Grant Bruggemann of Grant’s Signature Racing and his longtime friend and client Matt Rice knew they were entering uncharted waters with the first high-performance pleasure-boat application of 400-hp Mercury Racing ROS outboard engines, which were developed specifically for X-Cat Racing series. Both understood the ROS—Race Offshore by full name—outboard was, as announced by Mercury Racing when it was released in 2015, a “racing engine.” Unlike the Verado 400R supercharged outboard platform on which the ROS product was based, essential operating hardware such as a fuel pump items were not built into the engine. Like the engine’s oil reservoir, they had to be remotely located in the engine compartment of Rice’s new 36-foot Skater catamaran, which he had built with a super-low profile for the ROS power application.
Shown here with its original Mercury Racing ROS outboard engines, this 36-foot Skater has been repowered by Grant’s Signature Racing with Verado 400R mills. Photo courtesy/copyright Pete Boden.