It’s been an extensive undertaking to say the least, but that hasn’t discouraged Missouri’s Todd Crossley—the owner of Scalp Hunter, a 1987 41-foot Apache Powerboats that is being completely overhauled by the teams at Maryland Offshore Performance Marine Center in Rockville, Md., and Waves and Wheels in Osage Beach, Mo.—or any of crew members tackling the all-encompassing project.

Scalp Hunter, a 41-foot Apache Powerboats V-bottom, is on its way to becoming one of the most radical project boats the teams at Maryland Offshore Performance Marine Center and Waves and Wheels have tackled together. Photos courtesy Maryland Offshore Performance Marine Center

According to Justin Wagner, the owner and founder of Waves and Wheels as well as Bluave Marine Audio, the owner’s and teams’ goals of creating a stunning Apache with a modern twist is going very well.

“Scalp Hunter is moving along nicely; it’s taken more time than anticipated, but it’s required more work than expected,” said Wagner, who spent several days at Maryland Offshore recently going over the Apache project and his personal project, a 46-foot Skater Powerboats catamaran Waves and Wheels is completely redoing with Andy Imhof, Mitch Kramer and the rest of the Maryland Offshore team. “It’s been less than two years since we came up with the overall design and started working on the boat. In that time, the entire boat has been rebuilt. Andy’s team has put so much time into the boat repairing the hull, reinforcing it, straightening and smoothing everything out, and eliminating the rubrail, which was not an easy task.

“Additionally we were not going to change the power at first—our plan wasn’t to pull the engines and drives—so when the decision was made to refresh the engines and upgrade to No. 6 drives, we had to regroup and strategize a new project timeline,” Wagner continued. “It took some time to get to where it is today, but we’re very happy with how everything is coming together. We wanted the boat to have an original Apache look and feel to it but with a modern twist thanks to the graphics, electronics, upholstery, performance setup and more.”

Wagner said Waves and Wheels has the seats and the panels done for the cockpit, and that all of the pre-wiring is done for the Bluave Marine Audio entertainment system. He also credited Waves and Wheels’ Josh Roark for bringing the custom dash design Wagner sketched on a sheet of paper did to life.

“We still have to fit the dash and the upholstery for the dash, and fine tune a few other things, but we’re getting close on our end,” Wagner stated. “I’m very proud of everyone involved in the project. Not only are they doing great work, but they’re taking a lot of pride in it.”

Check out the slideshow above for more images of the Scalp Hunter Apache in progress.

With the rigging of the boat’s refreshed JC Performance engines and the accompanying Mercury Racing No. 6 drives nearly complete, Wagner and Imhof, who owns Maryland Offshore, can’t wait to see the boat, which Wagner called “a statement piece,” hit the water for the first time.

“So far the boat is exceeding my expectations,” Imhof said. “The colors are different and any time you do something like that, you take a risk that it may not come out as good as you think. We came up with a custom color mix that Todd wanted—he had a vision—and I think the whole thing looks incredible. I know everyone says this, but pictures don’t do this boat justice.”

Imhof said it was a tall order getting all the fiberglass work done on the boat so that it was ready for paint, which was designed and applied by Maryland Offshore lead designer Chris Dilling of Grafik EFX with help from the team at Graphix 1 Paint that flew in from the shop Imhof and Wagner own in Missouri to assist with painting the boat and the bottom repair. It included shaving sections of the boat down, cutting off the rubrail, removing the hull and deck joint, repairing it, smoothing it out and reinforcing it from the inside.

“Chris did a phenomenal job laying out the graphics,” Imhof said. “They seem simple but pulling off those straight lines over a curved surface like that requires a lot of attention to detail. He did a phenomenal job getting the colors to fade and blend like he did. Chris has painted a lot of Apaches over the years so it was nice to have his expertise with this project. I’ll tell you what, there’s not another boat out there like this one. Todd will never have to worry about pulling into a marina and seeing a boat like his at the docks.

“Plus, the boat is built like a tank,” Imhof continued, adding that it’s going to be an incredible boat on a Saturday afternoon on Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks. “Being able to start with a clean slate in the engine compartment and on the transom was a big advantage. I’m super excited to showcase what an older boat with modern power and modern X-dimensions can accomplish. My motto is not how fast you run, it’s how long you run fast. This boat is going to run fast and crush everything in its way.”

Imhof said he’s been meticulously calculating and laying out the boat’s overall setup, which will be detailed in a follow-up story on the project once the boat gets closer to completion.

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