Photo courtesy of speedonthewater.com
Derek Wachob commands attention with his high-performance fleet, featuring a 59-foot center console and a 52-foot catamaran named Black Diamond, both making waves in Florida Powerboat Club poker runs. Justin Wagner, from Waves and Wheels in Osage Beach, MO, recently transformed the interior of Black Diamond. Dive deeper into the compelling story of these formidable vessels and their remarkable presence on the water.
From a 59-foot center console to a 52-foot catamaran, the high-performance boats owned by Derek Wachob are hard to miss on the water. First, both of those custom-built beauties see a lot of action in Florida Powerboat Club poker runs. They are not warehoused trophies for the quiet Oklahoman to ogle—he runs them often and he runs them hard. They serve his need for speed.
“I don’t think any of my clients run their boats as much as Derek runs his,” said Justin Wagner, the founder of Waves and Wheels in Osage Beach, Mo. “He loves being on the water.”
Another reason Wachob’s boats are hard to miss? They are solid black. A practical color for summer boating it is not. An attention-getting color year-round it is.
Case in point is his 2015 model-year, canopied catamaran dubbed Black Diamond. Currently powered by Mercury Racing 1650 engines, it is arguably, but just barely so, the most instantly recognizable go-fast pleasure cat in the United States.
As it happened, Wagner got to see a lot of the 52-footer during the three-and-half weeks it was at his shop this spring for interior renovation/modernization. Wagner has counted Wachob as a client since 2007 when he worked on the interior of his 44-foot, Corvette-themed MTI cat alongside Gary Stray, a former lead rigger for the Wentzville, Mo., catamaran and center console builder.
“Black Diamond was due for an interior update,” Wagner explained. “And Derek was up for something new and exciting. He was great to work with as usual.”
A humble guy by nature, Wagner decidedly underplayed the project by calling it an update. His team removed the cat’s helm station and reshaped the dash. They also reshaped each bucket seat in the cockpit and replaced the seats’ all-Alcantara upholstery with a sharp mix of Alcantara and leather.
Their goal? Bring an eight-year-old MTI catamaran’s interior to contemporary MTI interior styling standards.
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Original article published on speedonthewater.com