Project: Nor-Tech Catamaran Topping 120 MPH With Quad Verado 400R Outboards

Participants in last week’s Florida Powerboat Club Miami Boat Show Poker Run got an up-close and personal look at something unique during the event—a 36-foot Nor-Tech catamaran powered by four Mercury Racing Verado 400R outboard engines. A year-and-a-half in the making, the project, which will form the basic foundation of the North Fort Myers, Fla., performance-boat company’s new future outboard-powered cat program, was tackled by Double R Performance, Nor-Tech’s dealer outside of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

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Tapping into 1,600-hp worth of outboard engines, this 10,500-pound 36-foot Nor-Tech cat is running 120 mph with great handling manners, according to Raymond Roberts of Double R Performance (click to enlarge). Photo coutesy/copyright Pete Boden/Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

According to Raymond Roberts, who spearheaded the project and co-owns Double R Performance with his brother, Peter, the 10,500-pound 36-footer runs 120 mph and has even seen 121 mph in a couple of GPS blips.

“Handling is great,” he said. “At 120 mph, it’s on rails. It handles like a go-kart. And it will run easily at 110 mph all day long. Time to plane is quick. It takes about three seconds.”

Built in the mid-2000s, the boat originally was powered by 800-hp Teague Custom Marine engines with Mercury Racing No. 6 drives. Roberts acquired the catamaran as a bare hull, and making it work with outboards required significant hull modifications that including “filling in” the transom notch and “a portion” of the tunnel. The engines were mounted on custom-fabricated STR X-ACT transom brackets from 2018 H20 F1 tunnel-boat racing world champion Shaun Torrente.

“I have about 30 of hours of test time in the boat,” said Roberts. “That’s what it took to get set up.”

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