Belisle Family Elated With New MTI 390X

Florida performance boater Eric Belisle, a longtime member and former president of the extremely charitable Fort Myers Offshore organization, isn’t new to the outboard catamaran segment of boating nor is he new to the extended MTI family of boaters. But thanks to his new MTI 390X catamaran powered by twin Mercury Racing 450R engines, Belisle and his lovely wife, Keri, are new to the outboard-powered MTI cat club—and thrilled with their current state of affairs.

Eric and Keri Belisle ran their new MTI 390X powered by twin Mercury Racing 450R engines in last weekend’s Fort Myers Offshore event. Photos by Pete Boden/Shoot 2 Thrill Pix

The Belisles took delivery of their new 39-footer a couple of weeks ago and ran the white, black and blue beauty in last weekend’s FMO Naples Hyatt House Lunch Run. They had a blast, of course, and can’t wait to spend more time in the catamaran featuring the optional eight-seat cockpit layout MTI introduced in the boat last summer.

“I’m super happy with the boat; Keri loves it, too,” said Eric Belisle, who previously owned a 32-foot Spectre Powerboats cat with twin Mercury Racing OptiMax 300XS engines, a 40-foot MTI with twin Mercury Racing 700SCi engines and, most recently, a 48-foot MTI with a pair of Mercury Racing 1100 engines. “I got to ride in the demo 390X not long after MTI unveiled it at the end of 2019 and I was blown away. It handles choppy water like a big boat, it has impressive performance thanks to the 450R engines and it requires significantly less maintenance with the outboard engines.

“Don’t get me wrong, we loved our 48, but the maintenance costs were getting old as was the time we had to spend cleaning the boat, which we mainly used in saltwater,” he added. “The partner we had in the 48 bought us out and we weren’t sure what we were going to do next. We wanted to stay part of the MTI family and we loved the MTI-V 42, but we didn’t want to get a center console yet. We liked the 340X but we weren’t sure if it was enough boat for where we live. So when the 390X was introduced, the light went off and we pulled the trigger during the MTI Owners Fun Run last March.”

Along with upcoming FMO events, Belisle said he plans to run the 390X in the mid-March MTI Owners Fun Run in the Florida Keys. He also hopes to hit a few other events before taking the boat to one of his favorite events of the year—the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout in Missouri.

Check out the slideshow above for more images of the Belisle family’s new MTI 390X catamaran.

Equipped with STR X-Act SlimLine adjustable billet brackets manufactured by STR Racing’s Shaun Torrente—the accomplished racer who Belisle teamed up with to race a new 32-foot Doug Wright catamaran in the Super Stock class last season—and a set of 36”-pitch Dewald propellers, Belisle said the cat has reached 129 mph so far. He also said he plans to spend more time dialing it in with Torrente since there were four people on board and 50 gallons of fuel when they went that fast.

“Working with MTI owner Randy Scism and everyone on his team with the build was an awesome experience,” said Belisle, who added that the Wentzville, Mo., company’s attention to detail on the rigging, the cockpit interior and the boat’s understated paintjob was remarkable. “They did a great job keeping us in the loop and documenting the whole process, too. Having Shaun here to help with setup also has been a huge advantage.”

Belisle Family Elated With New MTI 390X

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