Commentary—Outerlimits Cats Out Of The Bag

When Mike Fiore started Outerlimits Offshore Powerboats in 1993, the company only offered brawny high-performance V-bottoms and was located in Long Island, N.Y. That Fiore launched the brand with V-bottoms in mind made perfect sense, at least at the time. The son of Hustler Boats founder Paul Fiore, he grew up running his father’s stepped-hull V-bottoms.

Like father, like son—as the saying goes.

Once exclusively a high-performance V-bottom brand, Outerlimits Offshore Powerboats has found an audience for its catamaran line. Photo by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

Sadly, both Mike and Paul Fiore are gone. So, too, is anything resembling strong demand for closed-deck V-bottom sportboats with stern-drive-engine power. Though Outerlimits, which long ago relocated to Bristol, R.I., still offers its SV and SL V-bottoms, orders are few and far between. Performance-oriented center consoles and catamarans with outboard engine power have largely replaced their once-coveted traditional V-bottom counterparts.

Much as diehard stern-drive cat and V-bottom hate to hear that, it’s the simple truth. The sales numbers don’t lie.

Fortunately for the company, Mike Fiore added 48- and 46-foot catamarans in Outerlimits’ SC line long before he died following an accident at the 2014 Lake of the Ozarks Shootout. Fiore dabbled in the outboard-powered center console realm a bit—as did the company’s subsequent leadership/ownership—but his heart wasn’t in it. So nothing of consequence materialized. Yet the cats found an audience.

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