For his first Skater catamaran, Kevin Birrell went almost as big as he could with a pre-owned 46-footer powered by 600-plus-cubic-inch, 1,200-hp engines. But despite the boat’s formidable dimensions, it  lacked one significant element for the longtime Virginia resident and his family. Kevin Birrell ran his new eight-seat Skater 388 hard during the   Lake of the Ozarks Shootout . Photos by Pete Boden copyright   Shoot 2 Thrill Pix . “The 46 is a really big boat,” he explained. “We like to bring a lot of people with us.” Birrell reached out to Skater national sales manager Tony Cutsuries about converting the 46-footer’s cockpit to an eight-seat layout, but the news wasn’t good. Cutsuries steered him away from the notion as the conversion had been tried but didn’t work well. So working with Cutsuries and Ross Ramsey of RP Elite Motors and Marine —the brand’s exclusive dealer—he ordered a new Skater 388 with an eight-seat cockpit. His timing couldn’t have been better. Beau Renfroe, the owner of the Dirty Money Racing team, had a 38-footer for pleasure use in production. More focused on his Super Cat-class offshore racing campaign, Renfroe was willing to part with his almost-paint-ready 388. Birrell previously owned a 46-foot Skater catamaran. Longtime Skater graphics-man Steve Schulte painted the cat, which Birrell dubbed Outta Pocket , in house at the Douglas,Mich., facility. Craig Ellis of Appearance products in nearby Grand Rapids handled the cat’s interior. But for rigging on the boat’s twin Mercury Racing 1100 engines and No. 6 drives, Birrell turned to his friend Grant Bruggemann of Grant’s Signature Racing in Bradenton, Fla. The two had worked together before—Bruggemann and his crew had repowered Birell’s Cigarette 39 Top Fish center console a few years earlier—and the owner was pleased with the result. “Grant, Kellie (Bruggemann) and the boys at Grant’s are awesome—I love them,” he said. “They did everything they said they were going to do on time. If I ever build another new boat, they are going to rig it.” The completed 388 was ready in June this year. Birrell and Bruggemann ran the cat for the first time on Sarasota Bay, and then it was hauled back to Virginia for the summer. Birrell wasted no time putting the eight-seater to good use. “I ran on the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay, but my first poker run was Rockin’ The Harbor in Baltimore , ” he said. “We ended up doing three runs on the Chesapeake Bay including the first Art Lilly Memorial Fun Run . A stunner from any angle, Birrell’s Skater 388 has already seen plenty of action. From there the boat went back to Grant’s Signature Racing for the manufacturer-recommend 25-hour service of its turbocharged 1,100-hp engines. Then it was off to the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout. “I had heard about LOTO and seen it in pictures, but I had no clue it would be that much fun,” he added. “I did the Skater photo-shoot run there, and it was about as close to heaven as guy who dreams about being an offshore racer can get.” Following the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout, Birrell delivered the cat to Mark Morris at Visual Imagination for some paint touch-up work, the by-product of a “cover malfunction.” And then it was ready for the Florida Powerboat Club Key West Poker Run Week event earlier this month. “The 388 is like a Porsche Carrera compared to the 46, which is more like a Cadillac Eldorado,” Birrell explained. “The throttle response with the 1100s? It’s like a sportscar. “The 46 would a great rough-water boat,” he added, then chuckled. “But I never ran it rough water.” Now the Outta Pocket Skater is back at Grant’s Signature Racing for the winter. Birrell plans to have it back in action in time for the Florida Powerboat Club Miami Boat Show event. He has a second home in Islamorada, so it is sure to get some additional running time in the Upper Florida Keys. Kevin Birrell (center) “The 388 is like a Porsche Carrera compared to the 46, which is more like a Cadillac Eldorado Birrell’s 2026 event plans also include the club’s Tampa Bay affair, the Tickfaw 200 Poker Run —he ran his 46-footer in the 2025 Louisiana event—as well as poker runs on his home-water, the Pirates of Lanier Charity Poker Run in Georgia, Rockin’ The Harbor and, of course, a return trip to the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout. “Kevin uses his boats hard,” Bruggemann said, then laughed. That remains Birrell’s over-arching goal for next year, because he couldn’t be happier with the finished product. “It’s perfect with eight seats,” he said. “If Tony at Skater said, ‘We’re changing the 388, what would you like to see?’ I w Seating . The cat had six seats, and that wasn’t enough for Birrell when his family and a couple of friends were on board.ouldn’t change a thing. My kids love it. We all love it.” Original article published by SpeedontheWater.com

Of the dozen go-fast boats Yves Belanger—the principal of Gibson Truck World in Sanford, Fla.—has owned, three have been big catamarans from Skater Powerboats. The first was a 46-footer he dubbed Avatar, and he loved it. For his second creation from the Douglas, Mich.-based custom boat builder, he went with a 438, a newer generation Skater cat he called G-Force. Breathtaking as it was to look at, the 43-footer didn’t impress Belanger with its rough-water ability. He missed the sheer mass of the 46-footer. In his beautiful 50-foot Skater catamaran called KONG, Florida’s Yves Belanger found the ideal wave-taming beast he desired. Photo by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix. So Belanger ordered a Skater 50 catamaran, essentially a 46-foot hull with a four-foot bustle, which he took delivery of in 2021. And his wife, Kyra, couldn’t be happier with it. “I love it—it’s the best boat I’ve ever had,” he said. “I’ve had it up to 120 mph in four-foot seas and it’s no problem.” A pair of dual-calibration, quad-cam four-valve turbocharged Mercury Racing 1550/1350 engines power the 50-footer, which is called KONG. To date, Belanger has run it just once with engines in 1,550-hp mode, which requires 112-octane fuel. The combined 3,100 hp was enough to get the cat to 180 mph. Other than that blast to top speed, he’s kept the engines in 1,350-hp, 93-octane-fuel mode and that’s been more than enough for him. To enjoy the entire feature, subscribe to Speed On The Water digital magazine and download the latest issue. Original article published on speedonthewater.com

For Bobby and Stacey Willingham of Abilene, Texas, Possum Kingdom Lake is home-water—and they’ve enjoyed it for many years in their 1999 Fountain Powerboats 38 Lightning V-bottom powered by Mercury Racing HP500 engines upgraded to produce 700 hp per side. They’ve loved the pre-owned 38-footer since the day they brought it home, so much that they’re not sure what they’re going to do with it now that they own a 1999 Skater Powerboats 36 SS catamaran powered by Mercury Racing 1075SCi engines. On their very first visit to the Lake of the Ozarks, Bobby and Stacey Willingham took delivery of a colorful Skater 366 catamaran during Super Cat Fest. Photo by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix. The couple dreamed of owning a Skater for years. Now they do, as well as a really cool 38-foot V-bottom they’re still fond of. This is officially known—at least in the go-fast boating world—as a good problem to have. “It’s up in the air whether we should keep the Fountain or not,” Bobby Willingham said. “It’s such an easy boat to use and drive, and it’s always been just what we need. Right now, it’s in storage at Possum Kingdom. We’re not sure what we’ll do yet.” As for their Skater catamaran, it’s currently being gone through and spruced up at RP Elite Motors and Marine. The Springtown, Texas-based outfit brokered the deal for the 36-footer for the Willinghams from its owner in Fort Myers, Fla. They took delivery of the cat last Saturday from RP Elite principal Ross Ramsey during Super Cat Fest at the Lake of the Ozarks in Central Missouri. And that meant the world to the couple. “We met (Skater founder) Peter Hledin and hit it off,” Willingham said. “He was a little quiet at first, but I actually believe we’re friends now. Once we all got talking, it didn’t stop.” Said Ramsey, “Bob was so giddy he got to meet Peter. We all had a great dinner together.” Through boating on Possum Kingdom Lake, the Ramsey and Willingham families got to know one another and become close friends. That was how Ross Ramsey learned that Bobby Willingham had long-wanted to own a Skater. When the pre-owned 36 SS came on the market in Southwest Florida, the opportunity presented itself. The price was right and the deal was completed just in time for the Saturday Super Cat Fest delivery arranged by Ramsey. (Clockwise from left) Bobby and Stacey Willingham enjoyed dinner with Tony Cutsuries and Peter Hledin of Skater Powerboats and RP Elite Motors and Marine’s Ross and McKenzie Ramsey. “Ross called (Super Cat Fest organizer) Alvin Heathman and got us a spot at the last minute—I think one of the Skaters that was supposed to be there canceled late,” Willingham said. “We rode in it for the first time on Saturday. “It was awesome,” he continued. “The way that boat rides in rough water is incredible, and it has way more power than my Fountain.” The 36-footer is Willingham’s first catamaran, so he wisely let Ramsey do much of the driving on the Lake of the Ozarks, which during Super Cat Fest/Lake of the Ozarks Shootout weekend is as churned up and packed with boats of all kinds as it gets. “I drove a little, but I was more comfortable with Ross driving until I get more seat time,” Willingham added. “I am going to Possum Kingdom to run it this weekend.” When time allows, Willingham plans to make a few upgrades to his new prize. He wants to replace its switches and steering wheel, for openers. The catamaran arrived on its MYCO Trailers platform, which he plans to have sandblasted and updated with Skater stickers. “From day No. 1 on Possum Kingdom Lake, Bobby told me wanted a Skater and he would do everything in his power to find one that fit his budget,” Ramsey said. “Now he has one. And I don’t ever see them switching brands. “These are hardworking people,” he added. “Brokering this deal was a privilege. It meant the world to RP Elite.” Said Willingham, “We met Peter Hledin and hit it off.” Original article by speedonthewater.com

Although filming began more than six months ago in early November when the M CON Racing team announced during the Race World Offshore Key West World Championship that it was entering the Class 1 ranks with a substantial sponsor behind it—Monster Energy—a large portion of the work and documentation of the historic build of the team’s 43-foot Skater Powerboats catamaran came down to the last two months. Click the image above or the link below to watch the brand new M CON Racing/Monster Energy Class 1 catamaran from Skater Powerboats come to life. Fortunately for the offshore racing community, Speedonthewater.com audience and fans of M CON, Monster Energy, Performance Boat Center, Skater Powerboats, Mercury Racing and P1 Offshore, the team at Scrapyard Media—led by talented editor, cinematographer and Michigan native Brad DiMaggio—was on hand for a good amount of the important parts of construction, rigging and more of the Skater 438 powered by class-spec Mercury Racing 1100 Comp engines. Now, all of that hard work by the teams at Skater Powerboats and Performance Boat Center—not to mention the dedicated M CON Racing crew led by owners Tyler and Lindsey Miller—has been condensed into a 30-plus-minute documentary from the teams that brought you the “In The Lead” video series, Scrapyard Media and Speedonthewater.com. And all we can say is “Wow.” Seriously, wow. Never before has the build of a raceboat—or any pleasure boats for that matter—been documented in this way. And none of it would have happened without the support of M CON, Performance Boat Center and P1 Offshore, the race production organization behind the Class 1 World Championship Series. “This year, Scrapyard Media made a commitment to story—stories of the performance boating industry,” said DiMaggio, who started working closely with the leading performance boating media company more than three years ago. “We’re looking for projects that will help grow the awareness of boat racing and pleasure boating and we’re proud that this video accomplished both. “I think it’s the best video I’ve been a part of to date—the time and effort were so much more than anything else we’ve tackled,” he added. “And the best part is that it’s a true story.” A true story indeed; and a very time-sensitive, relevant one being that the M CON/Monster Energy Class 1 team is on hand for the season-opening race in Cocoa Beach, Fla., this weekend. So what are you waiting for? Go ahead, fill up your cup of coffee—or refill that Saturday morning Bloody Mary—and sit down for 30-plus minutes of insight, teamwork, frustration, enjoyment and more as the first Class 1 raceboat constructed by Skater Powerboats in Douglas, Mich., in close to 25 years comes to life. Original article published by speedonthewater.com

With the third season of the Speed On The Water “In The Lead” video series starting production soon and featuring folks such as offshore racing great Steve Curtis of the 2022 Class 1 world champion Huski Chocolate team poker-run impresario Stu Jones of the Florida Powerboat, we’re taking a moment to look back at the 2022 series. Last year’s first episode featured Peter Hledin, the founder and owner of Skater Powerboats in Douglas, Mich. Meet Peter Hledin, the wizard of Skater Powerboats. Hledin was in fine form in the video as his straightforward, often wise-cracking self. At one point during one of his classic rants, he gave videographer Brad DiMaggio and video editor Ryan Wenk a mercilessly, semi-joking hard time for not being able to calculate propeller slip without a prop-slip calculator. Unfortunately, the scene didn’t make the final cut as the camera wasn’t running. DiMaggio, Wenk and I were laughing too hard to do anything about it. The laughter continued when we interviewed Mike D’Anniballe, the owner and founder of Sterling Performance Engines in Milford, Mich., and his wife, Connie Cushing, about their longtime relationship—as vendors and customers—with the colorful Skater patriarch. Hledin was among D’Anniballe’s first customers and he actually introduced the engine-builder to his future bride. But things took an even more comical turn when we interviewed Steve and Jake Schulte, the father-and-son team that handles all of Skater’s in-house paintwork. The Schultes were pure comedy relief as they discussed working together with the sometimes challenging catamaran-design-and build genius and perfectionist. If you haven’t watched the 13-minute video, you’re in for a treat. And if you already have, please treat yourself to it again. Original article published by speedonthewater.com

Given the demand for the existing handcrafted catamarans in the Skater Powerboats line and the time required for each build, new-model development can take time. Case in point is the Douglas, Mich., company’s 588 catamaran project, which has been in the works for a couple of years. Working on the hull mold for the new Skater 588, a crew member provides scale for what will be a massive catamaran. But according to Skater national sales manager Tony Cutsuries, company principal Peter Hledin and his crew recently have been focused on finishing the hull-mold for the 58-footer with renewed vigor. And they are not far from completion. “We had been working on it here and there, but we’re going full bore now,” he said. “I am hoping the 588 mold will be done, and we’ll have to build the frame around it once it’s completed, in about six months.” Cutsuries said Skater has a couple of clients interested in the 588 with dual-calibration Mercury Racing 1550/1350 engines. In the meantime, the company is slammed with new builds across its catamaran line. “It’s funny how the cycle goes,” said Cutsuries. “All the sudden, we have a lot of orders for the 318. But we also have orders for outboard and stern drive 368s. We’re building a bunch of 388 pleasure boats, and even a new 388 raceboat. And we’re building more 438s. Currently being painted, Fair Chase is one of several 36-footers in the works at Skater Powerboats. “When this whole COVID-19 deal came into place, like everyone else I was very nervous for our business,” he added. “But business is good. Really, it’s never been better.” Original article published by speedonthewater.com