Do you remember the Outerlimits Offshore Powerboats SL 36 V-bottom? With just two models built—one with Mercury Racing 520 engines and another with Mercury Racing 565s—there’s a good chance you probably don’t. Mike Fiore, the founder of the Bristol, R.I., company had hoped the 36-footer he introduced in 2013 would be a price-point boat, in essence a more-affordable Outerlimits. In the end, he wasn’t able to get down the price to a level attractive enough for would-be buyers who—for not a whole lot more—could have a bigger and badder Outerlimits.
Think outboard. Think performance. Just don’t think center console—at least not yet. Now, imagine it with outboards.
But as the saying goes: That was then, this is now—and now performance boat builders have the Mercury Racing Verado 400R outboard to work with. So while there’s plenty of chatter out there regarding a possible Outerlimits center console and company representative has confirmed that there could be one released “in the foreseeable future,” the next project on the table is a twin Verado 400R outboard-powered version of the SL 36.
Given that the price of two supercharged 400-hp Verado outboards is similar to that of one Mercury Racing 565 engine-and-drive package, and that installing and rigging outboards is more simple and requires less labor than installing and rigging stern-drive engines, going with outboard power for a price-point-targeted sportboat makes sense.
and then