Kentucky performance boater David Southern didn’t have any doubts he was buying an impressive boat when he made a deal with noted poker run enthusiast Bill Pyburn Jr. of Jacksonville, Fla., to purchase Pyburn’s 38-foot Skater Powerboats catamaran Pure Platinum.
Bill Pyburn brings his former 388 Skater back in after running the catamaran with its new owner David Southern. Photo by Tommy Hofstetter
Now, after a day of running the 38-footer in Jacksonville with Pyburn, who offered to go out with Southern and provide some insight on the boat once it was ready, Southern believes he has one of the best boats on the planet. What’s cool to him, and to accomplished engine builder Tommy Hofstetter of Chief Performance, is that the boat is a little different than when it was owned Pyburn, who took delivery of his new Pure Platinum 388 Skater at the Miami International Boat Show in February.
The main difference is the power. Southern, who owned a 36-foot Skater with twin Mercury Racing 1075SCi engines that Chief rebuilt for him, opted to install a pair of Chief’s turbocharged 1,350-hp engines after doing some research on Hofstetter and the reliability of turbocharged offerings. Chief also rebuilt the boat’s No. 6 drives and installed its new digital dash, which is a complete engine-monitoring/diagnostics system designed by Hofstetter and included with all of his engines.
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