MTI At 25: Waves And Wheels Recuts Black Diamond – Speed on the Water

From a 59-foot center console to a 52-foot catamaran, the high-performance boats owned by Derek Wachob are hard to miss on the water. First, both of those custom-built beauties see a lot of action in Florida Powerboat Club poker runs. They are not warehoused trophies for the quiet Oklahoman to ogle—he runs them often and he runs them hard. They serve his need for speed.

With its interior modernized by Waves and Wheels, the 2015 model-year 52-foot Black Diamond MTI catamaran looks brand new.

“I don’t think any of my clients run their boats as much as Derek runs his,” said Justin Wagner, the founder of Waves and Wheels in Osage Beach, Mo. “He loves being on the water.”

Another reason Wachob’s boats are hard to miss? They are solid black. A practical color for summer boating it is not. An attention-getting color year-round it is.

Case in point is his 2015 model-year, canopied catamaran dubbed Black Diamond. Currently powered by Mercury Racing 1650 engines, it is arguably, but just barely so, the most instantly recognizable go-fast pleasure cat in the United States.

The catamaran’s interior was updated with 38 new carbon-fiber panels.

As it happened, Wagner got to see a lot of the 52-footer during the three-and-half weeks it was at his shop this spring for interior renovation/modernization. Wagner has counted Wachob as a client since 2007 when he worked on the interior of his 44-foot, Corvette-themed MTI cat alongside Gary Stray, a former lead rigger for the Wentzville, Mo., catamaran and center console builder.

“Black Diamond was due for an interior update,” Wagner explained. “And Derek was up for something new and exciting. He was great to work with as usual.”

A humble guy by nature, Wagner decidedly underplayed the project by calling it an update. His team removed the cat’s helm station and reshaped the dash. They also reshaped each bucket seat in the cockpit and replaced the seats’ all-Alcantara upholstery with a sharp mix of Alcantara and leather.

Their goal? Bring an eight-year-old MTI catamaran’s interior to contemporary MTI interior styling standards.

The team at Waves and Wheels selected a mix of leather and Alcantara for the 52-footer’s seats.

That process also included replacing 16-inch Garmin GPS units with 22-inch Garmin models and adding new digital forward, rearview and engine compartment video cameras and integrating them with the GPS units. The Waves and Wheels team installed a new lighting system, cockpit communication system and custom-designed Bluave Marine Audio sound system. It updated the cat’s interior with 38 new carbon-fiber panels.

Though the boat didn’t need repainting, it was buffed and polished it from bow to stern—Waves and Wheels even removed hardware including hinges to buff the polish and paint beneath them—before it was returned to its owner.