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PBN Staff

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It’s anyone’s guess but today at the SEMA show in Las Vegas, Mercury Racing debuts what may be new to them but has been around the automotive industry for quite sometime. That debut is in the form of a dual over head cam cylinder head mated to a GM LS based engine.

The question is when will we see this new technology come to fruition? It’s no doubt that the era of the Big Block Chevrolet power plant as an OEM engine offering is not long to go the way of the rotary telephone. An antique by today’s standards and originally developed back in 1965, the big block engine today is heavy and fuel inefficient compared to what our industry could be using.

The rest of the marine industry has been quick to welcome the OEM engine technology of the LS engine as well as dual overhead cam technology. This new platform from Mercury racing might allow them to keep pace with Indmar’s new Ford Raptor engine featuring the latest four cam offerings. Ski and wake board boat manufacturers are feverishly making changes to their boats to accept this long awaited technology that is taking their industry by storm.

The LS platform has also been a huge success for Seven Marine that has become the elite manufacture of big horsepower outboard engines popular with the hi performance center console world.

Once a year hundreds of thousands of performance enthusiasts arrive in Las Vegas Nevada for the Specialty Equipment Manufactures Association show best known as SEMA. This is where the worlds brightest and best including every OEM car manufactures flex their muscle and show their wares.

Its no surprise that if your one of the industries premier boat manufactures like DCB then this is the place to to showcase your extraordinary offerings would be to a world of performance enthusiasts. DCB won’t be alone as they we be sharing the spot light with Mercury Racing who is there showcasing their QV4c Turbo Engine Package’s to the automotive scene. The SEMA show is certainly the highlight of the Automotive aftermarket and if there’s a group of people that can appreciate custom work then rest assured they are in Las Vegas this week.

DCB is certainly the boat builder to represent the powerboating world. Their attention to detail, fit finish, and performance is as great as is gets and they are always presented in such a professional manner.

Last Year it was a M41, this year they have a incredible looking M35 with Mercury Racing 1350 Turbo QV4c on the M8 drive package. DCB set up a special tilt cradle to showcase just how great this boat looks in the show display. Make sure to take notice of the special ventilators custom made by DCB to blend into the drive package.

There may not be any performance boats at the Fort Lauderdale Show but there were plenty of performance boat people at the Florida Powerboat Clubs Boat Show Bash.

The Fort Lauderdale Show is the weekend before the Key West Poker Run and it is always a busy and hectic time for all of us who live and work in the area. For Poker Run participants who can afford the extra time its a great time to fly in early for the boat show, hang out on the beach and then get ready to run down to Key West.

Many of our PBN friends were at the Florida Powerboat Clubs party at the show and we are all ready and excited to go to Key West this coming week!

Things are super busy at DCB and this year they are again going to have a special display with Mercury Racing at the 2014 SEMA SHOW, November 4-7 9 am to 5 pm. If you find yourself in Las Vegas you must be sure to stop by Booth 34225 and check out the bright yellow M35 Bananas!, which will be tilted on a special display cradle in the booth.

There are many exciting things coming out of this great Southern California catamaran builder and SEMA is the place for the Powerboating world to be represented by DCB!

In just one week we all begin the migration from Miami to Key West for the Florida Power Boat Clubs Key West Poker Run. This is, without question the big power boating event of the year and with so many boats making the 160 Nautical Mile, one way destination run, the logistical details can be overwhelming.

For 24 years Stu Jones has managed to make this event work out for everyone, deal with so many last minute changes, special requests, and a host of other details. With just a short time before the run PowerBoatNation was able to get Stu to sit down for a few minutes and speak to us about some of the details of this years run!

PowerBoatNation will be all over Key West. Look for us on the run in the PBN CIGARETTE, at our booth in Poker Run Village and on Duval with the PowerBoatNation Girls!

Even in the 1970’s boat builders were changing things up a little to provide customers with something new to enhance the lifestyle of powerboating. Cigarette had the 28 Open with IO’s. Midnight Express was playing with sport boats with Outboard brackets and in 1987 the Donzi F-33 came on the scene with twin “BIG” 200 HP Outboards. Wellcraft was building the 34 Super Sport Center Console with a forward cabin and the 302 open. Builders like power play, Cigarette, and even outerlimits have all been down the center console road many years ago with both outboard and inboard power.

In south Florida on both the east and west coasts the center console is absolutely nothing new, for years now Midnight Express, Concept, Avacne, Monza, Donzi, Fountain and many more brands have been offering these sporty utilitarian boats to the very active boaters of South Florida in addition to the thousands of the “fish type” brands

As the marine engine builders make advances the boat builders seem to respond to find a way to apply the new power into a boat. Not unlike the late 80’s when large outboards came to market the newer amazing reliable and fuel efficient outboards have driven traditional sport boat builders to really push open boats to their customer base.

Inside sources tell us that Cigarette Racing is going to unveil its return to the past this week with a open center console type boat fitted with Mercury 520 I/O’s. Cigarette will be hosting a open house during the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show rather than having a display at the show.

Were excited to see if the iconic brand can again bring the sterndrive to the broader sport boat market as as this would be a step in the right direction for the marine market and the entire industry.

In terms of powerboating we do live a privileged life at PBN where we visit and see more high performance facilities than anyone else in the country. Because of this privilege our favorite is the unannounced drop by where you get to see behind the scenes with whats really going on in the industry as it is happening.

Recently we invited ourselves into the Supercat Rigging facility also know as AMF Offshore the Geico racing teams headquarters the other day and were stopped in our tracks as we saw a few (yes more than two) turbine engines being prepped for installations in some boats.

There is something about looking at an aircraft engine that just makes you get all excited about going fast in a performance boat.

I know its not your typical big block GM based engine but its an engine that survives by taming the oil temperature for survival just like your boat.

I have been fortunate enough to run a big 50 Mystic with 1850 Turbines and I do know if you haven’t been around or seen the workings of a turbine powered catamaran, much of it is foreign and the systems to support the turbine and not familiar. I don’t even have a real depth on much of how it works but we are able to recognize most things unfamiliar. Looking closely at the turbine on the stand we noticed something very familiar and were struck with “Why is that there?” It was a Hardin Marine 15 plate oil cooler mounted atop this engine?

Come to find out from the legend Gary Stray, famous for keeping the Geico team in the winners circle and for building some of the worlds most custom catamarans, that these engines have severe oil cooling requirements just like an offshore powerboat Gary said in an effort to reduce the packaging size of the engine and maintain efficient cooling, he turned to a Hardin Marine product for an option. After testing the Hardin 15 plate oil cooler they found out that not only were they able to reduce the oil temperature by an additional 20 degrees over the OEM Lycoming cooler but they reduced the cost of the aircraft style replacement oil coolers that sell new for a whopping $11,000.

So whether your trying to cool the oil of an 1800HP Turbine Engine or virtually any powerboat engine the products to do it can be found from our PBN loyal supporters at Hardin Marine. The Hardin oil cooler has proven to work better that the uber expensive aircraft part and is fully endorsed by the Turbine Engine Experts at PPS.

When you go to the Lake of the Ozarks you will find more Cigarettes in one place than anywhere else in the country and now there is a CIGARETTE Dealer at the Lake. Just this morning Performance Boat Center announced they have become the CIGARETTE dealer at the Lake and will be stocking 2015 boats.

Performance Boat Center recently opened their brand new beautiful full service facility and combined with theRed Head Yacht Club they have some more big exciting news coming.

Performance Boat Center (“Performance”) is proud to announce the addition of the premium high performance brand Cigarette Racing Team (“Cigarette”) to our dealership at Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri. Performance is the official Cigarette dealer at Lake of the Ozarks and one of only four in the United States. Performance will stock new 2015 boats from Cigarette in the newly built 10,000 square foot Performance showroom which opened in June. “We are very excited to represent a premium brand and support the Cigarette customer base with the best service in the industry” said Brett Manire, President of Performance.

 

In Miami we are gearing up for many things. New PBN VIDEO segments, Key West Poker Run and now the MIAMI HEAT. Last week Powerboat Nation partnered up with Picture Perfect Productions and shot a new Miami Heat promo at the American Airlines Area in downtown Miami to get the Heat Fans ready for the opening of the regular season which kicks off on October 29 when the HEAT goes up against the Washington Wizards.

PBN will never miss an opportunity to broaden the appeal of powerboating to a wider audience and hanging with the HEAT in Miami is a great way to do it! Powerboating in Miami remains a big deal and with a dock right next to the American Airlines arena it is possible to go to a game with your boat. Look to PBN to bring you many more exciting promotions to broaden the appeal of performance powerboating!

Powerboat Nation recently visited with Stu and Jackie Jones of the Florida Powerboat Club at their offices in Pompano Beach, Florida. With all of the last minute preparations going on we knew if we tried to set up an actual meeting with Stu we would have been waiting for days, SO, we just barged in unannounced and cornered him for quite awhile until he threw us out so he could get back to the poker run plan.

Stu has been running what has become the largest and best boating club in the world for years and has grown the club into a first class operation. The Key West Poker Run is the ultimate highlight for any true powerboat enthusiast and Powerboat Nation will be on hand to bring you back all the highlights.

We hope you enjoy Part One 1 of the 2014 Key West Poker Run Experience.


 

The story of one man’s domination of offshore powerboat racing and the legacy of performance innovations he left in his wake.

Not unlike modern day stock car racing, professional offshore powerboat racing evolved from a colorful history. From high speed skiffs smuggling Canadian booze across the Detroit River to big horsepower vee hulls purposefully built to outrun the DEA on the high seas. It was all about who had the fastest boat.

Reggie Fountain, Jr., a competitor, boat builder and visionary, advanced both the legitimacy of the sport and introduced performance innovations that still influence the powerboat industry today.

The Story:

From his adolescent days chasing fishermen on North Carolina’s Tar River to building a billion dollar global powerboat empire, the story follows the high-speed life of Reggie Fountain and his relentless pursuit to build the fastest deep-vee boats in the world.

The program follows the golden era of boat racing from the factory tunnel boat wars of the late 60’s through the freewheeling days of the 80’s and the progression to modern day performance boats. The story is told in a chronological narrative with commentary by the legendary men who competed with, and influenced the “Boy from Tarboro.” The program features an extensive collection of historical footage with never before published scenes from the personal archives of those who were there.

The full story has never been told before and answers the question, “What happened to Reggie Fountain?”

After a full year in production, the program is now complete and the producers are looking to schedule a national broadcast on Discovery Velocity in March 2015. They have launched a Kickstarter crowdsourcing campaign to cover the costs for the broadcast rights to some of the rarest historical footage and photographs from offshore racing’s glorious past. The Kickstarter program offers many incentives for participants to be a part of the program. From autographed Blu-ray copies of the documentary, to the opportunity to watch the pre-broadcast world premiere of the program as Reggie Fountain’s guest in his personal theater in Washington, North Carolina.

Click on this link to find out more information on how you can become a part of this historic offshore opportunity.

Great News!

While not home yet, a panel of Mexican Judges has overturned the sentencing of Steven Knight and dismissed the case against him. He has been transferred to a immigration holding facility awaiting a passport so he can leave Mexico and come home to the United States.

This entire ordeal has been very hard on Steven and his family and they remain guarded until he is actual home, back in Florida.

We are all excited about this news and cant wait to see Steven. Who knows maybe he can make it to Key West! I sure hope so I owe him a beer or two.

NEWS VIDEO

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