Mystic Demystifies New Model
Go-fast catamaran builder wants to produce the “Range Rover” of luxury performance center consoles.
October 17, 2014
If you’re a regular follower of the high-performance powerboat market on boats.com, you probably know that Mystic Powerboats, the noted DeLand, Fla.-based custom builder renowned for its exotic offshore racing and pleasure catamarans, plans to release a stepped-hull V-bottom this year.
Hull No. 1 for the Mystic 3900 center-console is completed, and the second hull is in the mold.
But beyond hull type and a few minor details we reported recently, John Cosker, the owner and founder of Mystic, and Scott Sjogen, the owner of Mystic dealer Pier 57 Marine in Gurnee, Ill., weren’t ready to give out a lot of information. In fact, they didn’t even reveal what type of boat it will be.
Their goal, of course, was to build buzz in the go-fast boat world. And that’s a fair description of what’s happened since they carefully doled out the news of Mystic’s upcoming release.
Now the cat—make that mono-hull—is out of the bag. Dubbed the Mystic 3900, the company’s new 39-footer will be a luxury performance center-console with a 10’8” beam and triple 300-hp Mercury Marine Verado outboard engines as standard power. (Quad 300-hp Verados will be offered as an option.)
Using the vacuum infusion lamination process for the boat, the builder pulled the first hull out of the mold in mid-September. Since then, Mystic also has completed deck tooling for its new epoxy-infused, carbon fiber-reinforced model.
"From the first day I started talking with Scott Sjogren and Greg Weber of Pier 57 this past February at the Miami Boat Show, our goal was to build the Range Rover of center-consoles, with all the features, as well as the fit and finish, of a luxury sport utility vehicle," said Cosker. "The production of the first hull is a big step in that direction."
The completed deck plug for Mystic’s latest model.
The hull has a 24-degree deadrise at its transom. Deadrise is variable through the boat's two steps. Freeboard is 38 inches. Rather than going with the bow flare common in traditional center consoles, Cosker designed the hull with positive curvature in key points and reversed chines to knock down spray lower in the water.
"If you throw the water away from the boat lower down, it doesn't fly up in the air and get blown back into the boat," he said. "That's something I learned in designing our 70-footer, as well as through all the work I've done for other center-console builders. We wanted to build a stronger, lighter, dryer, and safer boat with all the amenities a luxury performance center-console buyer could want outside of those for fishing. I also added a deeper forefoot in the hull for a softer ride in rough water.
"This boat really is a culmination of everything I've learned in the past 20 years," he added.
Using vacuum infusion to build the 39-footer, Cosker explained, offers several advantages, including final product consistency and the ability to take all the time needed to make sure all materials are placed properly.
"We've built two hulls for our new 40-foot catamaran using infusion, and the third one is in the mold. The first two hulls came in right on design weight," said Cosker. "Also, with infusion we're not rushed by the curing process. We can take as much time as we like. We have an amazing structural engineer in Mark Bishop of Waterfront Composite Solutions, who spends a lot of time establishing exactly how the materials are supposed to go in the boat, and with infusion we don't have to rush to get the materials laid in exactly to his specification. That said, we built this hull in about four weeks—I think we can get that down to three weeks, so we'll be able to support relatively high production levels for a high-tech boat."
Though the boat will come standard with triple outboard engines, it will make its first sea trial—and be offered—with quads.
"When John and I were introduced at the 2014 Miami show, he was looking to go into the center-console market," said Scott Sjogren. "He asked me what I thought, and I told him there was an opportunity for a Range Rover-like center-console. We met a couple of times, and it became a reality very quickly.
"This is a big 39," he continued. "We made the boat wider so the helm station can be 60 inches wide, versus the 48 inches of most of our competitors. That means a lot less wind at the helm. In a lot of the three-person center-console helm stations today, the people on the outside have to take a lot of wind because they're not protected. Not in this one. John also came up with a foldable door system that prevents wind from going down the sides of the cockpit in the boat, so people can ride in the back of the boat without getting blasted by wind."
The wider console also will accommodate a much wider and more spacious cabin with a lot of headroom, according to Cosker and Sjogren.
With the deck tooling complete and hull No. 2 for the Mystic 3900 in the mold, the next step in the project is a sea trial. Cosker and Sjogren plan to test the 39-footer with four outboard engines on the transom this month. According to Sjogren, Pier 57 already has several orders for the new boat.
"Everything is on track in terms of timing," he said Sjogren. "John has the boat right where it needs to be. The first hull looks beautiful, and I can't wait to see the deck—it's going to have great lines. And I can’t wait to get it on the water.”
