Along with becoming the latest dealer of the revered Douglas Marine/Skater Powerboats line of high-performance boats, Performance Boat Center in Osage Beach, Mo., announced it is ordering a new raceboat that will be campaigned later this year in the competitive Superboat class on the Super Boat International circuit.

A new 38-foot canopied catamaran from Douglas Marine/Skater Powerboats is being built for its new dealer, Performance Boat Center.

According to Performance Boat Center’s Brett Manire, the 388 Skater, which was ordered with a custom tilt trailer, will feature a four-seat cockpit and be powered by twin 750-hp Sterling Performance engines.

“We’re very excited about the new raceboat and the fact that we’ll be able to use it for all kinds of different aspects from poker runs and taking customers, sponsors and clients for a ride in a raceboat,” said Manire, adding that the boat will be crewed and rigged by the Performance Boat Center service team led by Myrick Coil, who will drive the boat with a throttleman to be determined. “We’ve wanted an affiliation with a cat line for some time, but when it comes to ordering a Skater it’s not easy to figure out what to stock—as far as size, colors, motors, that kind of thing. So with the recent acquisition of Nauti Marine (read the story), we acquired some tremendous race experience and decided what better way to brand ourselves.

“We have the in-facility talents so we ordered two sets of 750 Supercat Sterling engines and we’re expecting the boat to be ready in late August,” he added. “We may do one race and then Key West. We plan to do the whole circuit next year and use the boat for fun runs and that type of thing. We’re super excited to be working with Peter (Hledin, Douglas Marine founder) and everyone at Skater.”

“We don’t really build four-seat raceboats, but they’re going to use it for marketing purposes as well as racing,” said Tony Cutsuries, the national sales manager for Douglas Marine/Skater. “We are very pleased to have Performance Boat Center on board as a dealer.”

Coil, who crewed and raced with David Scott of Nauti Marine and the high-profile Anheuser-Busch-supported Bacardi Silver/Budweiser Select teams, can’t wait to go racing again. Besides being a frequent participant in his hometown Lake of the Ozarks Shootout—in 2013 he and world famous throttleman John Tomlinson ran an impressive 195 mph in a 36-foot Skater (right) with 1,700-hp Sterling engines (read the story)—he hasn’t raced offshore since competing in the Super Cat class alongside Tomlinson in 2004 and 2005.

“I’m so excited to be a part of this new venture and to be working with Sterling—I have a lot of experience with Mike (D’Anniballe, Sterling owner) and his engines,” Coil said. “I love Skaters, we had some great ones with Dave over the years. I also love spec-class racing where everyone is equal it just comes down to the better talent or the better brain.

“We’ll be doing all the rigging for the boat and are going to try to have it in the water during the Shootout weekend,” Coil continued. “There are some great guys here—some bad-ass mechanics who have never been racing. This is going to be fun. It’s good to be excited about coming to work every day.”

Editor’s note: Speedonthewater.com will provide updates on the 38-footer as it makes it way to the racecourse.

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