During its second round of testing today, the first Skater Powerboats 318 catamaran reached 114 mph. That’s the word from Tony Cutsuries, the national sales manager of the Douglas, Mich., custom high-performance powerboat company. Cutsuries was not on hand for today’s test session on Lake Winnebago but learned of the results from Mike Griffiths of Mercury Racing in Fond du Lac, Wis.
Today’s tests of the Verado outboard-powered Skater 318 produced a top speed of 114 mph.
As noted in prior speedonthewater.com reports, the 318 model, which belongs to Steve Lane of Brick, N.J., is the first new Skater to be powered by Mercury Racing Verado 400R outboard engines. The twin-outboard cat was outfitted with the same five-blade 33-inch-pitch cleaver propellers today that the test team used during its first sea trial last week.
“We are still going to get some more speed out of it,” Cutsuries said. “We actually dropped the drive height an 1/8 of an inch. The water was calmer for sure—it was two- to three-footers the first day. I think we’ll get three more miles per hour. We have two new sets of props that they’re making and we haven’t tried those yet.
“What’s maybe even more amazing?” he added. “At 95 mph, we’re getting 1.75 miles per gallon.”
Shown here during last week’s tests on Lake Winnebago, the Skater 318 has new props coming.
Editor’s Note: Speedonthewater.com will continue to provide updates on the Skater 318 as they become available.
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