Spectre Powerboats New Owner Excited About Miami and Beyond

In just two weeks, new Spectre Powerboats owner Chris Ivey will be getting his feet wet in the business at the renowned Miami International Boat Show. Ivey, a former endurance sportscar racer who owns an armor-plating business and recently purchased Vision Boats, which manufacturers 18- to 24-foot flats boats, said he is excited to own a brand of boats that has been respected for its handling, performance and craftsmanship over the past four decades.

Spectre Powerboats is back in business and will be at the Miami International Boat Show. All photos/video by Carelton Holt/gdifilms.com

By the sound of things, that excitement should be quite apparent at the Miami show. Not only will Spectre be showcasing a 32-foot catamaran with twin 525-hp Mercury Racing engines that was built in 2012, the company’s new 32 GT Widebody model is expected to be on hand and available for its new owner to customize. Recently laid up at Eliminator Boats in Southern California, the first 32-footer with a 9-foot, 6-inch beam is on its way to Florida where the hull and deck will be prepped for display at the show.

Ivey said that they will have a couple of 55-inch 4K televisions to show off the high-quality 4K video put together by Carelton Holt of Granite Digital Imaging, who is spearheading Spectre’s marketing efforts and will be collecting footage from the show, too. A couple of flats boats also will be part of the company’s display in the outside pavilion tent (booth No. 3883).

Ivey, of Tucson, Ariz., said he acquired the company name, rights and assets from Gary Smith, who coincidentally lives in Tucson as well, last week. Smith, who owns the notable Predator Skater Powerboats catamaran, was involved in a legal battle over the Spectre molds in 2013 (read the story), and has had the company for sale since then.

According to Ivey, all of the molds are en route to the company’s new Fort Pierce, Fla.—another coincidence as that’s where Frisini Motorsports (the company who owns Sonic Boats and previously leased the Spectre molds) is based—and that production will begin soon on new 32- and 42-foot catamarans. The Spectre lineup also includes 30- and 36-foot cats.

The boat pictured in the slideshow above will be on display in Miami.

“I’m looking forward to building Spectre back to the brand it once was,” Ivey said. “We bought the facility in Fort Pierce to build the Vision line, but we also wanted to get into a larger line of boats so the opportunity with Gary and the Spectre deal was perfect. I’m a motorhead and have always been interested in boats. The offshore stuff is kind of new to me, so I’m so excited to get after it.”

Ivey said you can expect to see the company at several events throughout the year including two in April—the Florida Powerboat Club‘s Tampa Bay Poker Run and the Desert Storm Poker Run in Lake Havasu City, Ariz.

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