Statement 50 & Ultimate 42 Vee Bottom

While the global marine industry is enduring possibly the most serious economic crisis in its history, three veteran high performance power boating fanatics have ‘bucked the trend’ by launching a brand new boat building company and two new boats – the ultimate 42 Vee bottom and the Statement 50.

Statement Marine LLC is situated in St Petersburg, Florida, and the three founders of the new company are Nick Buis, a native of Tampa Bay, ex.racer Todd Werner and designer Mark Spates. Shortly after the creation of Statement Marine, Gene Weeks, also a veteran of the marine industry, became involved as General Manager, and more recently the legendary Chip Fendt joined this ‘Dream Team,’ all have one thing in common; to make the ultimate Statement. Nick Buis grew up on the water, training for competitive water skiing and his passion for powerboats led to him starting his own marine services company, and later a Poker Run concierge business. After owning and driving many types and makes of powerboat, Buis had a desire to design and build a brand new line of performance boats, superior to anything else on the market, and that dream was shared by Todd Werner. Todd is a confi rmed motorhead; a semi-retired inventorentrepreneur who had made a hobby out of power ful toys such as muscle cars and powerboats. Competitive by nature, he successfully raced Vee hulls and cats under the name ProMarine, Flowmaster and Nichols Racing. As he searched for a new pleasure boat he found nothing on the market that suited his specifi cation, and that’s when he linked up with close friend Nick Bius. Mark Spates was known for his successful full canopied A class boats from 1996 when he witnessed his creations dominate one of the most popular offshore racing classes. He started Extreme Powerboats and continued to innovate, working with the APBA to develop a safe canopied raceboat. Spates continued to hone his concept with the introduction of the GM Vortec race boat that still holds speed records in the Super Vee Lite class. A fourth member of the management team, Gene Weeks, has been in the marine industry longer than he cares to remember, having worked in sales, service, racing, design and manufacturing. His love of high performance boats has led him from one company to another which has given him an invaluable all round expertise in high performance craft. The most recent member of the team, Chip Fendt, is a native of Sarasota, Florida, and is a former world offshore champion having campaigned race boats from Talon, Donzi and Outerlimits, so it’s fair to say that Chip knows a good one from a lemon. His broad experience from racing through to manufacturing to sales and brokerage will be invaluable and incorporated in his role at Statement Marine. Chip commented after joining the company, “I couldn’t ask to be in a better place. The West Coast of Florida is not only home to me, but it’s a great place to test and run high performance powerboats, and they don’t come any better than Statement.” Despite the recent troubled waters in boat sales, Statement Marine have launched their two new craft at the 2009 Miami Boat Show; a 50 foot catamaran and a 42 foot Vee bottom, and they both received tremendous acclaim from the industry and media. The company propose initially to produce 4-6 boats a year, which should produce a reasonable growth and profit. Weeks explained, “The team is making decisions based on engineering and customer satisfaction first, then marketing and sales. We want to do what’s best for the customer and so far it seems to be working.” Both boats were built from scratch in Statement’s state-of-theart 40,000 square foot facility in St Petersburg, which houses a specially designed thermal chamber to accommodate high temperatures for post curing epoxy composite laminates. Both boats are powered by Mercury Racing 1075 SCI’s, and as we go to press, the cat in undergoing an intense engine development, programme. Both boats feature a unique ‘air cushion cockpit’ designed to reduce the shock when running hard in rough waters. “This technology was derived from years of getting beat up on the race course.” says Werner, who has filed for a patent on the ‘air cushion’ and several other aspects of the new boats, including the cat’s tunnelled hull. The Statement 42 foot Vee botton ‘Ultimate’ made its Poker Run debut in conditions far from ideal in the season opener at St Petersburg. According to Weeks, the very rough conditions during the Poker Run were perfect for showing off the new boat’s exclusive design features. “The 42 Ultimate exceeded all our expectations. We knew she was good, but not that good.” enthused Weeks. Of the 82 boats that left St Petersburg marina, only eight boats, and three of them Vee bottoms, were bold enough to take on the Gulf of Mexico travelling 20 miles to the first lunch stop. Most of the fleet turned back rather than face the 6-8 foot seas in the mouth of Tampa Bay. “Hats off to Mark Spates, who designed the aerodynamic hull.” said Weeks “The boat is far more efficient than it should be for its weight, and the air-cushioned cockpit works really well” The entire helm and seating area of the 42 rides on an exclusive patent pending shock absorbing system that eliminates the jarring impact typically experienced in Vee-bottom hulls in rough seas. “When we completed that first offshore run, the only damage was two loose audio speaker covers, everything else was in perfect shape.” said Weeks who went on to describe the boat’s performance. “At 137+mph the boat is very stable and requires almost no wheel input. At 125mph, with five people aboard, it was like driving a luxury car straight down a motorway at 100mph. The boat is extremely user-friendly with no hint of chine-walking or porpoising, and the nose does not dive when you chop the throttles. The dual helm position is digital and includes Mercury Racing’s Vessel View Race Edition as a ‘pop up’ together with 10 inch Northstar screens which monitor engine functions as well as navigation.” Statement have designed and produced a hydraulically operated engine hatch that opens from the side to accommodate the unusual aerodynamic hatch. Over the coming months Statement will be putting the catamaran through a vigorous testing programme and we will keep you up to date on its progress.

Statement Ultimate 42

Length 42 foot

Beam 8 foot 2 inches

Deadrise Variable

Draft 2 foot 6 inches

Power 2 x Mercury Racing 1075 sCi’s

Propellors Merc ssM

Fuel Capacity 225 gallons

Hull Weight 9000 lbs

Construction Kevlar, e-glass, foam composite (vacuum bagged, post-cured epoxy)

Steering Latham

Statement Catamaran 50

Length 50 foot

Beam 12 foot

Deadrise Variable

Draft 2 foot 6 inches

Power Customer options

Propellors Merc ssM

Fuel Capacity 350 gallons

Full Weight 10,000 lbs

Construction Kevlar, e-glass, Foam Composte (vacuum bagged, post-cured epoxy)

Steering Latham