DCB M41 Takes Center Stage on Canada’s Shuswap Lake
The new M41 Widebody from Dave’s Custom Boats stood out among a fleet of performance catamarans that turned out for the Performance Marine Hot Dogs/Hot Boats Day. All photos by Shuswap on Canvas
For the second consecutive year, Performance Marine put together a safe, fun and memorable Hot Dogs/Hot Boats Day, its customer appreciation run on Canada’s Shuswap Lake in British Columbia. Last Sunday, the performance-boat specialty shop located in Vernon hosted more than 40 performance boats, including V-bottoms from Formula Boats, Fountain Powerboats and Sunsation Boats to catamarans from Dave’s Custom Boats, Eliminator Boats and Howard Custom Boats.
The quick 20-mile run to Seymour Arm on Shuswap Lake was followed by a huge hot dog cookout with friends and family members gathered on the sandy beach surrounded by lush green forest. Much of the attention was on the new M41 Widebody catamaran—DCB‘s second model—with twin Mercury Racing 1350 engines, which was on display on the beach under the proud watchful eye of DCB’s Rob Blair and Tony Chiaramonte, who brought his 13-year-old son, Morgan, with him on the trip.
“I think the drive was a little monotonous for him, but for me it was nice to have some company on the road,” said Chiaramonte, who towed the 41-footer from the company’s El Cajon, Calif., shop to Canada just in time for the run. “It was pretty neat to take my kid along. He and I did the run with Brad Macaulay in his M31.”
 |
 |
 |
All in all, the event was a success and everyone seemed to have a good time, according to Jim and Dana Anderson, owners of Performance Marine. Although he said he had a lot of fun and can’t wait to do it again next, Jim would rather have some of his customers discuss the run so here are the highlights from three of the participants speedonthewater.com spoke with after the event.
Gary Williams, owner of the eye-popping green DCB M31 Widebody catamaran with twin Mercury Racing 1350 engines: The event seemed to be a big hit—we even had some people lined up on the shores watching us go by. It also was a lot larger than last year, which was a good thing. There were a variety of boats, too—everything from big twin-engine V-bottoms to catamarans with power ranging from 1350s down to a single 496 engine. We had a very good time. My grandson, who is 11, had a great time. It was like he had died and gone to heaven. I think if Jim and Dana wanted to expand the event down the road it could be huge. This area is a wonderful vacation spot.
Harold Browne, owner of the impressive Eliminator Boats 36 Speedster powered by a pair of Teague Custom Marine 1200 engines: We ended up getting to the island second behind Gary (Williams). It’s pretty fun to run with a group like that. It’s not a race, but we have a good time trying to outrun each other. I used to drive racecars then I turned to boats for the adrenaline rush. This year’s run turned out to be a good outing with so many great boats. It’s nice to be able to meet so many other boaters and their families. We (including his wife, Barbel) love meeting new people.
Brad Macaulay, owner of the stunning blue M31 Widebody from DCB with twin Mercury Racing 1100 engines: The run this year was awesome. We gathered in the middle of the lake and I had my GoPro cameras on the boat so I circled around to get video of the crowd of boats then we all herded up the lake. Jim and Dana brought a big houseboat out and cooked up a ton of hot dogs and so forth. There was a good group of people there and some really cool boats. I got a chance to sit in the M41 over the weekend and they knocked the new interior out of the park. They nailed the driver’s seat—I mean it’s really a driver’s seat in the way it’s angled and close to the steering wheel.”
Related story
and then