When Justin Lucas, an organizer behind the Thunder Run on Kentucky’s Lake Cumberland (June 19-20), sent me some information about this year’s seventh annual event, he included a short list of notable boats coming, including Dave Southern’s refreshed 388 Skater Powerboats catamaran—the former Pure Platinum owned by Bill Pyburn—and Mike Thornton’s 388 Skater Frisky Business, which is now powered by the Chief Performance engines that were in Pure Platinum.

This 2008 46 Skater is expected to finally leave its trailer for the first time in early June. Photos courtesy Denny Kirkland

Lucas also mentioned a “new” 46-foot Skater that is expected to hit the water shortly before the Thunder Run. New is in quotes because the cat is actually a 2008 model that never was completed after a deal fell through and it was left for sale at Lake Cumberland Marine, which had more downs than ups before coming under new ownership at the end of 2013 (read the story).

“I honestly can’t believe I have the boat; I’ve had my eye on it for some time and have even made a couple of offers—it’s just been sitting at Lake Cumberland for years without power,” said Carl Wesley, who resides in Cincinnati, has a houseboat on Lake Cumberland and also owns a 36-foot cat from Eliminator Boats with twin 625-hp Ilmor Marine engines. “The boat is so trick. It was painted by The Art of Design and has an interior that was very nice for a 2008 so it still holds up today. It wasn’t fully rigged so we’re changing some stuff around and sprucing up a few things in the engine compartment.”

Originally the Skater was supposed to have a set of Mercury Racing 1075SCi engines. Now, under the watchful eye of Denny Kirkland of Custom Performance in Somerset, Ky., the 46-footer is being rigged with a set of 1,350-hp engines from Precision Marine in Kenner, La. Kirkland, who actually worked at Lake Cumberland Marine when the boat was first sold, told Wesley about the engines that were just refreshed by Precision Marine before Thornton decided to put the Chief engines in Frisky Business.

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For more images on the 46-foot catamaran, check out the slideshow above.

“I was so glad to see someone buy that boat finally,” Kirkland said. “The timing was good, too, since the engines from Frisky Business were available. And since I work on that boat, too, I knew the history of the engines and steered Carl toward what I think should be a good set of motors for his boat. We’ve pulled all of the engine components off and sent them out for powder coating. Between the bilge that was painted to match and everything else we’re doing, this is going to be a nice piece when it’s all put together.”

Kirkland said he still has several things to wrap up before the boat is ready for testing, including installing a set of custom CMI headers he recently ordered from the Neenah, Wis., company.

Speedonthewater.com will provide an update on the “new” 46 Skater once it’s ready to hit the water.

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