Campaigning the former 40-foot Skater Powerboats catamaran run by the WHM Motorsports team of Billy Mauff and Jay Muller, another team will join the ranks of Super Boat International’s Superboat class this season. The boat, which is owned by Tyler Miller of Kansas and will be dubbed M-CON for his underground utilities business, currently is undergoing a complete renovation/transformation at Performance Boat Center in Osage Beach, Mo., which with Jimmy John’s Freaky Fast Sandwiches sponsored the 2016 World Champion Superboat-class team.

The former WHM Motorsports Skater catamaran (shown here in 2014) is being transformed into the new M-CON team boat at Performance Boat Center. Photo courtesy/copyright Pete Boden/Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

“Tyler bought it to go Superboat-class racing and compete with us next year,” said Performance Boat Center’s Brett Manire, who’s heading to the Palm Beach International Boat Show (Mar. 23-26) in Florida today to represent the company at its exhibit that includes a Cigarette 41’ GTR performance center console, an equipped-for-angling Sunsation 32’ CCX and a 33’ Airship RIB. “We’re working on the boat and making it new. They’re not cutting any corners.”

The Performance Boat Center crew has stripped the 40-footer of its original graphics and will repaint the boat red and white at its in-house paint facility. After the paintjob is complete, PBC will re-rig the cat with its Sterling Performance engines, which are currently getting refreshed at the engine-builder’s facility in Milford, Mich.

“It’s going to be a whole new boat,” said Manire.

In addition to the raceboat renovation and several other painting projects, an early spring in the Lake of the Ozarks area—yesterday’s temperature reached almost 80 degrees—has Performance Boat Center already busy with pre-season service work. Manire said the company has hired three new service technicians to keep pace. He also said that he’s still looking for “clean” pre-owned performance boats, but while demand is high supply remains low.

“There are not a lot of clean used boats out there,” he said. “When we get something traded in to us, it’s gone immediately if it’s in good condition and priced appropriately.”

Of course, Manire said company would rather sell new boats, and to that end Performance Boat Center is working closely with Sunsation to produce its first 39-foot center console. (Read the story.)

“I am always looking for new products to sell—that’s what prompted our deal with the 35 Doug Wright cats,” he said. “We’re ‘pushing’ Sunsation to develop their new 39 so have something people to step up to from their Sunsation 32- and 34-foot center consoles.”

Related stories
Performance Boat Center Taking On Doug Wright 35 RT Pleasure Cats
Sunsation Still Developing Larger CCX Model