After the first full day of the Miami International Boat Show, an upbeat Joe LoGiudice—owner of Global Marine Power, the parent company of New York’s Hustler Powerboats and Ohio’s Checkmate Powerboats—proudly showed off a couple of Hustler’s latest “entry-level” models.

The new 25 Talon from Hustler Powerboats is the first boat from the company to feature a black gelcoat bottom. Photos by Pete Boden/Shoot 2 Thrill Pix

Sitting alongside two cool Checkmate models—a 2400 BRX with a single Mercury Verado 300 outboard and a Checkmate 2600 Convincor with a MerCruiser 8.2 Mag HO engine—the intricately painted yellow, orange and red 25 Talon powered by a pair of 300-hp Mercury Racing OptiMax engines was a definite show stopper. Sitting directly across from it was the first 29 Rockit MC, a midcabin/open-bow style 29-footer powered by Mercury Racing 540 engine.

“We’re really trying to build these type of boats so they come in at a price point that is attractive to new, younger, entry-level boaters,” LoGiudice said, pointing to the boat show sale price of both models.

The 25-foot cat, equipped with carbon-fiber dash panels, a Mercury Racing VesselView 4 display and a cool pair of seats below the rear hatch, featured a boat show special price of $144,194, while the 29 Rockit MC had a special show price of $190,042.

LoGiudice was quick to point out that there also were two substantially larger V-bottoms available for demo rides at the docks—a 41 Razor with twin Mercury Racing 700SCi engines and a 388 Reloaded with a pair of Mercury Racing 565s.

“Overall we’ve been pleased with the show so far and we’re only expecting more people to come visit us over the weekend,” LoGiudice said. “We’ve had a lot of people coming to take a look at the Talon. We haven’t run it yet, but we’re thinking it should top out around 105 or 110 mph.”
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