Relentless Skater Catamaran On The Water
A year ago at the end of this month, Northern California’s Dale Rayzor said goodbye to his cherished Skater Powerboats 30 Prototype catamaran. It wasn’t an easy farewell. The Discovery Bay resident had owned the boat since 2005 when it was brand-new and had 800-plus-hp Sterling Performance engines and Arneson surface drives. In 2018, he guided it through though a complete renovation that included a new color scheme courtesy of Boat Customs in Caledonia, Mich., and a power conversion to Mercury Racing 400R outboard engines.
Participants in this month’s Unleashed Poker Run will get an eyeful of Dale Rayzor’s reborn 36-footer Skater catamaran.
But Rayzor, who loves speed on the water and also owns the classic 46-foot Freedom Skater, which he keeps in Michigan, missed the wallop of stern-drive power on his home-water. So after the 2020 Unleashed Poker Run on the Sacramento/San Joaquin River Delta in late August, he sent his 30-footer to a new home in Texas in trade for a 36-foot Skater built in 2009 and powered by Mercury Racing 700 SCi engines.
And then he promptly hauled the boat, which he named Relentless, back to Mills in Michigan for a complete exterior makeover. In true Rayzor fashion that led to an interior renovation by Craig Ellis of Appearance Products, which also is based in Michigan.
Now the finished product is back in Northern California. It arrived on July 5 at 8 p.m., and since then Rayzor and his longtime cohort Steve Seaton of Seaton’s Marine in Discovery Bay have been “chasing stupid stuff” ever since.
“We finally got it out on the water and it ran 130 mph full of fuel,” said Rayzor. “It was 85 degrees so I was happy with that. With a lighter fuel load I think it will run 140 mph, which is fast enough to be fun.
Enjoy more images of Relentless in the slideshow above.
“But what I really love is how it looks on the water,” he continued. “It does not look like anything most painters are doing now with all these stripes and points and multiple high-contrast colors. I think it’s clean and classic, but it has a bold flair to it with the Relentless name big on the hullsides. Chris killed it again. The color is just amazing.”
At present, Rayzor is using the 40-inch-pitch, five-blade cast Hering propellers—with outward rotation—that came with boat, and he said he’s pleased with their performance. He also said he plans to experiment with Dewald propellers on the cat’s No. 6 drives, which were completely rebuilt by Mike Holford at CK Performance Marine while the boat was in Michigan.
Rayzor also praised Ellis for his interior work.
“He did an awesome job—and he only had three weeks to do it,” he said, then laughed. “It was an eleventh-hour decision.”
At the end of the month—a full year since Rayzor let go of his beloved 30-footer—Relentless will publicly debut at the Unleashed Poker Run. In the meantime, he and Seaton are out on the water testing again today.
“Since we released the rendering for Relentless on speedonthewater.com, I’ve already seen four boats with asymmetrical paintjobs, which were big in the early 2000s but no one was really doing them again until now,” he said, then laughed. “But what are you going to do?
“This boat still turned out to be really special,” he added. “It’s a showpiece.”
Rayzor and Seaton are back on the Delta waters today testing Relentless.
Related stories
Sneak Peek: Rayzor’s Relentless Skater Color Scheme
Unleashed Poker Run Sets The Perfect Stage For Skater 30 Prototype Swan Song
and then