Brand-Loyal Nor-Tech Owner Goes From Cat To Center Console—Without Missing A Beat

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New Products: Brand-Loyal Nor-Tech Owner Goes From Cat To Center Console—Without Missing A Beat

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A little more than a week ago, a fun-loving guy named Donald Porter who lives in Orillia, Canada, took delivery of a Nor-Tech 340 Sport center console. Porter ordered the boat from Peter and Raymond Roberts of Double R Performance, Nor-Tech’s dealer in Canada, which is about an hour away from Toronto and just 20 minutes from Porter’s home. The boat is powered by four Mercury Marine Verado 300 outboard engines, and he ran it in last weekend’s Performance Boat Club of Canada Muskoka Lakes event.

For Canadian Donald Porter, the transition from a Nor-Tech catamaran to a Nor-Tech center console was a much-welcome change.

“It was so rough because of all the wind,” he said. “There were three-foot rollers and some of the smaller cats were having a tough time. We actually picked up a couple of seasick girls from a cat at one of the locks, so we ended up with seven people on board. We had a great time. It’s a very stable boat and ran right by the smaller boats in the rough water.

“And there’s plenty of space for everything,” he added.

Dubbed Purple Haze and well-known in Performance Boat Club of Canada circles, Porter’s previous boat was a Nor-Tech 3600 catamaran powered by a pair of 850-hp engines. He traded in the 36-footer as part of the deal for his new center console and he was more than ready for the change.

“As a driver in that boat, I couldn’t listen to music or talk to anyone,” said Porter. “I always had one hand on the wheel, one hand on throttle and my eyes straight ahead.

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As he did with his catamaran, Porter plans to exclusively run his center console in freshwater.

“It’s like a pontoon boat for a man who hasn’t given up on life,” he continued, then laughed. “There’s lots of space for everything.

Until the boat-lift for his waterfront home is installed, Porter will keep the 34-footer at Double R Performance. He used his catamaran only in fresh Canadian water and will do the same with his center console, which he plans on calling Fade To Black.

“I wanted a Nor-Tech center console at least a year ago and now I have it, he said. “Running the catamaran was a job. Running this one is just fun.”