Performance Boat Center Eyes Miami Debut of Wright Performance 420
With the Miami International Boat Show a month away, muscleboat builders are having to make some hard and fast decisions about which boats to display at the world’s most massive exhibition of marine wares. Undoubtedly, one of the most high-profile exhibitors will be Performance Boat Center of Osage Beach, MO, which plans to show off models by Sunsation, MTI and Wright Performance.
According to co-owner Brett Manire, the performance retailer will be debuting the new Wright Performance 420, the second collaboration between Performance Boat Center and Doug Wright Designs (after 2017’s game-changing 360 catamaran). PBC received the bare hull from Wright about two weeks ago and has been painting it and building the boat’s interior. After that, it will be rigged, tested and then finally prepped for the show. “This will be the world’s largest outboard cat,” Manire told Powerboat Nation. “Powered by a pair of 400R Verados, we’re hoping to see speeds of 115+ mph.” The boat will be housed in Dock 2 at the Mercury Racing test booth, where it will be available for demo rides. “We’re very excited to be debuting a new new model and thrilled to be part of the Mercury Racing experience.”
Back at the PBC booth, PBC will feature one of its 360 Wright Performance boats: “It’ll be a customer’s boat that we borrowed, to show all of the latest and greatest features and upholstery and paint options,” Manire reports. In addition, they’ll be showing an Marine Technology Inc. (MTI) 42V center console with quad 400Rs, as well as a Sunsation 32CCX that sports an all-new dash and rear-seat configuration, powered by 350 Mercury outboards.
Although PBC is an MTI dealer and will be displaying one of its boats, MTI will also have its own separate booth. “As an MTI dealer, we wanted to have a boat available for demos and to take orders off of,” Manire explains. “So MTI will be represented in two locations.”
In addition to getting boats ready for the Miami show, Manire and his crew will be flying to MTI’s manufacturing facility next week to check on the progress of their new canopied race boat that will be campaigned by John Tomlinson and Myrick Coil later this year on the offshore race circuit. Meanwhile, PBC has been contracted by speedboat enthusiast Ron Szolack to retrofit its previous raceboat, the World Champion 388 Skater, with 2,200-hp PSI engines for its new owners.
