After what turned out to be a long detour to an interior and upholstery shop in Greenville, N.C., the first Skater Powerboats 478 V-bottom has arrived at Waves and Wheels Marine Audio Custom Fabrication and Upholstery in Osage Beach, Mo. For Waves and Wheels owner and founder Justin Wagner, it is his first interior project for a new Skater model.

The full-cabin 47-foot V-bottom arrived at the Waves and Wheels shop on Monday.

Justin Wagner said the Skater 478 interior project should take 10 weeks from start to finish.

“We knocked out a really cool project—a Skater 40SS called Wicked Addiction—for a customer in Maryland in six weeks,” Wagner said. “I sat down with Peter Hledin on Friday during the Miami Boat Show and came out of there with a Skater 368 interior project. Tony Cutsuries (Skater’s national sales manager) called me a week later and told me he had a little bit of a situation, and he asked if I would take on the new 478. I told him I would think about it for a day, I always do that before I take on a new project, and get back to him. I agreed to do it with my guys and the boat is here now.

“It’s such a privilege to work with Pete,” he added. “He’s such a cool guy.”

Wagner said that installing the boat’s new interior, which he designed, will take 10 weeks. The interior will include a custom-designed and traditionally over-the-top Waves and Wheels sound system.

“My goal is to deliver this boat with flying colors and create a whole new look for Skater—and become the official design and upholstery shop for Skater,” he said. “I am very confident we’re going to take Skater to the next level of interior design.”

According to Wagner, Waves and Wheels’ business increased 30 percent last year and 15 percent each year from 2011 to 2014. To accommodate his company’s ongoing growth, he’s expanding its current facility. He said he hopes to have the expansion completed in time for an open house during the 2016 Lake of the Ozarks Shootout.

“Right now in February we are as busy as we are in July,” he said. “I think this year is going to be the biggest and the baddest so far.”

Said Wagner: “I am very confident we’re going to take Skater to the next level of interior design.”

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