Similar to what the speedonthewater.com team did at the 2017 Miami International Boat Show, we took several boats out for rides during this year’s show in February. With a focus on the super-hot outboard catamaran market, I was able to drive three smooth-running cats powered by twin Mercury Racing Verado 400R engines with my cohorts Jason Johnson and Matt Trulio. (We also got a chance to take out the extraordinary MTI-V 57 center console, which you can read about on page 57.)

A trio of fine outboard engine-powered sport catamarans delighted the speedonthewater.com crew during the Miami International Boat Show. Photo courtesy/copyright Pete Boden/Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

No, we weren’t testing the cats for top speed, acceleration numbers or anything else really, that’s for another day this year—look for more news on that soon. We mainly wanted to get a feel for the boats, turn them a handful of times and take a few quick blasts along Biscayne Bay and out to the unmistakable Stiltsville.

We ran the first Wright Performance 360 (Performance Boat Center’s demo model), a gorgeous red 34-foot MTI (the first 340X with in-gelcoat graphics), and Fountain’s 32-footer that was originally built by Smart Marine (Fountain now owns the molds and even had its first production model in its Miami booth). Each boat ran well beyond 100 mph with ease and they all handled the choppy boat traffic slop in the bay pretty well.

There were some things I really liked about each cat we ran, and there were some things that could be improved upon.

To read the full story, click the download link for the PDF of the January/February 2018 Speed On The Water magazine, and please share any feedback with us below, via email or on social media.