Repowered Turbine Mystic Cat Ready For First Sea Trial

A turbine engine-powered, canopied C5000 Mystic Powerboats catamaran built in 2010 should be back on the water this week. That’s the word from John Cosker, the owner and founder of the DeLand, Fla., high-performance center console and catamaran builder.

Renovated by James Grasham of Principle Propulsion Systems, this is one of two turbine engines that will power a 50-foot Mystic built in 2010.

“We’ve installed the engines in the boat and we’re hoping to start them today or tomorrow, then get it on the water later this week,” Cosker said.

The 50-footer is owned by Chris Cox, who also owns the Envy C5000 Mystic raceboat. If the current plans hold, Cox and Cosker will run the T-53 turbine engine-powered catamaran in the Florida Powerboat Club’s upcoming Key West Poker Run.

According to Cosker, the original owner of the turbine-powered catamaran had the boat on a lift in back of his Miami home. A shore-power glitch caused the boat’s bilge pumps to fail, and its engine compartment eventually filled with rainwater. The owner donated the boat to a local charity, which eventually put it up for sale and was listed by a broker in Fort Lauderdale. Through TNT Custom Marine’s Steven Fernandez, Cox saw the listing and immediately purchased the cat.

Cox and Cosker plan to pilot the repowered turbine cat in the upcoming Florida Powerboat Club Key West Poker Run (click image to  enlarge).

Cosker sent the 50-footer’s original T-53s, which are producing 1,850 to 1,950 hp per side, to turbine-engine wizard James Grasham of Principle Propulsion Systems in Tucson, Ariz., to be refurbished.

“Jim was out here last week,” Cosker said. “If everything goes well we’ll be driving it to Key West in a couple of weeks.

“We haven’t had a turbine boat in here in seven or eight years,” he added, then laughed. “It’s funny. I can post pictures of what we do here every day on social media. But you post one picture of a turbine engine going into a boat and people just flip out.”

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