Kachina 39 Patron Project Complete After Five Years

Brett Campbell, a primary subcontractor for Kachina Boats for many years, remembers when the first 39 Patron V-bottom from the Phoenix boat builder was pulled from the molds in 2007. Now, some five years later, the boat has finally made it to the water.

Campbell, who owns CP Marine, a powerboat service business specializing in maintenance, rigging, upholstery, paint and more, ran the boat at Lake Pleasant in Arizona last week.

“For a 16,000-pound boat with a pair of staggered Mercury Racing 525s, this thing turned out to be pretty fast,” Campbell said. “We still have some work to do, but I was pleased with its performance. I was banging the rev-limiter at 5500 rpm at 70 mph. The slip is up there at 22 percent. We need to space down a little and get to around 7 percent slip. If we can do that, the boat will do 75 mph, maybe even close to 80.”

The one-and-only 39 Patron was actually on display at the 2010 Desert Storm Poker Run. Although, according Campbell, it had nothing finished besides the engines being mounted “without any guts” and a “thrown-together” cockpit interior, which he is planning to redo for the current owner, who bought the boat off repossession and turned it over to CP Marine for completion last fall.

The deck of the 39 Patron features a large Kachina logo.Campbell runs CP Marine out of the Kachina facility as part of the new Kachina Boat Builders owned by original Kachina founder Dave Kaecker. Campbell said Kaecker owns some of the original smaller-boat molds as well as those for the 30- and 34-foot V-bottoms. According to Campbell, “the bank owns the molds to the 39-footer.”

Former Kachina Boats owner Louie Majors died in August 2010, and the Kachina facility was closed with many boats, such as the 39 Patron, not quite complete. Campbell stopped working for Kachina Boats in 2008, but knows the company’s boats well.

“When Kachina built the 39, they over built it for sure,” Campbell said. “I heard so much negative stuff, like that it might be too heavy or that the deck was too high and it probably wouldn’t get on plane. It turns out that it got on plane great and it turned very well.”

Campbell also said the tall wraparound windshield was very effective. “I came to the lake with spiked hair and I left with spiked hair,” he added. He also pointed out the tall cabin area, which housed a microwave, a refrigerator and a head compartment with a shower.

Keep an eye out for the eye-catching 39-footer at the Desert Storm Poker Run.

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