Meet the New El Gato Patrón 43 MTI

Arizona performance boater Mark Schouten and his wife, Jennifer, are letting the cat out of the bag, so to speak. Schouten informed speedonthewater.com this week that he is in the process of building his first catamaran from Marine Technology Inc., and that the 43-foot MTI, which is going to be powered with the new dual-fuel Mercury Racing 1350/1100 turbocharged engines, is going to be called El Gato Patrón like his previous well-known cat.

Click the renderings above and below—courtesy of Stephen Miles Design—to enlarge the images.

Schouten, who has owned five different DCB catamarans over the last 15 years, including the beautiful red and gray El Gato Patrón M41 Widebody powered by twin Mercury Racing 1350 engines that graced the cover of the Speed On The Water 2016 Year In Review magazine, said he is excited about his new boat.

Not only is he eager to do more offshore boating and events such as the Florida Powerboat Club’s Key West Poker Run, Schouten is ecstatic about getting the new Mercury engines and a custom paint job courtesy of Stephen Miles Design in Owensboro, Ky.

“I can’t wait to get the new boat this summer,” said Schouten, who test drove a 44-foot MTI and loved it. “I’m hoping to have it for the Texas Outlaw Challenge (in late June), but we’ll see. It’s going to be incredible.”

Schouten’s “The Boss Cat” MTI is the third 43-footer from the company—the first one went to France last year and the second one, which also has the 1350/1100 engine package, was finished in time to be featured in the Mercury Racing display at the Miami International Boat Show earlier this month. The boat is also the first MTI that the talented Stephen Miles has been able to get his hands on.

“Mark has been great to work with, so has everyone at MTI for that matter,” Miles said. “It’s always cool when you get to paint something new, especially something like an MTI. I drove out to MTI in January to meet with Mark and (MTI owner Randy Scism). I had never met Mark or Randy in person, they’re both great people. Mark is laid back, but he knows what he wants and is on point.

“You’re going to see some of our newer style in Mark’s boat and a couple of other Outerlimits we are working on,” Miles continued. “I can tell our stuff is starting to look a little stale so I’ve been trying to draw inspiration from elsewhere and find more of an edgy style without taking it too far. Many of the boats we’re painting are getting sharper and more angular so we need to accent the hulls differently. Mark’s boat is one of the first that will have a touch of the new style.”

Miles said he’s expecting to start on the MTI soon. Schouten, who added that he’s in the process of trade marking the El Gato Patrón name, said he’s expecting the boat, which is going to feature a full Alcantara interior complemented with SeaDek flooring and a glow of red LED, to perform exceptionally well.

“I like to go fast and I certainly want the boat to have a decent top speed, which I know it will, but I also want the boat to handle well and offer good all-around acceleration,” Schouten said. “We like to be able to cruise around at 120 mph all day and that should be possible in 1100 or 1350 mode. Originally I was going to go with 1350s, but once we heard about the new dual-fuel engines we decided to put those in. It’s nice to have the option to run in 1100 mode if 91-octane fuel isn’t available.”

Editor’s note: Speedonthewater.com plans to provide updates on the El Gato Patrón MTI 43 throughout the build process.

Meet the New El Gato Patrón 43 MTI

Address

Quick Links