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Every time 15-year-old HH Catamarans introduces a new performance cruising model, the company win one of Cruising World magazine’s Boat of the Year awards. What makes these cats stand out from the crowd? They are built in Xiamen, China, and Cebu, Philippines, with computerized robotic precision, with hulls, decks, and structures in epoxy pre-preg carbon/Corecell sandwich laminates cured in autoclaves, and with optional carbon spars and daggerboards, and top of the line B&G performance instrumentation. But that’s not all. Listen in on the conversation Rightboat’s John Burnham had in Miami last winter with the company president, Seth Hynes.
Seth Hynes, president of HH Catamarans, aboard the HH44. John Burnham photo.
John Burnham
Seth, I think you run the place, right?
Seth Hynes
Yes, I’m Seth Hynes, president of HH Catamarans.
Burnham
We’re at the 2025 Miami Boat Show, and we’re on one of your relatively new boats—
Hynes
This is Hull No. 5 of our HH44, the 2024 Boat of the Year. This model is an SC version—the sports cruising version. We have an OC, for ocean cruising, and then this kind of skews up and gets you a few more racing bells and whistles. So we have a full carbon mast that comes with the boat, prepreg carbon daggerboards, carbon rudders—basically just a little more carbon and more strength throughout the boat.
Burnham
If you're talking to sailors who are interested in catamarans, which type of buyer is most likely to become an owner?
Hynes
That’s a great question, because there's so many different boats here at the show. And, you know, I think what's interesting about yacht design is there's always trade-offs. There is no perfect boat. And there's reasons for every boat here. The reason for this boat, what we're trying to do, is build a cruising boat for an owner that doesn't want to compromise. So throughout the whole boat, we're putting on the very, very best equipment that we can buy, whether it be, you know, the winch systems or real glass windows instead of plastic. We're using epoxy throughout our construction instead of polyester. Throughout the whole boat there's example after example of us not compromising on the selections that we've made.
At 44 feet overall length, the HH44 is the smallest in the company’s line of high-performance bluewater cruising catamarans. Photo by HH Catamarans.
Our goal is to try to build the ultimate cruising boat for a couple; this boat is owned by a family with two kids, and it's meant to be owner operated. We do not build charter versions with four cabins. We really only build owner’s versions. So one hull is always going to be for that owner's cabin. Our buyers are typically your traditional, retired couple that wants to buy the best boat for their five-year, 10-year sabbatical, and they don't want to compromise.
Burnham
How long have you been with the company?
Hynes
I've been with the company for three years. Before that, I've crossed Pacific twice on two different types of catamarans. The first time I was on what I call a “condo-maran,” and there's nothing wrong with that. There’s Leopard, Fountaine-Pajot, Bali, Lagoon. You know, they're all building a boat that's really designed more for charter. And those boats are great, huge, walk-around beds and very comfortable living spaces, you know, condos on the water. But they're not going to be great sailing boats. They're not going to sail upwind. They don't have daggerboards. They're not going to do well crossing oceans in true bluewater conditions.
For my second time around, I cruised on a performance catamaran. And during that second crossing of the Pacific with my family—I went with my three boys and my wife—and we learned so much about what we think makes a cruising boat a great cruising boat for that type of a crossing of a true bluewater adventure for many, many years living aboard. And it changes the type of boat that you're going to want to buy. And so I'm the believer that a true bluewater boat is going to be a boat that is made out of epoxy or 50-percent carbon fiber, like the one we're standing on, where it's been built for the strengths and stresses of a bluewater crossing. I could go through this boat for an hour, just pointing out what are the advantages and disadvantages of the decisions that were made on this particular design. But there's all sorts of design choices out there for customers to pick and choose from.
Burnham
OK, ocean cruising, you said there are two of these models, and this is a sports cruiser. Would the sports cruiser go across an ocean?
The HH44 has sleek hulls and bridge-deck clearance designed for sailing offshore in waves. Photo by HH Catamarans.
Hynes
Absolutely. They're both cruising boats. We're building cruising boats for probably a small family or a couple to live on full time, and they're designed to be bluewater liveaboards. So they're cruising boats, but if the owner comes from a racing background or does want to enter into a fun rally or regatta, this is a boat that can sail really well upwind. It's going to track with the monohulls. It's going to be up there, especially the bigger sizes, with Gunboats. We used to build the Gunboat brand in our bigger boats, our 66s and our 60s. Those are grand-prix maxi catamarans that could do regattas and racing on a weekend and then the next day you're going cruising with your wife.
Burnham
So, over the time that HH Catamarans been in business, how has the product evolved and improved?
Hynes
HH has been around for about 15 years, and I mentioned that before we were making the Gunboat 60s. So the same yard today is building all of our boats. We started out with the HH 66 and that won Boat of the Year. We then made a smaller version, because not everybody wants a 66-foot behemoth that is more of a captain boat. We made a HH 55 and that won Boat of the Year, as the first size that an owner operator could manage so somebody, a knowledgeable sailor without a captain, can go cruising on that boat.
The HH44 shows off her opening transoms, solar-covered hardtop, and swing helms (shown here at midpoint, to port and outboard, to starboard). Photo by HH Catamarans.
We then made a smaller size than that, an HH 50 and that won Boat of the Year. And now we're on the HH44, which also won Boat of the Year last year. This is our smallest size that we're going to make. We think this is a great size, really, for a cruising couple. It's funny, yes, we'll build you a bigger boat, but there's a tendency in the industry for people to buy bigger and bigger and bigger boats. But I still tell people to buy the boat that feels comfortable for you to live on but is the smallest size you could buy, because the loads and the sails get easier. It's easier to dock, easier to maneuver through a marina, easier for a couple to operate. And so we think this 44 is just about the smallest size that we would build for a true bluewater boat. You still want that waterline length to give you speed through the water in a comfortable platform. But you know, this brings our price point down, and the availability for more people to get into an HH and still be able to manage it and go cruising around the world themselves.
And then one more thing to answer your question—this is kind of our second generation of boats. It’s been a huge leap in the last couple of years with electrification. So, you can see behind me there's 4200 watts of solar on the top of this coach roof. We also have a diesel-electric parallel hybrid on this boat. So this is brand new technology. It's coming into the cruising world. I think it's the propulsion system in the future. More than likely half of these boats in the future will be using this type of system, because you can do electric propulsion or you can do diesel propulsion. So you have two different ways, and that redundancy helps make the boat safer.
The HH44 has twin diesel-electric parallel hybrid powerplants by Hybrid-Marine/Beta Diesel. Photo by HH Catamarans.
How great to be able to use electric motors, not use petroleum, not use diesel and oil, not change your oil all the time, and you're just using electric to get out to the wind, put up your sails, and then sail this eco-friendly boat out to the next anchorage. So, I think it's a wave of the future. And we've now launched our 44 with that system. Our 52 just came out. It was just announced that's up for Boat of the Year for 2025 and then our new 56 will be out next year, which are our new generation of this eco-friendly concept.
Burnham
Congratulations on the awards. Sounds like that’s kind of the norm.
Hynes
Well, it's stressful; we almost expect it now, but it is quite a privilege, and we appreciate the awards that we've received.
Hull No. 2 sailing at an owners’ event at San Juan, Puerto Rico. Photo by HH Catamarans.
Burnham
Ballpark, your customers need how much money to buy a 44 or much bigger boat?
Hynes
So you're looking at about $1.2 million fully equipped for the OC version of this boat, the 44, and we build all the way up to an HH 88, which would be about $15 million today. So $1.2 for this boat that we're on today. It's about $1.5 for the SC version. And then, you know, with options, you can get up to $1.7 million. For our 52-footer, you're looking at about $2.2 million US.
It's a lot, but as I said earlier, it's a cruising catamaran without compromise. You’re already going to spend a lot on some of these other boats. If you're going spend a little bit more, what do you get for that? We hope, and like to think that, maybe an all-carbon epoxy race boat or cruising boat like this is something that appeals to people.
Burnham
Other than what you've just described, if you had to pick one or two ideas that have come forward with this 44, relative to the boats that came before, what would you point to?
A pair of glass/carbon windows open wide at the front of the HH44’s saloon. Photo by HH Catamarans.
Hynes
There’s all sorts of pretty cool innovations in this boat that has carried on to our 52 and our 56. I'm leaning against one of our giant windows here. This is a glass and carbon-fiber window frame that we build so that the entire front of the boat basically opens up—and opens up very easily. And again, it's not plastic, it's glass. It's going to last, and you've great visibility. That's one example.
The folding transoms on the back of the boat are another; the whole back of the boat folds up, which is the first for a cruising catamaran.
The Eco drives, obviously, are a big innovation, and the curved C-shaped dagger boards. I believe there's only one other cruising catamaran that even offers curved boards. Those boards take up less space in the cabin down below. And then they also give the boat a little bit of lift to windward when you're underway.
The flexible, 4200 watts of solar to again, power that electrical system. And then there are the swing helms. We didn't invent that, but this boat has dual swing helms, so you can swing the helms inboard or outboard, depending if you want to be out and have your hair in the wind, in the sun with great visibility of your telltales, or if you want to be protected. So this one boat just has so many design iterations, and it's just a big leap forward from where cruising catamarans were, and I think you'll see those ideas percolate throughout the industry.
The tech space in the starboard hull houses a well-labeled electrical panel and bank of batteries for power storage. Photo by HH Catamarans.
Burnham
Who do you work with on the designs?
Hynes
James Hakes designed this boat, the HH44; but all the underwater appendages on all HHs are designed by Morelli and Melvin. So, they've been our long-term design partners. They designed all those earlier Boat of the Year awards. They're the designers of the 52 and the new 56. So we work with James Hakes, our internal designer, and then also Morelli and Melvin.
Burnham
Thanks for your time, and good luck with the next one and with the Boat of the Year.
Search all sailing catamarans for sale on Rightboat.
Editor’s note: Before this interview was published in late April, 2025, we asked Seth Hynes about the impact on U.S. buyers of recently announced tariffs on goods imported from China and the Philippines. He told us there’s been no impact on pricing, and he doesn’t anticipate pricing changes, because most U.S. buyers register their HH catamarans in another country.
