After his pride and joy—a 2006 Donzi 35 ZR that ran 120-plus mph—was damaged in a garage fire at his home in Coal City, Ill., on July 24, 2011, 41-year-old carpenter Louie Marchese never in a million years would have believed it if someone told him his next boat would be the center of attention at the 2013 Miami International Boat Show. The Skater Powerboats 338 “Fat Boy” model from Douglas Marine on display in the company’s booth at the show proves that dreams do come true.
Marchese’s stunning six-seater, which features a beautiful in-house paint design, is powered by twin 565-cubic-inch, Whipple-supercharged, 1,200-hp engines from Young Performance Marine that are connected to BAM Marine 1350 Cyborg transmissions and Arneson ASD7M surface drives (click here to see the pre-show OffshoreOnly.com thread). And there it was, front and center in the Skater booth with the mind-blowing Colledgewood hardtop cat, a beautiful 52-footer and the new Dirty Duck 38-footer.
and then