New Skater 426 Is Lucky No. 13 For Danny DeSantis
The last time Danny DeSantis, a former world championship-winning offshore racer and successful McLaren sportscar dealer with locations in Boston and Charlotte, N.C., took delivery of a new Skater Powerboats catamaran was in 2018 during the Miami International Boat Show. The cat, an immaculate 388 model powered by powered by Mercury Racing 1100 engines, was Skater No. 12 for the longtime fan of the brand and he loved it.
Despite the current weather in Michigan, Danny DeSantis’ new Skater 426 catamaran is white-hot.
No one owns that many new Skaters without continually ordering his or her next one from the Douglas, Mich., builder. So with a new 426 powered by twin Mercury Racing 1350/1100 engines under construction for Skater enthusiast Ron Szolack, DeSantis sold his 38-footer to Ohio’s Mark DiMichele and took ownership of the build.
Steve and Jake Schulte, Skater’s in-house painting team, handled the cat’s graphics. Craig Ellis of Appearance Products in Grand Rapids, Mich., took care of its interior.
Now DeSantis’ 13th Skater is finished and headed for South Florida.
Enjoy more images of the latest Skater 426 catamaran in the slideshow above.
DeSantis ordered the 42-footer with dual-calibration engines from the Fond du Lac, Wis., high-performance marine power and accessories company, for resale purposes. There’s a good chance, he said, he’ll never actually run the cat with its engines in 1,350-hp mode.
“The 388 was a great boat—it was wonderful—but I wanted something bigger,” he said. “Ronnie had a 426 being built, so I bought his slot and we worked on it together.
“A lot of the bigger Skaters I’ve owned, like the 46 and the 40, have a big bull nose,” he continued. “I got used to that and the 426 has it. I think it came out really nice.”
DeSantis collaborated with Ron Szolack on the build, which Szolack originally commissioned.
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