Holy Carbon Fiber Catamaran! Hellkats 32 Gets Exposed from Bow to Stern
Story and photos by DinaRella
“Holy carbon fiber catamaran!” thought everyone (or at least me) after seeing the riveting Hellkats Powerboats 32 show itself on the performance dock at its 2024 FLIBS premiere. Drenched in copious amounts of exposed carbon fiber from bow to stern, even the highly reflective front deck morphed into a mirrored image of the clouds above. So who’s responsible for this shimmering beauty wrapped in American stars and stripes?
Father and son Todd and Briland Hays are the new faces behind Hellkats Powerboats after purchasing tooling assets (including the original Jay Pilini-designed Spectre 30-foot catamaran and a soon-to-launch 40-foot center console) from the Miami-based company founded by the late Rey Marino. Together with a team of 11 employees including vice president Conner Berg and head of production Kris Thorpe, the Hays family re-launched the brand back in January.
Briland, who brings to the table a degree in mechanical engineering, hands-on experience from his past position at Contender Boats, and a passion for high-performance race car design, told RDP he feels most at home when working on complex projects. To that end, the boat manufacturer’s main objective will be to enhance the brand by improving its designs.
“We’re focused on bringing a high quality, high-performance boat to the market. As experts in carbon fiber, that’s where we start. You can see this with the shock-absorbing carbon bucket seats, cup holders, console, steering wheel, deck hatches, grab rails and so forth. The material is lightweight and strong but also beautiful. Many manufacturers will do a carbon fiber hull but then finish it with a paint job. We are proud of that work and want to highlight the exposed parts.”
For performance boaters seeking a speedboat with a unique aesthetic, the 32 Widebody can be done in raw clear coat carbon with colored carbon designs like camo weave, herringbone weave, and honeycomb weave, offering a really exotic look.
Probing into their specially designated “HK Vacuum Infusion” process, excitedly, Hays explains, “To build the strongest boat possible we use Pro-Set epoxy and vacuum-infuse every part, not just the hull and deck. And instead of bonding together each separate piece after being laminated, the hull, stringers and bulkheads are all infused as a single unit.”
The 62” tunnel hull, priced at $395,000 with twin Mercury Racing 300Rs outboards, also follows design specs for the APBA Super Stock racing division. Hellkats hopes to have a closed cockpit layout on the professional race course within the next two years. This is where test-driver Julian Maldonado and his rigging team at Manatee Marine Unlimited in Palmetto, FLA., come into play.
During initial testing before the boat had a windshield, Maldonado (throttleman for the Jackhammer team and holder of the 2023 Key West world title) took it to a top speed of 119 mph. Reporting back; he commented that it’s extremely steady and handled at speeds he hadn’t before seen. Dialing in to push the needle further forward will resume once he’s recovered from a non-boating related accident sustained in Key West. In the meantime, besides the open and closed canopy cats under construction, the boat maker is keeping busy working on a new chapter.
Hellkats Adds 40’ CC and Extreme Fast-Flag
Renderings displayed on the dock tell the story of Hellkats entrance into the center console game. Titled the 40 Tournament, the quad 400R powered twin-hull center console will be offered in an angler-able edition with the second row of seats facing backwards to provide increased deck space, and in a poker-run format featuring a third row of seating. Continuing to shine in more ways than one, the exposed carbon fiber theme will carry through onto the new line, should buyers desire to customize their builds as such.
Ending on an extreme note, we circle back to the invincible-looking cat to highlight one final carbon-crafted component. Showing off its indestructible patriotism, in between the two Mercury Racing 500Rs, the Hellkats 32 proudly hoisted its Extreme Fast-Flag.
RDP has been following Fast-Flag’s remarkable growth since we first met company founders Tom and Patty Hamami back in 2019 at their exhibit inside the Intrepid Powerboats booth. They’ve impressed us ever since with their innovative offerings, which today include: unbolted/removable flags in all sizes; mailbox and man cave flags; and the extreme line with flames we see here on the 32 Widebody.
As a proud sponsor of the Race World Offshore 2024 World Championship Powerboat Race, immediately following FLIBS, the Hellkats Powerboats crew headed to Key West. Assisting with media for the event, the boat was on display at the Outer Mole in Truman Annex by the VIP area where you couldn’t help but take note of this patriotic piece of American machinery, only further beautified by the Coast Guard vessel in the background.
