MTI At 25—Stop! Hammertime! – Speed on the Water
In terms of the most impressive MTI catamarans to ever hit the water, I have no clue where Hammertime!, the 2007-model-year 44-foot catamaran built for Tulsa, Okla., dentist Michael Craig, ranks. But at least for me, as someone who’s covered the brand for many years, it’s high on the list.
During the MTI 25th Anniversary event in May at Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, Oklahoma’s Michael Craig ran Hammertime!, the 44-foot MTI he had built 13 years ago and bought back almost two years ago. Photo by Jeff Helmkamp/Helmkamp Photos
Even amongst those most knowledgeable about the boats to leave the Marine Technology Inc. facility in Wentzville, Mo., during the company’s first two-and-a-half decades, it’s unlikely the colorful 44-foot cat that was painted by Visual Imagination in Peculiar, Mo., and powered by twin Mercury Racing 1075SCi engines would appear on anyone’s list of top 10 MTIs, or top 25 for that matter. Seriously—scope the list of the MTI At 25 stories that have appeared on speedonthewater.com this year in recognition of the company’s 25th anniversary.
Fortunately for Hammertime!, which at the time boasted a large caricature toward the rear of each hullside hammering the throttles with his mouth flapping from the wind, there was an impressionable journalist on the Powerboat Test Team who never forgot the boat, kept in touch with its owner from time to time and often wondered where one of my first 100-mph rides ended up.
Yep, I was that late-20s, wide-eyed editor inspecting the 44-footer’s paintjob and the five-blade Hering propellers fastened to its Mercury Racing No. 6 drives during the dryland inspection and admiring its plush six-seat interior as I tried not to mark any of it with my pen while collecting test data on the water. And I vividly remember when, a few months later, Hammertime! graced the cover of Powerboat magazine’s annual 100-MPH Roundup, a popular feature amongst readers of the Southern California-based publication. We even put a video together on boat test, which you can watch here—and sorry, the quality is rather horrendous compared to the videos we’re producing nowadays with Scrapyard Media for our YouTube channel.
We tested the catamaran in Sarasota, Fla., and at the time it was probably the most radical boat I’d been in alongside Bob Teague and John Tomlinson; well Hammertime! and the BAD Skater 40 Super Sport catamaran built by Douglas Marine and owned by New Yorker Vinny Rifice. Both boats lived up to their names in terms of performance.
What was also cool about Hammertime! is that Craig and his 44-footer were part of the E-Dock Crew on Oklahoma’s Grand Lake, which, also at the time, was a notable bunch of performance boaters who weren’t afraid to leave their home water for poker runs around the country.
All of that alone made me want to feature Hammertime! as one of this year’s MTI At 25 stories back when my partner, Matt Trulio, and I started the list in mid-January. But what’s even better is that Craig, who had sold the catamaran and moved into one of MTI’s 42-foot luxury performance center consoles several years ago, has since bought it back and even brought it to the MTI 25th Anniversary celebration in May at Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.
Check out the slideshow for more images of Hammertime! courtesy of Michael Craig and Jay Nichols/Naples Image.
Unfortunately the 44 MTI doesn’t have the screaming throttleman down the sides anymore. Craig said the previous owner redid the interior, which you can see in the slideshow above, and removed the character off the side.
My fingers are crossed that Craig keeps it long enough that I can catch another ride in one of my favorite MTIs of all time.
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