While there’s still dial-in work to be done on the new M28 catamaran from DCB Performance Boats in El Cajon, Calif., yesterday’s initial test session of the first Mercury Racing Verado 400R outboard-powered 28-footer on Lake Havasu in advance of this week’s Desert Storm event left everyone involved delighted. That’s the word from DCB’s Jeff Johnston, who joined the company’s Tony Chiaramonte and Mercury Racing’s Erik Christiansen and Mike Griffiths for the boat’s first shakedown session.

DCB Performance Boats fans will get their first up-close at the new M28 at tomorrow’s Desert Storm Street Party (click image to enlarge). Photo courtesy/copyright Todd Taylor.

“We didn’t push for a big number—we were just getting started testing—but we’re expecting to get 120 mph out of it,” said Johnston.

Chiaramonte, who spent time behind wheel alongside Griffiths, describe the M28 as “one of the best-handling outboard boats” ever built by DCB.

“This thing runs like a dream,” he said. “It handles perfectly and gets on plane immediately.”

The resin-infused M28 was laid up with carbon fiber and Kevlar. The builder mounted the 400-hp supercharged outboards on Shaun Torrente’s STR X-ACT Outboard Brackets. The cockpit is decked out with a SeaDek liner, and the undersides of the rear hatches also were finished with SeaDek material. For the upholstery, DCB used a fifty-fifty mix of Alcantara and Ultra Leather.

Check out the interior details of the first DCB M28 in the slideshow above.

Not short on electronics, the six-seat 28-footer is equipped with two Simrad NSS9 Evo3 unit, a Garmin 7608 GPS/chartplotter linked with a Garmin VIRB mounted on the primary windshield support bracket and a Stage III stereo system. LED lighting is generously distributed throughout the catamaran’s cockpit.

According to Johnston, the company has pre-sold five M28 cats with Verado 400R power. Eventually bound for a client in Canada, M28 hull No. 1 won’t be on the water for the Desert Storm Poker Run on Friday. But it will be exhibited at Thursday’s street party on Thursday.

You won’t see it in Friday’s Desert Storm Poker Run, but you will see it in tomorrow night’s Desert Storm Street Party (click image to enlarge). Photo courtesy/copyright Todd Taylor.

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