Inside a 150-mph Pleasure Boat
Less than 20 years ago, hitting 150 mph in a powerboat was far from common. For the most part, that kind of speed was limited to a few high-end offshore racing catamarans with big and most often temperamental power.
The thought of cracking the 150-mph mark in a V-bottom didn’t just seem far-fetched, it seemed downright terrifying, because V-bottoms are much less stable at high speed than catamarans. John Tomlinson has described driving a V-bottom at speeds above 120 mph as, “like trying to balance a bowling ball on a razor blade,” and as a multi-time offshore racing champion it’s fair to say he comes to his opinion honestly.
Today, there are any number of high-performance pleasure catamarans that can hit and exceed 150 mph with stability, but on the V-bottom side there’s only one. It’s the new Outerlimits Super Leggera 52 open-cockpit model powered by twin Mercury Racing 1650 Race engines that owner Dave Scotto of Ontario, Canada, recently brought to the annual Lake of the Ozarks Shootout in Missouri.
and then