Agility Custom Marine To Produce Powerboat Trailers Up To 60 Feet
Despite the well-established players in the mix such as MYCO, Evolution, Extreme, Browning and Heritage, it’s no secret that the custom high-performance powerboat trailer industry is struggling to keep up with the production of V-bottom sportboats, center consoles and catamarans. Exacerbated by supply chain issues, build times of as much as a year-and-a-half and beyond are not uncommon.
Among the first trailers produced by Agility Custom Marine will be for a Performance Powerboats P280 catamaran such as the model above. Photo by Jason Johnson copyright speedonthewater.com.
With Agility Custom Marine, Inc., of McFarland, Wis., entering powerboat trailer market, go-fast cat and V-bottom buyers will soon have another custom trailer option. The company broke the news in a press release last Wednesday during the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout week in Central Missouri. The timing couldn’t have been better—and was no accident.
The following day, Performance Boat Center announced the specifics of the multi-brand dealership’s new Performance Powerboats catamaran line.
The president of Midwest Trailer Sales, which represents and sells the Wabash National brand of heavy-duty commercial trailers, and the son of Midwest Trailer company founders Bob and Nan Zurbuchen, Troy Zurbuchen founded the new company after long discussions with his longtime friend Johnny Bauer, who has been heading the development and production of the Performance Powerboats cat series.
“Johnny called me and asked, ‘Are you interested in building boat trailers?’” said Zurbuchen. “And after we talked about further, I thought, ‘This might make sense.’”
In addition to trailer sales, Midwest Trailer Sales offers repair, service and upgrades in a 37,000-square-foot facility with nine service bays. Agility Custom Marine will use three of those bay to build trailers—flat and tilt—for powerboats up to 60 feet long and 11-1/2 feet wide until its new facility in Central Wisconsin is finished in 2023, most likely in the third quarter of the year.
Captured here with (left) Mercury Racing general manager Stuart Halley, Performance Powerboats head Johnny Bauer reached out to Troy Zurbuchen to help find a solution to the trailer shortage for custom high-performance powerboats. Photo by Cole McGowan copyright Powerboat P1/P1 Offshore.
“John invited us to the dance and we will be building trailers for Performance Powerboats, but we plan on building trailers for other boat companies,” said Zurbuchen.
Through its trailer repair and service arm, Midwest Boat Sales earned certification from American Society of Mechanical Engineers, better known simply as ASME in the industry. In October, the National Association of Trailer Manufacturers will visit the company to vet Agility Custom Marine offerings.
According to the last week’s press release, Agility Custom Marine trailers will feature the company’s exclusive A-TECT structural design for greater durability and its patent-pending E-BEAM side-rail construction, which is designed with 6061-T6 aircraft-grade aluminum alloy and manufactured in the United States.
“The proprietary E-BEAM extruded design provides increased load capacity, reduction in harmonic flex caused by road vibration, easier trailer maneuverability and improved overall performance,” the release stated.
With Performance Boat Center (above) on board with is Performance Powerboats catamaran line, Agility Custom Marine already has its first client.
Standard features of an Agility trailer will include torsion-type axles, hydraulic disc brakes and a fully validated structural design. Other “foundational attributes,” according to the release, will include sealed commercial-grade electrical systems and lighting packages, electric-hydraulic brake controllers, a “best-in-class vessel securement system,” three-point ladder systems for all tilt trailers, a 10-year wiring harness warranty and up to a 10-year lighting warranty based on specific lighting packages.
By the end of September, Agility Custom Marine should have two trailers delivered to Performance Boat Center, one for a P280 catamaran and another for a P360 catamaran. And there’s a good chance the trailer builder will have a tilt model finished in time to haul a P420 cat to Key West, Fla., in early November.
“Our personal friendship drove us to a business relationship due to the fact that we were discussing the shortage of quality marine trailers,” said Bauer. “Troy stepped up and provided great outside of the box solutions for it.”
Related stories
Coverage Of The 2022 Lake Of The Ozarks Shootout
Performance Powerboats Announces Three-Catamaran Lineup
PBC Launches Performance Powerboats Brand With Bauer Leading Production
.
