Longtime Friends Join Forces With Caldwell Moore Custom Performance

With a focus on a little bit of everything from repowers, service work, rigging, paint, interior, structural repair and more, boating industry veterans Pete Caldwell and Billy Moore have teamed up to start Caldwell Moore Performance Center in Washington, N.C.

Billy Moore, left, and Pete Caldwell are excited to be joining forces with the Caldwell Moore Performance Center in North Carolina. Photos courtesy Clinton Garant

“The timing on this new partnership worked out great as I’m moving back to North Carolina to be closer to my mom and to do my own thing with a longtime friend,” said Moore, whose father—the legendary offshore racer Bobby Moore—passed away in April. “Pete and I have been in this industry forever, at least it feels that way. In fact, my dad and Pete’s dad (Jim Caldwell) knew each other very well. And, like me, Pete grew up working around his dad so he’s learned a lot over the years.

“Pete has an incredible thing going right now with Caldwell Marine Designs and now Checkmate Powerboats (Caldwell purchased the company during the Miami International Boat Show in February), and I’m going to be helping with that stuff and expanding the service, setup and rebuild side of the business,” he continued. “It’s going to be a full-service performance center where we will work on everything from 200-hp four strokes to Mercury Racing 1550 engines.”

Moore said he’s excited about the partnership because he and Caldwell, who revived Caldwell Marine Design—a company his father founded in 1985 in Florida—a few years ago in North Carolina with the intention of handling contract builds, hull design, hull blueprinting, custom rigging and more, have a mutual respect for one another.

“Pete is super knowledgeable when it comes to design and building boats—he knows the composite side of the business inside and out, which is why Caldwell Marine Design does contract builds for several manufacturers,” Moore said. “And I’ve got a little more experience when it comes to running boats and setting them up, so in my mind this is going to be a great fit.”

Caldwell agreed with Moore, whom he referred to as a brother.

“I know setup, but not like Billy does; and he knows construction, but not like I do—so for me this is the best of both worlds,” Caldwell said. “I appreciate having a partner like him who I can trust 100 percent. Over the years, I’ve thrown some business his way and vice versa, and we’ve come to the conclusion that we work really well together.

“We have some great techs and production guys who work for us, and they are very excited to start working on some high-performance stuff with Billy’s direction and resources,” he continued. “It doesn’t matter what kind of boat either—we’ll work on them all and can handle any project. Whether it’s an older Checkmate or Baja or a custom MTI or Outerlimits, we can take care of it.”

Moore said one of the first projects Caldwell Moore Performance Center has going is a Skater Powerboats 40-foot catamaran repower and partial re-rig, along with setup assistance for the customer. Dialing in boats is something Moore specializes in so obviously he’s excited about that part of the business.

“No matter what we do, our goal is to put the customer in the safest, most-efficient, best-handling boat as possible,” Moore said. “That doesn’t matter if it’s a 150-mph cat or a 60-mph center console. Whatever a client wants, we will make it happen. We’re also planning to offer race and poker run support from something as simple as going over a customer’s boat before and after a run to a full concierge program where we offer assistance during an event.”

With folks such as production manager James Bass (pictured above at right with Caldwell and Moore), who has a long history with the Fountain Powerboats race program, as well as graphic artist and videographer Clinton Garant dedicated to pushing Caldwell Moore Performance Center forward, both Caldwell and Moore can’t wait to see how their new venture evolves.

Longtime Friends Join Forces With Caldwell Moore Custom Performance

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