Like pretty much everywhere in Ontario, Canada, Penetanguishene—about an hour-and-a-half north of Toronto—has a brief but beautiful boating season. As witnessed by today’s forecasted high temperature of 34 degrees in the rural town, winter doesn’t surrender easily to spring. Boaters in the area can mostly count on running from mid-June to early September, the key word being “mostly” as Ontario occasionally gets summers that resembles Northern California winters.
Krytiuk Motorsports breathed new life into this Speed Racer-themed MTI catamaran.
So when it comes to the 12-week-ish Ontario-area boating season, the intensity level is high. Just ask Canadian Mark Krytiuk, a lifelong go-fast powerboat enthusiast who started Krytiuk Motorsports in Penetanguishene about a year-and-a-half ago.
“We have a super-small boating season so we make the most of it,” he said. “I have loved powerboats my entire life and there was a need for full-service, custom renovation shop in this area.
Specializing in painting and paint repair, fiberglass repair and fabrication, interior restoration, engine work and rigging, the company is housed in a 40,000-square-foot, climate-facility. Among the owner’s more recent additions to the company is a 68-foot-long, 20-foot wide paint booth. Krytiuk’s 12-person staff includes a painter, a mechanic and upholstery craftswoman. All three work full time for the company.
In addition to several noteworthy projects including repainting one of the famed Speed Racer-themed MTI catamarans and a spectacular Cigarette Racing Team V-bottom, Krytiuk and his crew are currently working on one that began before he started the company. Two years ago, they repowered a 50-foot Airborne Racing catamaran built in the mid-2000s and currently owned by one of his friends in Ottawa with Mercury Racing 1350 engines. (Krytiuk actually owns Airborne Racing, which was started by the late Randy Linebach, and it’s headquartered at the Krytiuk Motorsports facility.)
The renovations took off from there. Last year, the Krytiuk crew installed a full-wraparound windshield of the 50-footer’s flat deck. They expanded the cockpit dash and currently are adding four feet of bustle to bring the boat’s overall length to 54 feet.
To improve the onboard experience for everyone, they’re expanding the cockpit from six to eight seats, with an off-set seat on each side of the interior between the driver and copilot buckets and the four-person rear bench. All of the upholstery is being redone using Alcantara.
On the purely aesthetic side, the entire boat will be painted using a design created by Chris Mills of Boat Customs in Caledonia, Mich. But even that wasn’t quite enough for Krytiuk, a self-confessed perfectionist.
Krytiuk Motorsports is a full-service restoration shop.
“We removed the engines and de-rigged the entire boat,” he said. “The rigging was a mess. So we ripped it all out started again. Every fitting and every hose, will be perfectly matched
“The project has been evolving,” he added, then chuckled.
As part of process, the updating process, they replaced the catamaran’s original fuel tanks.
Krytiuk said he’s hoping to have the entire Airborne catamaran project finished by late June. His goal is to have it at the Boyne Thunder Poker Run, July 9-10, in Northern Michigan.
In addition to more seating and added length, the 50-foot Airborne catamaran will have all-new Alcantara upholstery.
“We wanted to take it there last year but, of course, the event was cancelled,” he said. “We really want to be there this time. And I think we’ll make it.”
and then