The Evolution of the Original Statement
When Chris Mills of the Michigan-based Boat Customs told me about one of his latest projects a few months back, there was an extra enthusiastic inflection in his voice. Every so often a boat that comes through his company’s shop piques his interest a little more than most—and this was one of those times.
Michigan-based Boat Customs recently finished the paint job on the first 42 Ultimate built by Statement Marine.
The funny thing is, once I heard what the project was—a new paint job plus updates to the rigging and interior a 2009 Statement Marine 42 Ultimate owned by Michigan performance boater Travis McDougall—Mills could probably hear a more enthusiastic tone in my voice as I have some personal history with the first model ever produced by the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Statement Marine.
Thanks to the efforts of Statement owners Nick Buis and Todd Werner, in early 2009 the Powerboat Test Team got its hands on the luxurious offshore V-bottom that was equipped with an innovative air-suspension cockpit and powered by twin Mercury Racing 1075SCi engines. Getting to take notes while riding in the luxuriously appointed boat with Bob Teague and John Tomlinson was quite memorable, as were the pictures photographer Robert Brown captured of the V-bottom and its bold paint job from The Art of Design in Indiana.
Fast-forward eight years, and besides the nod to some of the boat’s original lines and its off-white, orange, black and burgundy color scheme, the 42-footer looks completely new. That’s what happens when you let Mills and company go to work on a boat they were drooling over from the get-go.
and then