B&B 45' Powercat travels from Washington, NC to New Bern, NC

The past weekend I had the opportunity to crew for the owner of the Powercat 'SiverVoyager' that was designed by Graham Byrnes and built by B&B Yacht Designs. I have personally spent about 4 years full time on the built team. She was put up on the hard to have the props re-pitched and as well as add a wedge and side fences to the transoms. The reduced pitch increased the full throttle engine RPM at the manufacturer's request. The fences and wedge were added to trim the bow down slightly. Initial sea trials showed about 2.5 degrees of bow up at cruise in flat water which was reduced to 1.5 degrees. At 15 knots it's like a magic carpet. Just an incredible feeling of speed. Videos below.

Lifted and on her way to the basin.

View from astern. Transom fences clearly visible. 

 Another view of the transom fences. The discoloration is thanks to the Neuse River.
"Neuse Juice" as we call it here. It will fade once she gets into some clear water. 

 Passing a barge just before the Hobucken Bridge. 

We left Washington Yacht Service harbor at 1:45pm in the rain and tied up at 8:15pm. Total trip distance was 71.5 nautical miles. Average speed: 11 knots. The wind was 15-20 knots out of the SSW which made for about a 4' chop at about 20-30' wavelength in the mouth of the Neuse. In these conditions we slowed the boat to 9 knots for extra comfort. The high wing deck clearance that Graham made no concessions on in the design proved it's worth again and again as we glided directly into the head sea. The motion was easy and smooth compared to the sea state outside.

Graham met us on the Hobucken Bridge over the ICW to get some pictures and video of his masterpiece from above. I will try to get a copy of his pictures and post them here.

Below, shot at the mouth of the Neuse River. Boat speed is 9.5 knots. Head sea just off the port bow. 

As we made our way south the fetch was reduced and we were able to resume 15 knots cruise speed. Please forgive the brevity of the video, I was standing up to a 30 knot apparent headwind. 

Finally this is the wake at 15.5 knots. The fences and wedge improved the flatness of the wake. Overall very little wake considering the speed.