Gone Gulfing In A DCB M37R Catamaran – Speed on the Water
Through a little light digging online, I learned this week that Chevron Corporation purchased Gulf Oil in 1984. At the time, Travis Ringe—the proud owner DCB Performance Marine’s second M37R catamaran to be equipped with Mercury Racing 500R outboard engines—was just four years old. Still, when it came time to pick colors for his new cat, Ringe went straight for the blue and orange combo Gulf Oil made famous in the automobile racing world.
An instant classic, the latest DCB M37R catamaran is dressed in the famed Gulf Oil motorsports livery.
“I’ve always been a huge car guy,” said the 35-year-old performance-boat enthusiast who with his wife, Kalie, divides between Idaho and Arizona. “I have always loved the Gulf livery and I wanted something different for new my new boat.”
“When I told Jeff Johnston and Tony Chiaramonte at DCB that I wanted light blue and dark blue with orange accents and a ‘peanut butter’ interior, they looked at each other,” he added, then chuckled. “They thought it would be an ‘acquired taste.’ But the boat is beautiful.
The 37-footer, which he co-owns with his brother, is Ringe’s third DCB. His first was an F-29 catamaran and his second was an M41 powered by Mercury Racing 1350 engines. But the 41-footer was a tad large and loud for his favorite Idaho waterway, which has speed and noise limits.
DCB carried the Gulf Oil livery them through the 37-footer.
Plus, his boating buddies in the area were already moving into outboard engine-powered cats of the Eliminator Boats kind and the reliability, fuel efficiency quiet operation of the V-8 outboards appealed to him.
So when Chiaramonte told him he had a buyer for his M41, he sold it and ordered an M37R.
The build actually began at DCB’s original headquarters in El Cajon, Calif., and was completed at the company’s new facility in Phoenix. Chiaramonte delivered the cat to Ringe at his favorite Arizona waterway—Lake Pleasant—last week. The cat is called Gone Gulfing.
“They crushed it,” he said. “They hit the colors and the interior out of the park. And it’s so efficient. Tony had us rolling up on plane at 2,700 to 2,800 rpm.
“I wanted something different,” he added. “I love it.”
The breathtaking 37-footer will split time between Arizona and Idaho.
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