Treasure hunter: On board Catman Cats' 33m yacht H2

Brian Schmitt built his custom 33.5-metre power catamaran H2 in North Carolina to fulfil his dream of exploration. Rebecca Cahilly-Taranto takes a deep dive into the unique yacht’s origins and construction

The design and construction of the custom 33.5-metre power catamaran H2 may have taken only a decade from dream to reality, but it was a lifetime in the making. The explorations of a French oceanographer sporting a red skull cap inspired owner Brian Schmitt.

“Back in the 1960s, one couldn’t help but be mesmerised by what Jacques Cousteau was doing,” says Schmitt, who was born and raised in the Florida Keys and began diving in his teens. “Growing up in the Keys was like a dream for me,” he says. “I was underwater a lot and I felt at home there.”

The 1974 film The Dove, based on the true story of a young man who sailed around the world single-handed, also got Schmitt hooked on the idea of casting off. “I can remember watching that movie and saying, ‘I’m going to sail around the world like that.’”

Later, Schmitt found the right partner to live this dream. He met his wife, Dee Dee, in graduate school while working on his master’s in neurophysiology. Both have degrees in biology and an affinity for collecting, exploring, diving and, of course, boating. 

In 2003, they built a 17.4-metre custom cold-molded wood/epoxy power catamaran they ran themselves. They named it Hippocampus, which is polysemantic for the part of the brain that stores emotion and memory, the name of a genus of species that includes seahorses, and the Greek name for Poseidon’s steeds.

As often happens, the couple slowly outgrew the 17.4-metre Hippocampus and its 5.2-metre tender. “I wanted a twin-engine tender for redundancy and more room for dive gear,” Schmitt says. “I anticipated that we would want to use our boat more as we got older and knew that, sooner or later, I wouldn’t be able to run and maintain it alone so we would need crew and a bigger boat.”

As he did with Hippocampus, Schmitt researched custom and production builders for his next power catamaran. He couldn’t find anything on the market that ticked all his boxes.

“My specs were somewhat unique and a little different,” he says. The new boat would ideally launch and retrieve a 7.9-metre Calcutta catamaran tender and a small car, house a fixed-wing aircraft and a dive locker, be powered by an advanced hybrid lithium battery package, have a 4,000-nautical-mile range, and feature a rugged, no-nonsense profile. And he wanted to build it at home.

“Building in America was very important to me,” he continues. “I did not like the prospect of not knowing the people, language, culture or subbing the work out to a country that I have no real connection with.”

So he assembled an all-American team, including renowned catamaran build expert Felix Herrin and multihull specialist John Marples (a UK native who made his life in the US), both of whom had worked with him on the build of the original Hippocampus.

Marples, who adapted and developed the Constant Camber construction system for multihulls, is behind the design of many sailing and power catamarans, including ferries. They contracted Van Gorkom Yacht Design of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for the naval architecture and detailing.

“I would not have done this project for anyone else in the world except Brian,” Herrin says, recalling the 2014 conversation wherein Schmitt asked him, “Do you have another boat in ya? It’ll be just like Hippocampus, but with longer legs.”

“Any builder will tell you they want the full design before they will build,” Herrin says. “At the start of this project, Brian didn’t know exactly what he wanted, but I knew that it would be alright to take on something like this because I knew he would be behind it and behind me.”

Herrin, Marples and Schmitt had their first design meeting about H2 aboard the original Hippocampus in Bimini. Bad weather kept them there for three days, which was the perfect amount of time to iron out the important details. “We hunkered down and developed a list of the important features, went through a couple of design iterations and got the shell of the boat figured out,” Schmitt says.

What began as an idea for an 85-footer [25 metres] — with a large master, salon and galley — to carry the original list of toys grew over a two-year design period to 100, 105 and finally 110 feet, with guest staterooms, a Robinson R44 helicopter and a two-person Nemo submarine added along the way.

As for style, the team’s original vision was for a purely functional “trawler-style catamaran” with a “workboat” look. This, too, evolved, Herrin says, “Originally it wasn’t even going to have paint on it.”

“We got a fairly nice-looking boat at 110 feet, with a length-to-beam ratio of 13:1,” Marples says. “That is pushing the limits of being able to carry a significant load, although we have 12,000 gallons of fuel aboard. We designed the boat to be around 320,000 pounds but also wanted to keep it within a range.”

While composite is a choice material for strong and lightweight vessels, there were disadvantages to selecting composites for this project, notwithstanding the workforce and facility type needed for the build. Thus, it was decided that H2, unlike Hippocampus, would be an all-aluminum vessel, to be stiff and sturdy, like an expedition yacht, yet lightweight enough to perform as intended. Aluminum would also be easier to service than fibreglass, should the boat require maintenance or repairs during its remote travels.

Armed with the designs and plans, the team looked for a site to build what they had conceived. “We were looking around for yards that could accommodate the build, and (boat builder) Buddy Davis’s old building came up,” Schmitt says. The former home of Davis Boatworks and the famed Carolina flare hull design, in the small town of Wanchese, North Carolina, was the perfect fit for them.

“Wanchese is a great town with a wonderful boatbuilding heritage,” Schmitt says. “It is very similar to Marathon [in the Florida Keys], and that’s one of the things that drew me to it. We found a great group of local guys to work on the project, a few of whom had previously worked at either Spencer Yachts or Bayliss Boatworks.”

Construction began in September 2017. “We bought 25,000 pounds of aluminum ingots, sent the panels to a water jet guy, and then put them together like an Erector Set,” Schmitt says.

For its virtues, aluminum construction requires some extra attention. Corrosion, of course, can be an issue, so the team brought in cathodic protection expert Ted Swartz of Electro-Guard who developed a 15-amp Impressed Current Cathodic Protection system for the boat. Aluminum also tends to transfer sound and vibrations, so the team collaborated with Soundown to address sound attenuation.

“Our first guess was that we would have about 15,000 pounds of interior materials to totally isolate,” Marples says. “I was surprised at the lengths that we did go to totally isolate all of those interior surfaces.”

The team replicated the Evolution Marine Shaft System installed aboard Hippocampus, used double-isolation mounts for the 38kW Northern Lights generators and incorporated laminate plywood and cork, Roxul lightweight insulation and Sylomer foam throughout, effectively creating a “floating” interior without fasteners.

Power management was another key area of focus for this explorer catamaran, and here again, they sought a custom solution. Nigel Calder, an expert on lithium-ion batteries in boats, and Bruce Schwab of Ocean Planet Energy, collaborated on a power management system designed with multiple redundancies.

“Our key concerns were to provide redundancy, ensure that critical loads continued running in the event of a lithium battery cut-out, deal with the large electrical load from the engine room fans and address the restrictions that were in place at the time regarding the engine alternators,” Schwab says.

A dedicated flybridge/communications battery bank, with its own inverter charger, keeps the DC and some AC loads running in the event of a main battery bank cut-off. Schwab also devised a workaround to the restrictions on engine alternator upgrades at the time by using dual large DC/DC converters on the starting batteries that move energy from the starting banks to the house bank when the engines are running.

“In addition to the two sets of lithium batteries — one for communications and one for the house,” Schmitt says, “we incorporated solar panels and specified propane for the appliances to reduce the house load.”

The owners designed the house itself as an enclave of comfort, with whimsical details and delightful accent pieces that convey their depth of attention to each space and their fondness for collecting.

Shops like Stone Age Antiques in Miami and Nautical Furnishings in Fort Lauderdale inspired much of the decor, which Schmitt says was “like treasure hunting. It’s an addiction if you have the collector mentality, which my wife and I do.”

Within the main salon and open galley area, thoughtfully curated custom furnishings are punctuated by Venetian Grotto pieces from the 1800s. A piece of fossilised wood from Madagascar that is estimated to be between 100 and 200 million years old serves as a side table. A 1719 map of the western hemisphere adorns the salon’s propane fireplace. Among the many items Schmitt collects with passion are old maps.

“For me, maps are the confluence of arts and science, the melding of the two,” he says. “I am fortunate enough to own the first printed map focused on the New World, which was printed in 1511 and predates the discovery of Florida in 1513. Interestingly, front and center on this map are the Florida Keys.”

The main deck’s guest spaces include three en suite queen staterooms and a ship’s office along a long, map-adorned hallway. Highlighted by Honduran mahogany dimensional brightwork, African mahogany veneers, and flooring patterned after the parquet of Versailles, each room and en suite features a distinct nautical-inspired theme and decor. 

From fish and sharks to sailors’ valentines and whales, the theme of each space is complemented by exquisite details and accessories. Hand-carved thematic elements in the window frames, custom plumbing fixtures from PE Guerin, cast drawer pulls of birds, shells, nautical knots, and sea creatures and mosaics in the bathrooms mirror each room’s theme.

Unlike Hippocampus, which did not house a permanent crew, H2 has been designed to accommodate a crew of four, with the twin hulls dedicated to the crew quarters and mechanical spaces. The generous work and living areas comprise a crew mess, kitchenette and queen-berth en suite cabin for the captain and chief stew couple in the starboard hull, while another queen cabin, a twin bunk, head and laundry area accommodate the first mate and deckhand in the port hull.

On the upper deck, the bird-themed owners’ cabin is situated aft of the full-beam bridge with its own seating area and dayhead. The owners’ en suite features a stunning mosaic cascading from the shower to the floor, which is a replica of a third-century fresco of the Greek god Poseidon in a chariot drawn by two fish-tailed horses (Hippocampi).

“Brian had a fun time spec’ing out what he wanted to put on the boat and procuring the interior stuff,” Marples says. “But he’s also technically able to handle the management and operation of the boat.”

Not only is Schmitt a capable captain, but he’s also a pilot, and, most recently, a certified submarine pilot. The request to add a two-passenger Nemo submarine and its own launch and retrieval system to the list of toys carried on board necessitated careful calculations.

“I guess one could call them ‘toys’, but I see them more as mission-critical tools to support Brian’s vision for the boat as a vehicle for exploring the world,” says Geoff Van Gorkom, who collaborated with engineers from HydroComp to analyze the powering performance of the vessel and optimise the propeller geometries given the load required.

“The toy count grew as we devised innovative ways to accommodate them, and there were indeed some engineering challenges, such as the foundation for the crane that launches and retrieves the sub on the main deck aft,” Van Gorkom says. “This crane has the added complication of retracting and disappearing into a compartment in the helideck. The foundation system for the telescoping davits that launch the (5,500lb) Calcutta 263 also required some thought, given that the cantilever loads with the tender hanging from the fully extended davit arms is considerable.”

Except for the 5.2-metre Twin Vee, which is launched and retrieved from the foredeck, the stern is dedicated to the “toys.” Beneath the helipad for the Robinson R44 on the bridge deck, the main deck aft houses a large dive locker and stores the submarine, tender, an Oreion Reeper vehicle and a sizable barbecue grill. When the tender is launched, the area becomes a spacious site, punctuated only by two support cranes, for al fresco dining.

“Originally, we were trying to do away with columns to support the beam cranes, but Geoff didn’t like that, so we ended up with these columns on the aft deck,” Schmitt says. “They support the helideck above as well. I had a hell of a fight getting the 3.6-metre window in the salon; Geoff didn’t like that structurally. We argued over the structural poles, and I lost. I won the window though!”

The owners plan to take H2 with their crew and small groups of friends first to Curaçao, Greenland and Eastern Canada, but the longer wish list also includes the Antarctic Peninsula, Chilean islands, Patagonia, and the Falkland Islands. In anticipation, the build team reinforced the hull with thicker plating at the waterline and reinforced the frame spacing at the bow and stern.

“Greenland will be our introduction to polar cruising to see whether we are fit for it or not,” Schmitt says.

From the hulls to the flybridge — a lovely space from which to perch and enjoy the view — four decks and a 10.7-metre beam give this 33.5-metre the livable space of a superyacht. In true owner fashion, Schmitt says H2 could ideally be 10 to 20 feet longer.

Nearly 10 years after that initial design meeting in Bimini and five years after the build began, H2 was launched with great fanfare from her shed in Wanchese in July 2023. “In a time when the US superyacht industry was, and still is, in decline and almost non-existent, it was a great opportunity to show the world that there are alternatives to the European yards,” Van Gorkom says.

This build was not only a technical challenge but a human adventure, and one that forged long-lasting relationships throughout. The names of everyone who worked on the boat — including the welders, painters and carpenters — are engraved on a plaque that hangs in the pilothouse. The Schmitts also presented a custom-cast Hippocampus from a foundry in Venice to each member of the build team.

And, although they left Wanchese behind, they took a little of the town with them. Two of the young men who worked on the boat toward the end of the build joined the boat as full-time crew.

For Marples and Herrin, H2 represents not only a unique and demanding project but also the foundation for a lifelong friendship with Schmitt.

“I spent quite a bit of time with Brian over the years and he is really a prince of a client,” Marples says. Herrin agrees. “Brian is no longer just a client, he’s a friend. I can say it again from my heart that I would not have done this project for anyone else.”

At a private celebration after H2’s launch, a friend presented Schmitt with a red woolen skull cap, which he proudly wore. It was a fitting tribute to this owner who realised his youthful dream of exploring the world beyond his beloved Keys.

First published in the April 2025 issue of BOAT International US Edition. Get this magazine sent straight to your door, or subscribe and never miss an issue.