Skater 308 Finds New Home In The Bayou

Louisiana performance boater Jeff Ford, a longtime friend and supporter of speedonthewater.com, had been looking for a new boat since March when he sold his unique single-engine RPM Powerboats 26 Redline catamaran that he’d owned since building it new with his friend and founder of RPM—the late Steve Tripp—more than 13 years ago. Well the search is officially over for Ford, who lives in Denham Springs and graciously hosts a crawfish boil each year during the popular Tickfaw 200 Poker Run.

Jeff Ford is the proud new owner of this twin Mercury Racing Verado 400R-powered 30-foot Skater Powerboats catamaran. Photo by Tom Leigh/Tommy Gun Images

Ford shared the good news via a text on Friday—and he was definitely eager to share it since he picked up the 2010 Skater Powerboats 308 catamaran that was listed for sale on the new speedonthewater.com classifieds website.

“I bought Wayne Perkins’ Dirty 30 Skater from him and I’m going to pick it up tomorrow,” he texted on Friday. “I almost bought the Prototype Skater, but I decided to go with the newer hull that hasn’t been rebuilt at all. Prototype sure is pretty, but so is Dirty 30, and it’s incredible condition.”

Ford, who also owns a 21-foot Liberator with a single Mercury Racing 300R engine, had been looking for a twin-engine outboard-powered catamaran and was eyeing either a Skater or a Victory Powerboats catamaran. He even entertained purchasing a 30-foot Predator cat, but ultimately pulled the trigger on Perkins’ 30-footer, which he described as pristine. Powered by a pair of Mercury Racing Verado 400R engines with 60-plus hours and an extended platinum warranty through 2023, the boat includes a fully loaded electronics package with a 12-inch Simrad display, twin VesselView monitors, Czone control and Lumishore lighting. It’s also equipped with a Trim Sync system from Marine Design Corporation.

Check out the slideshow above for more images of the Dirty 30 Skater.

“The boat really is in excellent shape,” Ford said. “I go to Texas for work pretty much every week so I told Wayne I’d come check out the boat while I was over that way. As you know, he just picked up the Prototype boat from Dale (Rayzor) and he said I could have that one if I wanted—he just wanted to get to drive it a few times first.

“I’ve ridden in several 308s so I know how good they run,” he added. “It’ll probably take a little getting used to, but I’m excited to have a boat that I can take everywhere and not have to worry about it breaking. I loved the RPM but it was an expensive boat to maintain.

Perkins, who traded his 36-foot Skater to Rayzor for the 30-footer (read the story) that was redone recently by Boat Customs in Caledonia, Mich., was glad to see the boat land in the hands of a performance boater who is likely to take just as good of care of it as he did for the year he owned the boat.

“Wayne made the purchase super easy,” Ford said. “There is very little that needs to be done to the boat. The only thing I’m going to do it this offseason is take it to Nick (Compton) at Island Audio and have him updates the speakers and some of the rigging that could use a little cleaning up. Other than that, the boat is good to go.”

Skater 308 Finds New Home In The Bayou

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