The first HH44 was launched in 2023 and premiered at the Cannes International Yachting Festival. This innovative design is the “baby” of the HH Catamarans range and has some interesting features such as her closed transoms, swing aft helms and a side boarding gate aft.
She’s a very pretty cat and will turn heads in the marina. This is HH’s first hybrid electric-powered catamaran although you can also opt for standard diesel power with shaft drives.
There are 2 versions, like much of the HH range. The Sports Cruising model: HH44-SC and the Ocean Cruising model: HH44-OC. The SC version is a “no-compromise-boat” with C-shaped carbon daggerboards, a carbon rig, a painted hull finish and 4,232 watts of solar with EcoDrive.
The OC saves you some money with the same hull, interior fit and finish quality as the sportier SC but with an aluminium mast, e-glass longeron, white gelcoat finish and mini-keels as standard.
Many of the ideas on this boat have been driven by a desire to maximise solar generation. There are 4,232W of peak solar on the cabin top alone with an option for more on the davits.
To maximise the solar, they have positioned the helms aft in a traditional sporty set-up. That way, there’s plenty of surface area up top to load on solar.
To help you stay protected in weather, these swing inboard, under the long coach-roof.
There are foldaway seats that tuck into the sides allowing you to either steer the boat from an outboard position with the wind in your hair and your sails’ tell-tales in full view.
Or swing the helms inboard and steer from the protected three-seat sofa on the aft beam.
To make it easy to board the boat in the marina, there is a side gate aft for when you come in along the dock.
The HH44 has been designed to sail. The whole idea behind this catamaran is to get sailing in light winds (you should match wind speed on a beam reach) and to maximise your SOG over a wide range of conditions.
So she has a self-tacking staysail, a solent, a fractional reacher and a furling gennaker. The boom is very low over the coach-roof which keeps the centre of effort from the mainsail low.
There is a traveller aft on the coach-roof to manage your mainsail shape. The HH44 points well into the wind (45 TWA) thanks to her C-shaped daggerboards which provide a bit of lift at speed.
All the lines come back to the helm, so she is set up for short-handed sailing.
Carbon and epoxy have been used to build as strong and stiff a yacht as possible while minimising the weight.
All of the lines run under the decks, so you have clear walkways around the boat. Stanchions are 900mm tall and a continuous, unbroken toe rail runs the length of the deck with all hull and deck joints fused and hidden.
Moving inside, you’ll notice that the aft cockpit and salon forms one fully protected space with a large sofa on the aft beam and her closed transoms make this a safe family boat.
The angular cabin has two large, forward-facing windows that open fully from the the generously sized (187 sq ft or 17.4m2) salon. The standing height is over 2m (6’6”) high throughout.
One of the things that sets the HH44 apart from her competition is the quality of the finish on this semi-custom yacht. She has foam core furniture and exceptional joinery throughout, and Bosch electric appliances as standard.
There are two options for a BBQ, one which replaces the aft sofa with a large LPG BBQ & Dive Tank station or you can mount an LPG Grill in the aft fishing rod holder, keeping the aft sofa. There is an outlet on the aft beam so you can run an electric BBQ.
In the salon, there is an L-shaped sofa with a table forward to starboard and a large nav station/workstation to port.
Tuck yourself into the U-shaped galley behind the nav station or pull out some cold ones from the fridge on the starboard side. The ventilation at anchor is excellent with those huge forward windows.
The starboard hull is the owner’s side and consists of the master cabin aft and a walk-in shower and head forward. The finish has an Italian feel to it and it is very light down here with a large window aft in the owner’s cabin.
This is a 44 foot performance cat, so there is not as much room down her as you’d find in a cruising cat, but she has ample space in the aft cabin and the storage is well organised.
HH offers three different forward cabin combinations. One is the standard layout with a single berth.
The second has a Pullman berth above the standard bed that folds away when not needed.
A third option does away with the beds and replaces them with a large work bench with shelves (for pantry storage or tools) and an extra Fridge/Freezer unit.
If you go for the option with the EcoDrive, the House Bank is powerful enough to run the A/C overnight without the need to run a generator. There is enough power to run the A/C in the master cabin for over three days.
EcoDrive, her Electric/Diesel Parallel Hybrid System
The HH44 was designed from scratch to work with a parallel electric/diesel hybrid, with a minimum of 4,232W of peak solar array on the cabin top and hydro-regeneration while sailing.
EcoDrive gives you silent fume-free motoring at 7.5kts, fast torque for manoeuvring, and hydro-regeneration while sailing. Plus you have parallel, trusty diesel engines for safety.
A diesel engine is paired with a large electric motor, much like an alternator sits on a traditional diesel engine. A belt links the two units and a camshaft allows you to flip between the two power systems, giving you good redundancy. And remember, you have 2 of these systems on board!
The system is designed to offer from 1.5 to 3 hours of electric propulsion: more than enough time to exit the marina or anchorage and hoist the sails.
This boat has been designed to get sailing in light winds which ultimately is the key to an eco-friendly sailing yacht. And you will be recharging your batteries as you sail.
You can also fit the HH44 with traditional standalone diesel engines with shaft drives.
The HH44 is an innovative design that will appeal to sailors setting out across long distances who want to sail more and beat well to windward when needed. This yacht is in a different price league to something like an Aventura 37 of course, but there are two options here: the Sports Cruising and the Ocean Cruising models.
She’s a comfortable boat, although there is a trade-off on space down below particularly in the forward cabins.
With the EcoDrive option and a bow locker full of sails, you’ll be able to minimise your diesel usage on this boat while crossing oceans safely and quickly.
What is the price of an HH44? How much do they cost?
The sportier HH44-SC starts at $1,325,000. Meanwhile the HH44-OC version starts at $957,000 USD. The total cost will vary depending on your options, but you should budget an additional $300k, perhaps more for the SC.
How much solar is there on the HH44?
The HH44 has a generous 4,232W of peak solar as standard on the SC on the cabin top. You can fit 1,200W watts over the Davits, but this comes with a weight penalty.
What is the length of the boat with transoms up?
With the transoms up, the LOA from davits to Bow Sprit is 14.23m (46.68 feet), so fine for a 15m berth.
What size tender can you carry?
The optimum sized tender is 3-3.5m (10-11 foot). The davits are carbon fibre and will soak up a high load.
| LOA | 15.31m / 50.2' |
|---|---|
| LWL | 13.37m / 43.86 |
| Beam | 7.15m / 23.46' |
| Draft Boards Up | 0.7m / 2.5' |
| Draft Boards Dn | 3m / 9.84' |
| Bridgedeck | 825mm / 2.7' |
| Displ Light | 10.2 T / 22,487 lbs |
| D/L | 111.5 |
| Disp Max | 14.5 T / 31,967 lbs |
| Power | 2 x 30HP+10kW hybrid |
| Mainsail | 72.4m2 / 779sqft. |
| Solent | 44.1m2 / 475sqft |
| SA/D | 26.3 |
| Staysail | 23.9m2 / 257sqft |
| Reacher | 84.8m2 / 913sqft |
| Gennaker | 148.9m2 / 1603sqft |
