New 40′ Wright Performance to Make Debut at Miami Show
In the wake of its success with the outboard-powered 360 Catamaran, Wright Performance is currently tooling a larger version, a 40-footer that is expected to debut at the 2019 Miami International Boat Show.
Reviewed in both the January and June 2018 issues of Speedboat Magazine, the 360 was a collaboration between Melbourne, FL-based Doug Wright Designs and Performance Boat Center, the power gurus based in the Lake of the Ozarks. “Doug Wright had the idea to build a 35′ or 36′ boat, but hadn’t done it because of orders, time and money,” says Brett Manire of Performance Boat Center.
The 360 began life when Wright created a rough drawing of the model; PB Center took the rendering and ran with it. “They focused more on the running surface and how to make the boat ride and handle correctly,” Manire explains. “We added a lot of creature comforts inside of the boat, including a custom interior with Alcantara fabric, 22″ Garmin GPS and an abundance of storage for the customers.”
Thus, the folks at Performance Boat Center turned out to be the perfect partners for Wright Performance—two significant performance talents coming together to create a new boat brand. As a result, PB Center becomes the exclusive dealer for the 360. “It’s actually a great collaboration of talents,” Manire says.
With the abundant success of the 360, the next logical step was to offer a larger hull for clients interested in even more rough-water capabilities—and the inevitability of larger engines from Mercury Racing. Originally, the idea was to create a 44-foot I/O hull, but plans morphed over the summer, and the 44’ inboard model became a 40’ outboard. At press time, Wright was completing work on the molds, and the finished 400 is projected to be unveiled at the Miami show, set for Feb. 14-18 at Miami Marine Stadium. The boat will be displayed on the water at the Mercury Racing test booth at Dock 1 for customer demo rides.
Meanwhile, Performance Boat Center starts moving in to the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show on Wednesday—a week ahead of the show’s opening on Oct. 31. Their booth will be displaying a 42X Cigarette powered by Mercury Racing 860s, the Wright Performance 360 catamaran powered by twin Mercury Racing 400 outboards, a 32CCX Sunsation center console with a pair of 350s, and the first 40CCX Sunsation center console with triple 400s.
