Pleasant powerboat surprise
 

While my wakeboarding usually shuts down during weekend middays, there are still ways to enjoy the Lake. The drone of fishing boats sometimes irks me, but the call of powerboats gets me running to the nearest deck. Please find the attached pics of two boats with some nice customization that went by during their Support the Troops poker run here at Lake Ozark on Saturday (NOTE: these pics were taken by someone at the 8 mile marker about 23 miles/minutes before they passed my place).
http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/...ki/batboat.jpg
http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/...ski/speedy.jpg

Those are some sick looking boats.

yup, Custom-themed MTI boats. The first one is the Batman theme, second is Speed Racer. MTI builds some SIIIIIICK boats.

http://www.marinetechnologyinc.com/gallery/gallery.html

Both boats were originally sold through www.pier57.com

here's another pretty sick boat they did, the Looney Tunes boat: http://www.triangle-real-estate.com/

http://www.triangle-real-estate.com/22LT.jpg

MTI are the best boats made hands down! Let me hit the lotto and I will give you guys a ride....

BTW, these are also built in St Louis, MO.

these things are niceee!!
what kind of speeds are they gettin?

I love driving past Pier 57 just for that reason. Always some sick looking boats in those garages!

Ben, it depends on how they're powered. A guy named Gino on Offshoreonly.com has one that's a Mercedes-Benz themed boat, powered by twin 1550hp Sterling engines. It's somewhere around 180-190 on GPS (I think). His boat was also featured on "Worlds Most Expensive Rides". There's an MTI in Nashville that comes here for the Poker Run every year, and I think with Merc Racing 1075's, his runs around 140. Those boats go anywhere from $400K to $1.5M. Some even come with a tractor and tilt trailers so it hauls the boat sideways, since the beam is so wide.

Thanks for the info John...I've never really "gotten" powerboating (I assume largely in part because I've never been in one) but after they went by this weekend and then I strolled the docks to check 'em out up close at Capt. Ron's (on-the-water fun spot), it definitely sparked an interest. Then I headed over to www.midwestboatparty.com and learned much more from their forums (owners/operators posting). For example, the speed record on our Lake is over 200 mph, and while the MTI's have some of the coolest exterior appearances, the Skaters were running up front from the starting line to the pre-arranged initial "finish line" (the bridge). While it is considered a fun run with a pace boat (SpeedRacer paced the fast group) and rules are not to go over 55-60, you'd be surprised how many of them seem to have problems with stuck throttles or speedometer's not working for certain pre-arranged stretches. Check the first part of this youtube video for the race to the bridge that wasn't a race to the bridge (the first boat has quad 1075cc engines I think). Sometimes it feels as though I live in the wild west.

mti's

Freakin cityscape on that batman boat didn't even need to be scaled down...that's a hoooge bish!.

www.offshoreonly.com is the best place to go for all those boats. Most of the owners post on there.

When I worked mornings at Wahweap at Powell, I saw a lot of SICK boats come to test, I think. Ohhhhh man, I want to ride in one soo bad.

The batman theme is just awesome.................

The river I live on has a company called Lightening Jacks. They make some fast race boats and test them past my house. Never quite understood the fascination these guys have with these boats, until i rode in one. Totally amazing experience. I always thought the were lame,but when i rode in one and my eye lashes folded back and my head felt like it was going to get ripped off I saw the light,. If i had the cash id get one in a second. We only went 70 mph too. 180-190 oh god

Speed on water is very addictive. One of my wakeboarding buddies also has a few little (14-18') tunnel boats that top 100mph, it is quite a rush.

the batman boat is insane!!!

MTI builds some bad ass boats... The guy with the corvette theme one runs his around here, very nice set up... 8-14 is one of the biggest poker runs in the country, a lot of these boats come down, they are awesome up close.