DockWorks Owner Delighted With New MTI 390X Catamaran
Although he was unable to bring his new boat out for last week’s Performance Boat Center/Mercury Racing Outboard Fun Run at Missouri‘s Lake of the Ozarks, Michael Hudson, who owns 3-Feathers Construction and Sales in Raytown, Mo., as well as DockWorks in Eldon, Mo., wasn’t too disappointed that he had prior obligations and had to leave his new MTI 390X catamaran sitting at the dock behind his lake house on the bunks of its Poly Lift boat lift.
DockWorks owner Mike Hudson is looking forward to running his MTI 390X in next month’s Lake of the Ozarks Shootout Poker Run. Photo from the Support Our Troops Poker Run by Jeff Helmkamp/Helmkamp Photos
Hudson understands he can’t make it to the lake every weekend, but he wishes he could. He also realizes he’s had a pretty eventful summer season thus far in his new 39-footer, starting with the week he and his wife, Christie, took delivery of the boat.
Close to two months ago toward the end of May, Hudson was sitting in his new MTI 390X powered by twin Mercury Racing 450R engines getting ready for the 25th anniversary event hosted by the Wentzville, Mo.-based boatbuilder to celebrate amongst many of its closest customers and family members. He had taken delivery of the boat the day before from MTI founder Randy Scism, whom Hudson met a few years back when the two discussed building a large dock for the Scism family’s new home on Lake of the Ozarks, and was eager to run it with 60 other MTIs.
“I couldn’t be happier with the boat overall,” said Hudson, who attended the Big Thunder Marine-hosted Support Our Troops Poker Run a month later at the lake. “Randy and his team assured me we’d have the boat in time for the 25th anniversary event and they delivered. It was down to the wire, but they came through. And because of their effort, we had a great time at the event.
“The boat’s performance is out of this world,” he continued, adding that the 390X is a different animal than the 2017 MTI 340X with twin Mercury Racing 450R engines that he purchased in 2021 and sold last year when he ordered the new boat. “Don’t get me wrong, the 340X was amazing, and it opened up a new world for us after coming out of a 42-foot V-bottom, but the 390X is next-world level. This one is an all-carbon boat so that in itself makes it so rigid, so strong and so fast. Its overall performance in the rough and the acceleration is such a difference. I’m a believer, that’s for sure.”
Check out the slideshow above for images of the new 390X catamaran. Photos courtesy William Holtz/Lake TV and Jeff Helmkamp
After owning his 42-foot Fountain Powerboats V-bottom with twin Mercury Racing 700SCi engines, which he called an incredible boat, Hudson described driving an MTI catamaran as a night-and-day difference.
“It’s hard to put into words, but for me it’s just a driving experience that makes you want to keep driving,” Hudson said. “I used to go out in in the V-bottom, and we did a lot of the big events and always had fun, but by the time I was done, I was worn out. You know, my legs and back were just tired. With the cats, you’re sitting and you’re in such a comfortable position that you just don’t get that fatigue. I also like that we can bring six more people with us.”
“Also, the fit and finish that MTI provides is absolutely incredible—their boats are next level,” he added. “The way they treat their customers is next level, too. Randy and his wife, Cherell, just make you want to be part of the family. At the MTI anniversary celebration, everyone was so helpful. We’d pull up to a dock and have three MTI guys there to help. It was pretty awesome. And it’s the same at any of the owner events they organize.”
The new 39-foot DockWorks cat fit right in with the other MTI boats on hand for the company’s 25th anniversary event in May on Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks. Photo by Jeff Helmkamp
Hudson, who purchased DockWorks with his brother in 2017 and has helped lead the business to new heights, is excited to showcase the boat in late August during the 35th annual Lake of the Ozarks Shootout and accompanying Super Cat Fest. In fact, DockWorks is the presenting sponsor—along with Lakefront Living Realty—of the 2023 Poly Lift Boat Lifts Lake of the Ozarks Shootout Poker Run taking place Friday, August 25, so the 390X will be a part of that mix. You can be too as registration is still open for the annual happening, which starts at Captain Ron’s Bar and Grill—the host location for the Shootout on Saturday and Sunday—and features 11 different stops with two ending locations (Shady Gators or The Cave Bar and Grill) that include separate prize pots.
“Shootout week should be a lot of fun this year,” said Hudson, who participated in the early June Run What You Brung Poker Run that is one of the kick-off fundraising events for the Shootout.
He added that the kick-off event for the Shootout has a special place in his heart because it raises money for the family of Jessica Brazil, the daughter of former Advantage Marine owners and longtime Shootout volunteers Dave and Connie Weyer who died in a car accident in 2018. Unfortunately he knows the feeling too well as he also lost his daughter in an accident.
“I never miss it—and if I did, I would still donate because of what the event means to Connie and Dave’s grandchildren,” he expressed.
The team at DockWorks built the incredible MTI Dock owned by the Scism family on Lake of the Ozarks. Photo courtesy Taylor Scism
Hudson admitted that the boat-building process, which is comparable to designing and fabricating a custom set of docks from DockWorks like the options-loaded one the Scisms took delivery of last summer, could become addicting.
“After building the 390X, I kind of want to do it again because it was such an enjoyable experience,” he said. “Being involved with the design and seeing that creation come to life like it did was amazing. It was a fun process—I can see how that can get addicting.”
Painted in-house with gray American flags on the inside of each sponsons and DockWorks stickers on the sponsons’ hullsides, Hudson’s 39-footer features relatively subtle gray and green graphics.
“Originally I wanted a simple design with a little red and gray, but after having the green and black 340X I fell so much in love with the green that I wanted to go back to it in some fashion with the 390X,” Hudson said. “I still wanted the gray and I’m glad I stuck with it because the flat gray turned out so nice. I love the overall design. And oh my gosh, that green pearl, especially when you look at it in the sunlight, is something else. The boat is just incredible, there’s no other way to describe it.”
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Source: https://www.speedonthewater.com/dockworks-owner-delighted-with-new-mti-390x-catamaran/
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