Inside the Epic 41 SS
A former offshore racer hopes to make a big splash with a full-size center-console model.
February 17, 2011
In late 1999, the Factory 1 and Factory 2 offshore racing classes were two of the hottest tickets in APBA Offshore racing. And no competitor was more fired up—at least in the single-engine V-bottom Factory 1 contingent of racers—than Brian Hollis in the Joker boat. Fiercely competitive on the course and wildly enthusiastic off of it, Hollis was something of a poster boy for the class.
Weighing in at 13,500 pounds, the Epic 41 SS is a substantial, performance-hulls based center console.
A few years later, Factory 1 racing—and APBA Offshore, for that matter—was history. Hollis tried his hand in other classes, but the declining state of the sport was such that he eventually lost interest in racing.
Yet he never lost interest in high performance. In fact, during his heyday in Factory 1 he actually became a Warlock dealer. Unfortunately for Hollis, Warlock, too, hit hard times. But Hollis, who owns a trucking and warehousing company, wasn’t really interested in selling someone else’s boats. He wanted to produce boats of his own.
So he built a 26-footer and a 28-footer, based off other existing models in his Joker powerboat line. Both were single-engine sport boats that earned solid reputations in the 10 years he built them—and they’re still available—but neither was a big seller.
LED cockpit lighting is standard on the Epic 41SS.
Hollis wasn’t deterred. He did, however, shift his sights from the small high-performance sport boat market to the large high-performance center-console market, and that’s where the Epic 41 SS comes in. Introduced at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show in October 2010, the boat was constructed at the Epic Performance Yachts plant in Flowery Branch, Ga., not far from Hollis’ trucking and warehousing business.
Hollis knew he needed help with the project, so he brought in David Goode as his partner to help manage production. He also hooked up with Henley's Custom Marine in Jupiter, Fla., which did the rigging for the triple 300-hp Mercury Verado outboard engines and will continue to handle the rigging, as well as all sales, for Epic.
From the moment the twin-step V-bottom touched the water in West Palm Beach, Fla., Hollis and company were impressed.
“With triple 300s, 26-inch-pitch propellers, and 200 gallons of fuel, the boat went 75.6 mph,” he says. “We went out in three- to four-footers and ran it as hard as we could run it, and we never even broke the props loose.”
For those who prefer twin big-block gasoline or twin diesel engines, the boat will be offered with either of those power options, as well as the triple outboards.
“We designed the boat so that we would not have to turn down a customer based on power preference,” says Hollis. “The engine compartment itself is a completely separate, finished piece.
Part of the reason for that is that my wife wanted a big sunpad,” Hollis laughs. “So we have a big engine compartment underneath it.”
The Epic 41 SS was unveiled at the 2010 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show.
At present, the cabin in the 41 SS is unfinished. However, Hollis says it will include wood and leather finishes and whatever appliances and electronics a buyer chooses to order. So it will be comfortable for overnight trips, and, given the 400-gallon fuel capacity and its efficiency with outboards—to say nothing of its yet-to-be-determined efficiency with Yanmar diesel engines and surface drives—it should have plenty of cruising range.
“We ran it as hard as we could for two days, and burned 70 gallons of fuel,” says Hollis. “It’s going to be a real fuel miser.”
Long-range fuel efficiency will serve the 41 SS well in full offshore fishing dress, which Hollis says is an option. In addition to adding live wells in the cockpit and rocket-launcher rod holders on the standard Birdsall T-top, the self-bailing boat can be built with an open cockpit and no sunpad.
Hardly svelte, the 41 SS weighs in at 13,500 pounds with fuel. According to Hollis, the three-piece boat is built heavy to handle open water—which may account for its reportedly soft ride in three- to four-footers—with a solid, inch-thick fiberglass bottom and foam-cored deck and hull sides.“When I built this boat, I wanted to be able to cruise comfortably at 60 mph in two- to three-footers and be able to blast out to 75 mph if I wanted to,” says Hollis. “I definitely got that and more.
I think people are really going to love it.”
For more information, visit the Epic Performance Yachts website.
Bi-weekly columnist Matt Trulio is the editor at large for Powerboat magazine. He has written for the magazine since 1994. Trulio’s daily blog can be found on speedonthewater.com, a site he created and maintains, which is the high-performance arm of the BoaterMouth group.
