deck hardware, and the condition and actual output of the walk-on solar panels — delamination is a documented hull #3 defect.
Energy: by the ship’s log, not the brochure
No owner-measured solar or regeneration figures exist publicly. Ask the seller for battery-monitor screenshots: daily solar kWh, regeneration amps at logged boat speeds, a real night of air conditioning on the bank. A refusal to show them is itself an answer.
Insurance
Lithium bank plus carbon hull: get the underwriter’s written confirmation before the deposit, with the factory installation documentation they’ll ask for.
HH44 price and market: the waitlist that evaporated
For three years the HH44 sold against a “three-plus-year” waiting list. By 2025–2026 the picture had inverted. The yard’s own announcement: “For the first time ever, we have a limited number of stock models available for immediate delivery. Changes in plans and economic conditions have created a small surplus of HH44 and HH46 hulls available for immediate delivery.” A surplus where the queue used to be is a regime change — and it is the buyer’s lever.
The second break is the HH46. The first hull of the updated model — HH46-16, continuous numbering — is already sailing in Hong Kong: the same design plus two-foot transom extensions and high-aspect rudders; “the HH46 standardizes these options and integrates learnings from early HH44 hulls” (builder’s bulletin). The HH44 has effectively been superseded. For the used market that means hulls without the extensions and new rudders will trade at a widening discount, and the price support of a multi-year queue is gone.
On the market (August 2026):
- HH44-03 (OC, ex-Curiosity²) — the yard’s own brokerage, Sydney, reconditioned, “as-new warranty,” price on application.
- HH44-06 “Hoku’au” (SC, 2025, one Mediterranean season, twin Beta 38s, 45 engine hours) — Barcelona, US$1,501,185 after a “big price reduction,” unsold at press time.
- HH44-34 (SC) — in build at Cebu; the original owner moved to an earlier slot and the hull is seeking a buyer.
- New slots: OC from $995,000 (2028 delivery); dealer stock SCs at $1.45–1.7M.
The price frame: OC base $957,000 → $995,000, roughly $1.3M optioned; SC $1,325,000 → $1.45M, roughly $1.6M optioned — all asking figures, not transactions; no actual sale price has surfaced. You don’t hunt an HH44 in the listings so much as negotiate one against the yard’s own surplus.
Market snapshot: August 2026. This section is updated with each revision.
HH44 vs Balance, Outremer, Kinetic and the eco rivals
Balance 442 (South Africa) is the practical arch-rival: comparable pace, interior and build reputation — without the hybrid experiment. A buyer’s voice from Sailing Anarchy, after shopping them in person: “The Balance and HH options simultaneously have more living space (and it’s better thought out) and better performance and vastly superior build quality [than the Outremer].”
Outremer 45/4X is the French school: minimalism, a bluewater pedigree, a huge community and a living used market. She gives away volume to HH and Balance — and wins on predictability.
Kinetic KC44 (Knysna, South Africa) — full carbon, semi-custom, no hybrid apparatus. The SC’s direct rival on material.
Seawind 1370 — half the money, fiberglass; the choice of someone who decided carbon and hybrid aren’t worth the million.
Windelo 46 — the segment’s other “eco” cat, and the opposite architecture: a serial hybrid (electric drive plus diesel generators, no mechanical link) against HH’s parallel one. Windelo estimates electric covers “>80% of engine use.” Comparing the two hybrid philosophies is a buyer’s fork of its own.
The segment’s formula: technological ambition, HH44; proven build without the experiment, Balance 442; pedigree and community, Outremer; pure carbon without the hybrid, Kinetic; budget sanity, Seawind.
Balance 442
Kinetic KC44
Seawind 1370
Windelo 46
Open questions
This dossier doesn’t pretend to omniscience. Not found in text form: a single owner-measured figure for daily solar harvest, regeneration under way, or a real night of air conditioning on the bank — only the builder’s numbers (the Wynns published their measurements in video only). No independently logged day’s runs. The owners of hulls #1 “Bliss” and #2 “Titan” are publicly silent — and on a model sold through YouTube, the silence of the other owners is itself a market signal. The final transaction price of hull #3 and the fate of #6 remain open. A specification contradiction: 4,232W solar / 43.2kWh bank (US press and the builder) versus 3.2kWp / 50.4kWh (French and Australian press) — verify per hull. A displacement contradiction: Yachting World’s 8,750kg (OC) / 9,390kg (SC) versus SAIL’s “22,487 lb light” (~10,200kg). And the continuous numbering: if the first HH46 is hull #16, what is the “HH44-34” now in build? The SC/OC/46 numbering logic is undocumented — left open. Seth Hynes’ departure rests on Hakes’ account and awaits confirmation. Owner interviews are the next revision’s job.
HH44 specifications
| Hull length | 13.6 m (44'8") |
| Beam | 7.3 m |
| Draft, SC (boards up / down) | ~1.2 / ~2.9 m |
| Draft, OC (mini-keels) | ~1.5 m |
| Displacement | OC 8,750 / SC 9,390 kg (Yachting World); SAIL: 22,487 lb light — contradiction, see Open questions |
| Construction | carbon/E-glass/epoxy infusion; SC with carbon hulls |
| Rig | SC — Marstrom carbon / OC — aluminum |
| Engines | 2 × Beta 30hp (later hulls Beta 38; Yanmar 40 option) + 2 × 10kW electric (Hybrid Marine parallel hybrid) |
| Battery bank | 43.2 kWh LiFePO4 48V (French sources: 50.4 — contradiction) |
| Solar array | 4,232 W walk-on (French sources: 3,200 — contradiction) |
| Design | James Hakes / Morrelli & Melvin appendages |
| Built | Xiamen (China) → Cebu (Philippines); 2022–2025, ~38 sold (documented delivered minimum: 7 hulls) |
| Successor | HH46 (2025–, continuous numbering from #16) |
FAQ
How much does a used HH44 cost?
The only confirmed secondary listing is a 2025 SC at roughly $1.5M after a price cut. New: OC from $995K, SC from $1.45M, up to $1.6–1.7M optioned. No actual transaction prices are publicly known.
What’s the story with the Wynns’ boat?
Hull #3, the first boat finished by the new Cebu factory: documented stray-current corrosion (the owners’ version), a battery-overcharging event at sea, laminate cracks, solar delamination. The yard bought the boat back, reconditioned her and is selling her with a warranty; its surveyor maintains there were no stray currents. The dispute is not closed.
Does the EcoDrive hybrid actually work?
The mechanics, yes: SAIL independently measured about two hours of full electric power at 8.5 knots. The claimed regeneration (“2 kW per shaft at 10 knots”), solar harvest and “AC overnight” have not been confirmed by a single published owner measurement. Ask for the specific boat’s log.
SC or OC?
SC: carbon rig, daggerboards, sharper performance, ~80% of orders, roughly $450K more at base. OC: aluminum mast, mini-keels, simpler and more practical for pure cruising. Hybrid and interior are shared.
HH44 or HH46?
The HH46 is the same boat with extended transoms, new rudders and the early lessons built in; production has moved to it. An HH44 without the transom retrofit will depreciate faster. On a late HH44 you have leverage: the yard has publicly admitted a surplus of stock hulls.
HH44 or Balance 442?
HH for the technology: carbon, hybrid, solar. Balance for proven build quality without the experiment — and buyers who compared them in person say so in plain words. A choice of philosophy, not of draughtsmanship.
Method: this dossier was assembled from sea trials by Yachting World, SAIL, Cruising World, Multihulls World and YACHT, the blog and publications of Gone with the Wynns, threads on Cruisers Forum, Sailing Anarchy, YBW and Trawler Forum, HH Catamarans’ own documentation and bulletins (flagged as builder-sourced), and brokerage data 2023–2026. Builder and builder-commissioned claims are marked as such. Where sources disagree, the contradiction is preserved open. No owner-measured energy figures exist in text form; owner interviews will join the next revision.