Less than six months ago, Justin Wagner even didn’t own Doug Wright Powerboats/DWR. The man behind Waves And Wheels in Central Missouri, Wagner and his team were still installing custom interiors and rigging Doug Wright catamaran hulls built under prior ownership in Melbourne, Fla. That changed in late June with Wagner’s acquisition of the brand.

And he’s been making improvements and additions to the brand ever since.

Watching the Montlick Injury Attorneys team take the Factory Stock-class checkered flag on Sunday in Key West, Fla., was among the highlights of the week for Doug Wright Powerboats/DWR company owner Justin Wagner. Photo by Jeff Helmkamp copyright Helmkamp Photos.

Right now, Doug Wright Powerboat/DWR has seven new builds in production and two more orders soon to be started. The most recent creation is in lamination, while another—a 36-footer—should be delivered in four weeks. The most recent completed and delivered model is a 39-footer.

In addition to improving production, maintaining flow and sales and creation new parts for decks to windshield molds and hatches, the company has been investing in human capital. Most recently, Wagner’s longtime friend and colleague Andrew Imhof became the vice-president of the company. Before bringing Imhof aboard, Wagner added Gary Stray to his team, and Stray has been led development of the company first 44-foot Class 1 offshore racing catamaran. The final designs for the cat are complete and tooling production is underway.

Following the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout, Wagner announced the introduction of Doug Wright 39 XTR catamarans. Since then, he has taken four orders for the cat, which boasts modified outboard engines in the 600-hp range.

In short, a lot has happened with the brand since Wagner and his team took the reins. With last week’s happenings in Key West, Fla., behind them—where Imhof lead the owner of six Doug Wright cats on the inaugural two-day “DWR Experience Tour” through the Keys to the city at the end of the road—and the Thanksgiving holiday ahead, you’d think Wagner would be ready for a break.

As a family man with a wife and two daughters, he is. As a businessman on mission to take the brand to higher and higher levels, he is not. In fact, the three-and-half weeks he just spent in South Florida, where he logged a few days at the Melbourne hull facility, and Keys have energized him.

“Key West was incredible this, just incredible,” Wagner said yesterday via mobile as he passed through Atlanta on his way home to Missouri. “From driving a 39 XTR catamaran the entire 160 miles Miami to Key West—the same boat that ran 147 mph in the Shootout and now has more than 150 hours on i—to getting Nikki Montlick of the Montlick Injury Attorneys racing team, which runs a 39 DWR catamaran and took first-place in Sunday’s race, it couldn’t have been better.”

“It amazing and humbling how much we’ve able to get done since late June,” he continued. “We’ve come a long way. But in another way, we are just getting started.”