After waiting for a week of rain to subside with the boat finished on its trailer pointing eagerly toward the water,  I finally launched my catamaran in the first week of August.  Hoping for the best, and not wanting to disappoint all those who had seen the boat in various stages of completion and either expressed their congratulations or withheld their doubts, with an 18 horse Nissan I made my first runs.  I found that the hull planed fairly easily but lacked the punch which I had hoped for.  But this was to be expected since the finished hull was at least twenty pounds heavier than I had estimated due to the reinforcing and fairing of mold imperfections and since I had originally intended the boat for upwards of 40 horsepower.  After much difficulty, I found an old 35 horsepower Evenrude which was held together by rubber bands and which had more than a few extra bolts.  Clamping this onto the bracket, I clocked my hull at 37.5 mph (repeatable) on GPS.  I was able to take a dozen test runs during my last week of summer, tweaking the outboard in the attempt to get those 35 horses to show themselves.  During my second run with the boat, at full clip, I was very surprised when the tiller handle came off in my hand and the gears spewed into the water behind, too fast to catch before they sunk to the bottom.  Luckily, I had placed a kill switch on the outboard before the run, and even better, this was my only calamity with my first built hull.  After many full-out runs the hull looked just as it did when I finished the last coat of paint. 
Overall, I found that with less than 35 horsepower, I had achieved speeds close to my goal of 40 mph.  With the intended jet power this hull would doubtless achieve satisfactory speed.  The greatest deficiency of the hull was its turning ability, or rather its turning comfort.  Thought the hull turns on a dime due to its tunnel, at speed the hull tends to lean outward on turns which gives the driver a disconcerting feeling.  This was exaggerated by the high center of gravity which the old outboard produced.  I have found that this is the most common criticism of production cats as well, but while I may not be able to make a cat perform like a "V", I will try to make my cat's handling more pleasing.
Although my first prototype has its flaws, overall the project was a great success and a wonderful experience.  It reaffirmed my self confidence, gave me invaluable hands-on experience, helped me to  correlate design and real-world results, and further wetted by appetite for marine design.  I am already designing the an improved version of the design, an 18' hull based largely on my first effort with modifications to allow better turning and slightly better planing times.  In the summers and the years to come, I  shall continue to design and to build my dreams, to find new challenges in my first love, the water.