Though the first 39-foot Outerlimits Offshore Powerboats catamaran headed for the Spirit of Qatar team has grabbed most of the media attention for the Bristol, R.I., custom high-performance boat company, the builder has another offshore racing project in the works that’s flown more or less under the radar. According to production manager Dan Kleitz, Outerlimits is renovating a canopied SV 40 V-bottom for competition this season.

If current plans hold, the canopied V-bottom and catamaran in the photo above will compete on the OPGP offshore racing circuit this season.

“We are going through the boat now and doing a whole bunch of body work,” said Kleitz. “We are gutting it and sanding it, and we are going to repaint the whole boat. We also have some bottom modifications to complete.”

Built in 2007 for longtime Outerlimits’ client Joe Sgro, the 40-footer “raced a few times and became a poker run boat,” according to Kleitz. The canopied V-bottom changed hands several times before Sgro repurchased the boat and brought it back to Bristol for renovation. In addition to receiving major cosmetic surgery, the boat will be repowered with twin 750-hp engines built by Frank McComas, formerly of Scorpion Racing Engines prior to its purchase by Ilmor Marine. (Ilmor has since dropped the Scorpion designation from its marine racing engine program.)

Kleitz said Sgro will campaign the SV 40 in the Offshore Power Boat Grand Prix series this season. “That’s the plan anyway,” he said. “We’re not sure who Joe is going to run with yet.”

As for Srgo’s world recording holding Outerlimits SV 43, it will be used as a poker run boat, according to Kleitz.

The first 39-foot Outerlimits racing cat should be in the Spirit of Qatar team’s hands in the near future, according to Kleitz.

Also slated for competition on the OPGP circuit, 39-foot canopied racing cat moved another step closer to completion last week as a crew member from the Spirit of Qatar team visited Outerlimits to help layout the cockpit and engine compartment. The cat, as previously reported, will be rigged with twin 750-hp Ilmor Marine engines and painted at the Spirit of Qatar shop in Orlando, Fla.

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