Wagner Enjoys Key West Trip; Talks New Property And Waves And Wheels Edition H. Craft Center Consoles
It’s no secret that Missouri-based Waves and Wheels owner Justin Wagner loves the southernmost city in the continental United States. He plans his early November trip to Key West, Fla., for the Florida Powerboat Club’s season-ending poker run and the Race World Offshore-produced world championships early in the year and always makes sure his wife, Cicely, is free to join him. The couple loves everything about the destination—the food, the weather, the charm, the boating and the nightlife.
Justin Wagner enjoyed showing off his demo Doug Wright Powerboats 39 Carbon Waves and Wheels Edition catamaran in Key West, Fla., earlier this month. Photo by Jeff Helmkamp/Helmkamp Photos
This year, though, was a little different; a little better, in fact, according to Wagner, who drove his American Heritage motorcoach—with the couple’s tiny chihuahua, Uno, and massive XL American Bully, Rox, and her two enormous pups, Brycks and Chevy, in tow—from the Show Me State to the Sunshine State a week before the boat-racing and poker-run circus rolled into town. It was the first time they’d traveled that way—in a motorcoach with their dogs to Florida—and they loved every minute of it, including the couple of days they spent in Orlando hitting amusement parks with their adult daughters whom they flew in just for the Disneyworld and Universal Studios Halloween-themed fun.
Wagner’s company demo boat, a Doug Wright Powerboats 39 Carbon Waves and Wheels Edition catamaran, followed a couple of days later thanks to full-time Waves and Wheels driver Jermaine Smith. Wagner said he owes Smith a huge thank you for the miles logged with the 39-footer in tow this fall.
Check out the slideshow above for some images of the Wagners’ trip to Key West courtesy of Justin Wagner.
The 39 Carbon, which is powered by a pair of non-warrantied Mercury Racing 450R engines featuring a MoTeC engine management system developed in partnership with Kong Performance in Pennsylvania, was part of the Bluave Marine Audio display a month earlier at the IBEX Show in Tampa, Fla., and was one of four boats on display during the Speed On The Water Key West Bash presented by Parallel Project a couple of weeks ago.
A couple of months prior, the boat made its debut during the weeklong Lake of the Ozarks Shootout on Wagner’s home lake. Because of its unique setup, Wagner relied on the teams from MoTeC and Kong Performance, as well as veteran throttleman Ricky Maldonado, who has set up and tested a multitude of outboard-powered catamarans in his career, to help get the out-of-the-box boat as dialed in as best as possible prior to making a pass on the Shootout’s three-quarter-mile course.
Wagner credited Maldonado, who reached 132 mph in the boat at the 36th annual event, for being easy to work with and extremely knowledgeable while he was at the lake and ever since.
The 39-footer reached 132 mph on the three-quarter-mile Lake of the Ozarks Shootout course. Photo by Pete Boden/Shoot 2 Thrill Pix
“I like working with Ricky—he’s a nice guy and has been a big help ever since the Shootout in terms of making recommendations and dialing in the boat,” explained Wagner, who sent the 39-footer to Palmetto, Fla., in September for Ricky, and his son, Julian, who owns Manatee Marine Unlimited with Sara Langheim, to perform additional testing. “Now, because of Ricky—and Julian, of course—Waves and Wheels is excited to be working with them to deliver more H. Craft models to customers in the United States.”
Wagner said his company signed on with Manatee Marine Unlimited to sell and complete Waves and Wheels Edition models of the H. Craft center console line that is manufactured by Hayaari Marine in Abu Dhabi. And with both an H34Z and an H44Z already on order, he’s super excited to get to work on the center consoles.
“I’ve been thinking about what else we could do to complement the Doug Wright catamarans for a little while now and then the relationship with Manatee came about and led to H. Craft, which is an incredible product line,” Wagner said, adding that Waves and Wheels currently has four Doug Wright cats in production and available to customize. “Obviously we’re still growing with Doug Wright and are very happy with how that is going. But we’re going to have a new facility next year so the timing was right for expanding our sales and production sides of the business.”
Wagner said it was a treat to be able to run the 39 Carbon in the Florida Keys. Photo courtesy Justin Wagner
Manatee Marine Unlimited has been the exclusive U.S. dealer of H. Craft models for a few years, but has recently started putting more focus on the line of center consoles that ranges from 18 to 44 feet. The boats arrive from Abu Dhabi painted and pre-rigged, and the team at Manatee Marine Unlimited completes the rigging and handles the engine installation and other finishing touches.
“We’re getting in deeper with H. Craft than we have the past couple of years mainly because we didn’t tackle it as hard as we should have from the beginning,” said Julian Maldonado, who has spent much of this year traveling to Abu Dhabi every other month to check in on builds, assist with projects and sign off on boats prior to shipping. “Our sales are picking up and the brand is growing, which is good. Having Waves and Wheels representing H. Craft at the lake is sure to increase that presence as well. We expect the 34, 39 and 44 to be a great option for boaters in that area and other places around the country.
“We’re excited to be working with Waves and Wheels,” he continued. “Here’s what I know: Justin and his team have the ability to take a very nice product and make it that much better with their custom finishes from upholstery and paint to stereos and fabrication. Everything those guys touch has such a neat finish. They are going to help us cover that really high-end market.”
Julian Maldonado shared a few images of boats in production at Hayaari Marine from a recent visit to Abu Dhabi.
Maldonado added that he’s been impressed with the products he’s seen come out of the Waves and Wheels facility. And he can’t wait to see what’s next in terms of the new property.
“I’m not quite ready to unveil the location of our new facility but we’re making some progress and we can’t wait to share the news when the time is right,” said Wagner, who sold his current facility, The Boardwalk at mile marker 26, in August. “We are going to make sure the facility can accommodate our expanding sales division of Waves and Wheels Edition models. Don’t get me wrong, we’re not trying to sell 100 custom boats a year—we want to handle everything from design to delivery on 15 to 20 ultra-custom boats to keep the individualized relationship with our customers and the builders.
“Keeping everything we do at the highest quality level is the most important part of this business and that will continue, and likely improve, at our new location,” he added. “The showroom is going to be beautiful and we’re going to be able to offer much more in terms of services and projects, which we never want to lose sight of. The project side of Waves and Wheels is what got us to where we are today.”
The Doug Wright was on display at the 11th annual Speed On The Water Key West Bash. Photo by Jeff Helmkamp
Wagner, who said his team has several unique offseason projects in the works and room for more if anyone wants to get a boat on the winter schedule, has already picked up some cool new manufacturing equipment in anticipation of the move.
“I’m pretty pumped about the move and everything we have in the works,” Wagner said. “Our Doug Wright production is getting even better so I’m excited to see how it goes once we get our first H. Craft. We’re going to do the same thing with the center consoles. They’ll come pre-rigged and painted in a solid color from H. Craft and we’ll take it from there. Each boat will get the full Waves and Wheels treatment from paint to interior, which includes electronics, lighting, audio and more.”
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