German Powerboats GP 43

This may be old news to some of the folks here, but I just revisited the German Powerboats site and found the design of thier GP 43 to be quite interesting and refreshingly different from the norm.

Their website is at http://www.german-powerboats.de/english/english.html or (http://www.german-powerboats.de)

 

And here is a picture of the GP 43 from their website - quite interesting I think.

 

Judging by the drawings, the boat appears to be little more than a catamaran style hull with an additional, 3rd hull, up front and centre.
Cats have always faced the problem of the wingdeck slamming - especially where the wingdeck isn't far enough off the water. The GP43 appears to have a very low wingdeck, so I'd be somewhat sceptical about the boats rough water performance and durability.
Their website also refers to a marinized Mercedes Benz engine and makes much of its aluminium exhaust system.
Having seen the result of escaping hot, wet exhauust gases on the hull of a 60mtr aluminium commercial cat, I'd have my reservations about that system too.
Having said all that, the GP43 does look nice.....

 

I found it interesting for a few reasons, but I also don't know how to evaluate it without seeing it in action.

1.) The folded hull design (with the multiple folds/'steps' running from bow to stern) was new to me. Someone probably has some precedents though ???

2.) I suppose the hull is basically a catamaran, but as you pointed out, the tunnel is not nearly as aggressive as a typical high performance/sport cat. The sponsons/hulls are symmetrical which I wouldn't expect, except for a cruising cat. And while I've seen small center pods like Talon used on their tunnel hulls, I have not seen a center pod this large or this far forward, or for that matter one that also stops this far forward. I would guess that with this major obstruction forward combined with symmetrical hulls and a shallow tunnel, that this would perform quite differently from a conventional catamaran/tunnel hull. A few years ago I remember reading about a couple air entrapment v-hulls which might have evolved in this direction – I’ll have to try and relocate them, but I’m not aware of a close relative to this design.

3.) Just from an aesthetic/styling point of view, it is something unique. I've never liked catamarans which pretend not to be catamarans, like the ones from a few decades ago which had the squared off bow or a curved deck protruding forward of the tunnel - it's just a personal preference, but I've always thought that a catamaran should show off it's real hull shape. This design though I would call a hybrid, because it really does have a pronounced functional forward center hull.