Whether or not you know Tim Kowalski, the owner of the Kalamazoo, Mich.-based Bio-Kleen, you’re likely familiar with his 1993 Cigarette Racing Team 35 Café Racer sportboat that has been a staple at the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout in Central Missouri for decades and several other events around the country.

Bio-Kleen’s Tim and Tracy Lynn Kowalski are planning to enjoy their Sunsation Boats 34 CCX for a long time to come. Photos courtesy Tim Kowalski

It’s likely you haven’t seen Kowalski’s new boat though, as the friendly and enthusiastic Kowalski wanted to do a few things to it before promoting it via social media and right here on speedonthewater.com. Along with adding a couple of stickers promoting two of Kowalski’s favorite things—his environmentally friendly cleaning product business, Bio-Kleen, and the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which he supports any chance he gets—and having a bow thruster installed, he is ready to show off the beautiful blue, gray and black Sunsation Boats 34 CCX performance center console he purchased through Missouri’s Performance Boat Center at the end of September.

Powered by triple Mercury Racing Verado 400R engines, the 34-footer that was built by the Algonac, Mich., company in 2015 is in excellent condition, according to Kowalski. Originally ordered by Louisiana performance boater Kort Wittich, who took delivery of a new 34 CCX with triple Mercury Racing 450R engines in July (read about it here), the boat came up for sale at the right time since Kowalski had been eyeing a center console that he could take to events around the country and use at his new home away from home in Texas City, Texas.

“When I decided to put the Cigarette up for sale and started looking at center consoles, I did a lot of research and made a bunch of phone calls to the various manufacturers I know from the industry,” said Kowalski, who was inducted into the Bob Morgan Memorial Lake of the Ozarks Shootout Hall of Fame in August. “I go way back with Joe and Wayne (Schaldenbrand) from Sunsation so I definitely considered getting one of their boats. I thought about a 32 CCX, but I wanted something a little larger with a 10-foot beam since we were planning to do some fishing with the boat in the Gulf of Mexico so I focused in on the 34 CCX.

“I looked at a few other boats in a similar size range, and while the performance and handling aspects were very comparable, what Joe and Wayne did down below with the 34 is downright impressive,” he continued. “There’s nothing like it really—I can’t believe how big the cabin is and how many amenities they included. At first I was thinking a twin-engine Mercury Verado setup would be just fine, but then I pulled into Performance Boat Center during the Shootout and they had just brought in this boat. First, it’s Cobalt blue, which is one of my favorite colors. Second, it’s powered by triple Mercury Racing 400R engines—how do you not get excited about triple 400 race engines?”

Powered by triple Mercury Racing 400R engines, the Bio-Kleen Sunsation is all set for a full season of poker runs in 2021.

Kowalski and his better half, Tracy Lynn, knew right away that was the one—the boat Kowalski believes could be his “forever boat.”

“This boat hit so many love languages of what my next boat was going to be—it pretty much hit them all,” Kowalski said. “It’s a custom boat with a lot of bells and whistles. Kort did it well to begin with—it has air conditioning and heating in the cabin, a diesel generator and a long list of high-end electronics. Add in the fact that us Michigan boys should stick together and I think this is a great marriage. I’m proud to be able to support and represent Sunsation and I know they feel the same way.”

Of course you can count on seeing Kowalski’s Sunsation at the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout next August, but he and Tracy Lynn are hoping to take it to various events around the country in 2021, including a few they’ve never done.

“This is going to be such a fun boat—we already had the chance to enjoy it a few times at the Lake of the Ozarks before taking it home to Michigan,” Kowalski said. “Not only can we take more people with us, but the boat has heat and a/c, a pump-out head and a 32-inch flatscreen, all things we didn’t have on the Cigarette. And we’re not even going to lose any speed. The fastest the Cigarette ran was 82 mph—this boat is very close to that.

“Everyone at Performance Boat Center has been great to work with,” he added. “From the sales team to the service department, they are all so professional over there. I’ve been doing business with them for a long time and have a lot of history with Brett (Manire) and Myrick (Coil). I’ve known them both since before there was even a Performance Boat Center. It’s great to go there and know everyone, too. I feel like family when I visit the facility—I really do. We couldn’t be happier with our decision.”