Can't wait to see the boat!
Should be one sick ride!

Hello Kaps!

I think you said you'd been working on the project for 14 months. That's what I have in my notes. What I don't have is "on the West Coast" for 14 months. My bad. Sorry for the error.

If the boats you are talking about are Doug Wright designs, they began their lives as race boats and were converted for pleasure use, at least according to Wright. He did not distinguish between stern drives and outboards in our interview this morning.

Hence my use of the description, "dedicated-from-inception pleasure cat" in the first paragraph of the story.

Hey Matt:

I have been on this project since September of 2010 it came out West now for about 4 months.

No big deal it was great talking with you today. We should talk again in a couple of weeks for those spy photos.



This is absolutely correct!

KAP

Interesting, as the all silver and the sil/wht/blu sterndrive boast sure look to be pleasure first. 4 seaters, but all pleasure best I can tell. I chased the silver one for months before it sold for less than I had offered previously.

OB boats are the future in the small and midsize cats for sure.

Matt,
Mercury has had the 300's outboards for some time now, is there any direction to increase the HP for this market?

There were at least 3 I/O pleasure boats made. Alex's Blue and Teal one, The Black and Silver One the Grant did and the Silver one that went to California.

Interesting you bring this up. I spoke to Mr. Fred Keikhaefer CEO of Mercury Marine on this very subject at Desert Storm. When asked when are we going to see a 400HP Outboard he said "I don't think so."

I would be happy with a race version of the 300XS motor. If they hopped it up to 350HP and no warranty it would definitely garner some serious attention. It will probably never happen...unless outboards can somehow increase profitability for the company.

The difference is those boats were canopy boats modified to become pleasure boats. This model was designed to be an open cockpit wrap around windshield pleasure boat right from the start.

Take a look at the Black and Silver one Grant did and you will see the canopy. The Silver one that went to California Greg Faulkners boat was also a race boat convert.

Whereas the model herein is completely designed to be a pleasure boat albeit with a winning racing heritage.

KAP

P.S. CashBar is right on point when he says outboard power is the future for midsize cats under 32 feet. Reliable 100MPH performance with fuel economy to match the performance.

I too chased the boat, id it end up in Australia?

Hahaha, you're alive.

Not in Australia, behind a house that is for sale in Miami,