New Deliveries And More Highlights From Performance Boat Center’s Spring Fun Run

Building off the momentum of its social-distanced Spring Fun Run—yes momentum as many boaters were coveting an outlet during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown—the team at Performance Boat Center was expecting a solid turnout for its seventh annual event on Central Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks based on participant buzz and new boat deliveries. It got exactly that—plus great weather—with more than 50 boats on hand for the casual fun run.

Kansas-based performance boaters Tyler and Lindsey Miller were super excited to take delivery of their new Cigarette 41 Nighthawk in time to do the Performance Boat Center Spring Fun Run. Photos by Jeff Helmkamp/Helmkamp Photos

The Osage Beach, Mo., dealership and service center delivered several boats before and during the weekend. Along with a pair of beautiful MTI-V 42 performance center consoles and the new Jetser MTI 390X catamaran for the well-known powerboat enthusiasts behind the canopied 46-foot Outerlimits Offshore Powerboats catamaran Jet, Burton and Yvette Kirsten, Performance Boat Center turned Tyler and Lindsey Miller loose with their new Cigarette Racing Team 41 Nighthawk powered by quad Mercury Racing 450R engines.

“What a phenomenal boat—it’s hard to believe they can continue to outdo themselves,” said Tyler Miller, referring to the talented teams at Cigarette and Performance Boat Center. “When we got our Cigarette 39 GTS we figured it couldn’t get any better than that, but they proved us wrong. This boat turned out gorgeous; it’s stunning inside and out. It’s like a work of art from the paint and the rigging to the construction quality and the interior with the double bolsters under the T-top.

“We knew going from triple Verado 350s to the new 450Rs would be a substantial improvement, but oh my gosh the performance difference is insane,” he continued. “Out of the box it was better than I anticipated. The acceleration is amazing. Rusty (Williams of PBC) took us out on the maiden voyage and we hit 87 mph out of the box, full of fuel, with six people on board. The boat has a wider beam than the 39, which is a big plus on the Lake of the Ozarks. It handled very well during the run and we took it across some splashy water, if you will.”

Check out the slideshow above for more images from the Performance Boat Center Spring Fun Run.

Miller, who said he’ll run the new 41-footer in the Key West Poker Run in November and likely take it to a few other offshore races as his M CON Supercat-class race team support boat, expressed that it was cool to see so many stunning new boats at the run.

“Right out of the gate we tied up with one of the brand new MTI 42s that was just incredible,” Miller said. “We checked out the gorgeous new MTI 390X—we actually saw a ton of 340X and 390X cats from MTI. I hadn’t paid a lot of attention to those boats before, but they’re pretty impressive. Our friends also got a beautiful new Nor-Tech 390 Sport center console just in time for the event.

“There were more boats than I anticipated in the run,” he added. “Performance Boat Center did a great job as usual and I liked that the first stop—the new Neon Taco by the dam—was more than 20 miles away. It’s always nice to start with a good, long run. Overall it was a fun day and we got some warm weather even though the forecast was calling for rain earlier in the week. It was a great way to get out on the water again and start this season.”

That warm and sunny 70-degree weather didn’t last long according to MTI’s Taylor Scism, who said it was raining and in the 50s at the lake on Sunday.

“It was a good event,” Scism said. “The weather held out for us. PBC delivered the Kirstens’ MTI 390X and a couple of 42Vs, both of which will live at the lake. It was a nice weekend to start off a great summer of boating.”

Minnesota’s Adam Seraphine, a loyal PBC customer, ran his all-red canopied Outerlimits SV 43 that he had some work done to during the offseason.

“I had Performance Boat Center go through the motors, re-rig it and fix some paint, etc., in the winter,” Seraphine said. “We ran it Friday evening and Saturday morning and pulled it back out to make some adjustments. Normally I’d be frustrated that I couldn’t run it, but when your friends have boats like Jet, Kahuna and MTI 42Vs, it makes being a passenger pretty fun.”

New Deliveries And More Highlights From Performance Boat Center’s Spring Fun Run

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