First 32’ Doug Wright “Pleasure Boat” Ready for Testing in Two to Three Weeks
 

Cool project, for sure, http://speedonthewater.com/new-boats...ree-weeks.html.

Wish I had "spy pics." Finished product should be spectacular.

Can't wait to see this boat. DW rigged out west, this should be good!!

Why do I think I read somewhere in the last few months that Eddie Martinez joined Cigarette?

I've seen the boat as it is being rigged....it is spectacular. Outboard powered poker run/pleasure boat -- sleek, sexy and should be very fast. Incredible glass work!

twocents
Who did the rigging?

If I'm not mistaken, you're thinking of Carlos LaFarga.

Also, the 32' Doug Wright has been on the West Coast for something like 14 months, so the interior actually could have been completed some time ago.

As for who did the rigging, John Caparell declined to provide a name.

Hello Matt:

I think that was a typo the boat has been on the West Coast for 4 months.

Paint was done by Mark Morris at Visual Imagination.

As for rigging.... I would rather not name the rigger just yet... so we can finish the boat.

We will debut the boat at the Lake Havasu Boat Show which is right before the Desert Storm Poker Run.

I was hoping to get the boat done in time for the Kilo run at the Salton Sea but it does not look like we will make that time frame.

Here is a photo before it went to paint.

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/c.../IMG_00691.jpg

KAP

Beautiful, love the wide efficient tunnel...... Should be a winner :)

Thanks for the clarification. Tried Google'ing it first with no results. Should have been my first clue.

I can think of 2 pleasure I/Os out there already.

Having said that, this 5 seat OB should be awesome.

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:drink:.



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. :evilb:

Not in Australia, behind a house that is for sale in Miami, :party-smiley-004:

Has it ever seen water? Last I somone was sending it to Teague in CA to have the rigging completed.

Anxious to see this new Pleasure model, the DW's have sweet lines!

Saw it beached on the sandbar in Haulover last year. Neat looking boat

nice project anxious to see the boat from a different perspective. outboards are a great package and should be bullet proof. i don’t understand the special part as if i am reading this correctly, the thing makes yours the truly first pleasure boat in your eyes is that you have a different windshield than the other? i would hope there is more to it than this. congratulations :point:

Congratulations Kap......I was wondering when your project was going to start to get some airtime...if your speed #'s vs fuel consumption #'s we discussed come to fruition you have a real winner on your hands

Hey Marc:

We still love your beautiful boat it's just the fuel bill we could do without...laughing!

Well at 130 gallons we should have between 286 to 325 miles of cruising range. The price of gas is always a factor when you boat over 100+ hours a year.

It is almost ready for water waiting on a just few things to then go out and water test.

We definitely need to catch up in 2012!

KAP

You will see some big hp coming from the 300xs block in the not to distant future. Just not from mercury. Should be awesome.

Kap, I'm really not sure why you are touting your setup as the "future" of performance boating for midsize cats under 32'. These setups have been around since the late '80s. And as far as the Optimax motors, Rick Bowling had a set on his 28 Skater way back in 2003 when they came out (I bought his 300PMs and put them on my 28). I think you're new boat is going to be a great rig for what you want it for, but it's definitely not revolutionary by any means. The Loan Shark 32 DW already exists, so it's not like nobody has seen a pleasure cockpit DW before. Please explain to me/us what is so revolutionary about your new setup and what makes it the "future" of performance boating. And if you think it's the reliability/fuel mileage equation, guess again! I've owned two 28s with outboards and my 30 with inboards, and I can tell you right now for certain that my inboard 30 is more reliable than either of my outboard 28s were (and I've owned 2.5s, 3.0s and 3.2s). As for fuel economy, cruising at the same speed (100mph) my inboard will not burn any more fuel than your outboard will, because you will be WOT burning 27 gph per motor, and I will be at 1/3 throttle burning the same gph. I think outboard powered boats are great (you know I own three of them), but on the size boat you are putting them on, they lose their advantages over the inboard packages. Again, don't take this the wrong way Kap, I think you are building a really nice piece, I just don't understand your posts about how it is going to revolutionize performance boating.

Comment:

I believe your correct.

CJ Hoffman will be attempting the Kilo Run at the Salton Sea with some monster outboard power. Allegedly, putting out 390HP, at least this is what I was told...he has a twin set on his Mach 22 running north of 130 MPH.

That is hauling the mail in such a low freeboard boat.

KAP

P.S. Skater30 you just need to be a little patient trust me you will not be disappointed.

I wondered about alot of the same things....????

Here is a Talon 22 pleasure I owned from 1993-2000. Yep, twin outboard tunnels sure are fun!:coolcowboy:

Earth shattering and something nobody else ever thought of, I dunno. Bad ass, absolutely!! :drink:
I just hope I get to see it!!

Any updates yet ?

ok, the difference is the cockpit for the "pleasure" version. it is not just a cut down canopy boat, as some have pointed out. it's wider and has more room. i think 3 seats across the back.

kap seems to be just really happy about his boat. the main point is that its a 32 not a 30. so in comparison the 32 dw should run with a 30 inboard with base hp. in this range boat, 2' of running surface is a big deal (28-32). normally the i/o's run better because of the added weight, hence the remark it should run with a 30 inboard.

having owned a 28 skater w/300x, there's a big difference between just jumping to a 30 spectre w/300x's. i then moved to a 32b w 3x300x's and that was even a better ride than the 30's. the skater b is a monster when it comes to rough water.

imo, you'd have to get a 32 b skater to run as fast a 28 with just twins to compare to the DW. thats the point KAP is possible trying to make without flat out saying it. and actually i think the DW's are running faster with comparable setups in a straight up comparison between skaters (28')

know if you idea of offshore boating revloves around running on pond sized lakes in dead flat water than your at the wrong website.

not detracting from kap enthousim but it is just another 32 dw with a different windscreen as i thought. good but nothing new as everyone has said. not the first boat with twin motors much less twin outboards as the concept has been around since at least the 50's. i can see this boat is basically very similar to the 32' spectras that are out there on the market already. it should run as good as they do with the same power. i do not think a 32 outboard boat will handle the rough water like even an a 30' inboard so the pond comment is of little relevance espically when the dw seems to be destined for the western lakes. how did your dw handle? i see the bottom is primered so did you have to do some work?

Comment:

There have been a lot of conclusory statements by those that have neither seen this boat nor do they even know what the dimensions are for previous Doug Wrights or this current X-Cat Model.

Doug has always built race boats and those that enjoyed the performance of those boats decided they wanted to use them in a pleasure environment.

This new model is designed from the begining to be a pleasure boat. I have posted drawings on Performanceboats.com which illustrate what I am talking about. This boat is almost done and the article by Matt Trulio is a press release.

We intend to debut the boat at the Lake Havasu Boat Show and Desert Storm via the Street Show and Poker Run.

Once we debut the boat I would be more than happy to engage in a question and answer session on the finer points of the boat including speed numbers.

Look for our display Doug Wright West at the Lake Havasu Boat Show and Desert Storm.

KAP

Footnote: We should be water testing here shortly and look forward to sharing our project with you all...Thanks!

You're not getting the point of my post, but that's ok. And my 30 has never been on a lake..........but it is in the Pacific Ocean almost every time it goes out.

I look forward to seeing your results Kap. And will you be posting speed #s with the motors stock, then with the DBR kits installed? As I've said before, I think you are building a very nice rig, and I wish you the best with it...........

comparing a 32 spectre to a 32 DW, would be like saying skater copied the 30 MOTION.

if you know the history of spectre and then motion, you'll get the joke.

as for where this particular dw is going, doesn't matter, my comment was based off experience of 4 different boats and not running on lakes. 2 foot of boat is a alot with this size boat.

the 3rd dw, had the transom notch filled in for arnesons. i ended up with that boat and stuck 6's on it. the boat had no "rocker" in the bottom. that was DW's design based off of ob experience. had some different people look at it and guide me on what to do. we added 1/2" of rocker and the boat improved greatly.

Only one minor correction: The "article by Matt Trulio" is a brief news article written by me based on my interview with you and Doug Wright. A "press release," generally speaking, is written by either someone at a given company or a PR firm representing that company.

A small distinction, but an important one, at least in my little world.

And all that said, I can't wait to see it in Havasu.

Can someone post some more photos as they become available please.