Inside SOTW Mag: Skater 388 Profile—Modern Legacy

Little known fact, even among the Skater Powerboats faithful: The 2020 Skater 388 catamaran named Mavrik II and owned by 32-year-old David Schaller of Michigan has nothing to do with the 1986 blockbuster movie Top Gun or its sequel, which is scheduled to be released in December. Nor did the Schaller family’s previous Mavrik-dubbed Skater, a 32-footer they had built by the Douglas, Mich., company in 2000.

Taking its name from a 32-footer built 20 years ago, David Schaller’s Mavrik II Skater 388 catamaran is a smoldering beauty. Photo Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

“The name has a funny story, really,” Schaller said. “With the old boat, I remember sitting around at home with my dad, Roger, trying to come up with something. We were looking

at a dictionary and we got to ‘maverick.’ My dad said, ‘I like the definition, but we don’t need all those extra letters.’ So the boat name became Mavrik.” The Schaller family goes back a long way with the Skater Powerboats brand and company founder Peter Hledin. David’s father, Roger, and uncles, Justin and Al, owned the third Skater 24 built. It was finished in 1985.

“That was before I was even born,” he said. “They had been doing a lot of inboard hydroplane racing, and that’s how they got to know Pete.”

Originally equipped with 850-hp carbureted engines from Mercury Racing, the family’s 32-footer, which was sold to a buyer in Texas in May, eventually was repowered with 950-hp fuel-injected mills from Sterling Performance Engines. During the years, Roger and David Schaller got to know Sterling founder Mike D’Anniballe.

A few years ago during the Boyne Thunder Poker Run in Northern Michigan, D’Anniballe took the younger Schaller for a ride in his Skater 388 cat.

“That opened a can of worms,” he said.

To read the entire feature on the Mavrik II Skater 388 catamaran and more, subscribe to Speed On The Water digital magazine by clicking here.