MAKING A STATEMENT!
PERFORMANCE BOATS TAKE A NEW TWIST AT THE 2009 MIAMI INTERNATIONAL BOAT SHOW
St. Petersburg, FL - The search for the perfect boat led to two new powerboat entries in the2009 Miami International Boat Show. STATEMENT Marine, LLC, a new St. Petersburg, Florida company, will introduce a 42’ Vee bottom and a 50’ catamaran, at booth #3790 on the Patio, outside the Miami Beach Convention Center. The new boats resulted from a “think tank” of powerboat enthusiasts and engineers who incorporated hydrodynamics, aerodynamics and ergonomics, into top-quality performance boat design.
“Innovation, engineering and technology are some traits that STATEMENT brings to the market which for years has been building powerboats ‘the way we have always done it,’” said marine industry veteran, Gene Weeks, who recently joined STATEMENT as General Manager. “Over the past four decades, innovative people have built some awesome boats. However, in recent years, the tendency has been to stretch, chop, widen and massage what we already had. When I saw the ‘missing links’ that a couple of reputable, creative guys were considering, I thought, these guys have some—let’s say, guts!’--and I had to be a part of it,” he added.
New concepts came from Nick Buis, a Florida native who has Poker Running and working on boats his entire life, and Todd Werner, a World Champion APBA Super Cat racer who knew what he did and did not like in his prior catamarans and V-bottoms. As he and Buis compared notes on “the perfect boat,” they consulted friend and boat builder Mark Spates and the three businessmen decided to “Make a STATEMENT!” They built two new models from scratch in the company’s state-of-the-art 40,000 s.f. facility, which includes a specially-designed thermal chamber to accommodate high temperatures for post-curing epoxy composite laminates. Both boats, the V-bottom, powered by Mercury Racing 1075 SCi’s and the 50’ Cat with an engine program under development, have signature features including an “air cushion cockpit” designed to mitigate the shock of a rough water ride. This technology was derived after “years of getting beat up on the race course!” states Werner who has filed for a patent on this and several other aspects of the new boats’ construction, including the cat’s tunneled hull.
STATEMENT’s new technologies and designs were combined to develop boats capable of sustaining high speeds for long periods without compromising safety and comfort while also sustaining lower speeds with handling ease. “Harnessing the energy and creativity of this team is a full-time and sometimes daunting task!” exclaims Weeks, “But the end result be a tremendous benefit to the customer!”
“’Making a STATEMENT’ takes in physics as well as philosophy and life style,” says Werner, “We have teamed experts from unrelated disciplines to explore how to make boats better. It’s what our name means--STATEMENT is a force in new ways of looking at both the aerodynamics and hydrodynamics of powerboating.” With some self-effacing, self-reflection, Buis looked at his and Werner’s shaved heads and said, “Maybe two bald guys just had a great ‘hair’-brained idea!”
A website
www.statementmarine.com is under development and information is available through Gene Weeks at
727-235-9846,or
gene@statementmarine.com.
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