When designing a boat to set a new standard and break records there are a world of details involved. Sure sitting down and culminating the the power and weight distribution, hull design changes, set back out drive locations, as well hundreds of additional details. But truth be told making the boat run that fast and stable is one thing but it goes well beyond just the boat and into the driver and throttleman’s positioning , comfort, and most ultimately the throttle and how you actually physically operate and control it.
When Bill Pyburn, the brain trust behind the Platinum series of Skaters started to detail the boat he had actual specifics as to how the operators and passengers fit in the boat. Bill reached out to Hardin Marine and started on the process of detailing new throttle handles for the new Platinum series boats.
The folks at Hardin Marines Chief Engineer Jeff Stull set out to closely examine the ergonomics that the air force uses in the handles that their pilots use to control actual fighter jets. The findings were as you might guess, very precise, with the positioning and grip being very critical. So over the next few months Hardin rapidly prototyped numerous examples to allow the fitment to be precise.
After selection of the ultimate design Hardin created 266,000 lines of code or machining moves for the 5 axis CNC and set the machines to work to sculpt the new handles. Each handle required 13 hours of actual machine time to result in what will be the ultimate throttle grip of any boat we have yet to see.
So if there has ever been any doubt about what “Custom” and “Production” means when it comes to boat design and and details you can rest assured Skater continues to up the bar!
