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Boat Review: M2 57 Sportfishing Catamaran

The true payoff comes when you run one of these catamarans in weather conditions that you'd never consider taking your monohull out in!
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M2 – a five-year-old custom builder based in Rhode Island – offers the expertise of an international staff of designers and builders to help ease the process of building your custom yacht. The company touts exceptional communication as one of its strong suits, managing the building process from quotes to launch party while providing weekly financial reports, order schedules and build documentation, as well as welcoming at least one conference call with the entire design and build team each week. M2’s 57-footer represents its first foray into large multihull fishing boats, though it already produces several smaller outboard fishing cats, including 45- and 60-footers.

To build the 57, M2 brought together several performance catamaran designers from parts of the world where multihulls are the rule rather than the exception. With backgrounds in offshore performance racing, hull design and marine engineering, the M2 team members continue a long-standing and successful multinational marine tradition. Now, under the M2 brand name, Scott Jutson of Sydney, Australia, George Linder, a respected name in offshore powerboat racing, and M2 founders Paul Mihailides and Jim Cazzanni pooled their collective abilities to produce big, fast, rugged, offshore fishing boats. M2 builds the 57 in historic Bristol, Rhode Island, home to such famous boatbuilders as Herreshoff, Pearson and Hunt.

Made from advanced carbon fiber, Kevlar and epoxy, the M2 57’s construction provides approximately twice the strength-to-weight ratio of standard fiberglass. One thing many offshore anglers might find odd is that this first hull will be pushed by surface-piercing drives with five-blade cleaver props – most definitely a racing holdover. Plans call for the standard power to consist of twin MAN R800 diesels rated at 800 hp each, coupled with 1.5:1 gearboxes and surface-piercing drive units. However, options include the Volvo IPS system as well as standard props and shafts for more serious-minded fishermen. With the twin 800s and the surface-piercing drives, M2 expects a whopping top speed of 58 knots and a cruise of around 45. And even with all that speed, this boat’s fuel economy tends to be considerably more efficient than a monohull – on the order of 20 to 60 percent better.

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Our experience also shows that when trolling or drifting in steep, beam seas, multihulls prove far more stable thanks to a wider length-to-beam ratio. And of course, with so much less wetted surface, the M2 57 should jump to plane much more quickly, cut through waves more smoothly and ride higher (less draft) than monohulls of equivalent size.

M2 already enjoys an established international reputation for creating luxurious interiors with well-planned ergonomics. Though catamaran living spaces generally seem somewhat alien to tradition-bound American anglers, you can’t deny the comfort and elegance with which M2 executes this space. Expect to see loads of leather and beautifully finished rare woods.

Obviously, being a builder of custom yachts, M2 will work diligently with every prospective owner to lay out the fishing areas of the 57 to suit individual requirements. Needless to say, nothing is out of the realm of possibility. But the true payoff comes when you run one of these catamarans in weather conditions that you’d never consider taking your monohull out in – that’s when the M2 57 will truly blow you away!
– Dean Travis Clarke

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SPECIFICATIONS

LOA……57’3″
**BEAM……
16’10”
DRAFT……3’6″
Deadrise……Planing catamaran
Weight……39,000 pounds
Fuel……600 gallons
Water……180 gallons
Power……T MAN 800 hp** R800 common-rail diesels
PRICE……$3,447,000

M2 Motor Yachts / Coventry, Rhode Island / 800-547-1247 / www.m2motoryachts.com

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