Inside The Unicorn Skater

That reigning F1 H2O tunnel-boat and XCAT series world champion Shaun Torrente, who lives in South Florida, recently put his 31-foot Skater Powerboats catamaran dubbed Unicorn up for sale caught more than a few folks who know him—and how much he adores the boat—by surprise. Orignally built as a raceboat in 2007 but raced just once before it went into storage, the cat was purchased by Torrente in 2016 and he completed its pleasure-boat transformation in conjunction with Skater two years later. Since then, Torrente has used the cat as his “fun boat,” as well as to develop several of his own products including the STR X-Act Laser Height Kit, digital throttles and shifters, and propellers.

The fastest outboard engine-powered pleasure catamaran in existence according to its reigning F1 H2O tunnel-boat and XCAT series world champion owner, the Unicorn Skater is for sale. Photos courtesy/copyright Pete Boden/Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

More recently, Torrente repowered the boat with a pair of 450-hp outboard engines from Mercury Racing mounted on his own STR X-Act brackets. (He originally equipped it with Mercury Racing 400R outboards.) With those supercharged V-8s providing the punch, he’s coaxed the 31-footer to an astounding top speed of 133.4 mph. That makes it the fastest outboard-powered pleasure catamaran in the world, according to Torrente.

Built with Kevlar and carbon fiber, the 31-footer has what Torrente describes as a “full bottom with no notch.”

“It is the most fun personal project I have ever undertaken,” he said. “It has the best of everything in it—no expense was spared. Fineline Interiors redid the cockpit, which includes a Bluave Marine Audio sound system, a full Garmin and C-Zone system, AIM data loggers/telemetry systems and more. And it just had a full-touch up on its paintjob.

“It is one of one,” he added. “There’s nothing else like it. That’s why it’s called the Unicorn.”

Aptly named, Torrente’s 31-footer is one of a kind.

Running 100 mph, the Unicorn reportedly gets an impressive two miles per gallon with its current power package. Torrente said he will include his “top-end propellers,” as well as a set of smaller wheels “for everyday use.”

“This is not a fire sale,” he said. “It is an opportunity to own one of the fastest most unique outboard cats around—with performance that is second to none. If I get my number, which is $385,000, I’ll sell it. If not, I’ll keep it.”

During the 2019 Super Cat Fest on the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, Torrente stopped to talk shop with fellow Skater owners after taking speedonthewater.com’s Matt Trulio and Jason Johnson for a ride in the Unicorn. Photo copyright Jason Johnson/Speedonthewater.com

Though he’s put his prized Skater on the block so he can focus more on a real estate project as well as his own parts design and fabrication business when he’s not competing overseas, Torrente is far from done with high-performance pleasure boating.

“I loved developing the boat almost as much I love running it,” he said. “At some point, it will be really cool to start another project boat, especially one that closer aligns with some of the things I’m working on now.”

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