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Waiting for a flight from San Francisco to Las Vegas, where I’ll grab a rental car and hammer through the desert at ludicrous speeds to reach the Street Fair at Desert Storm in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., before it closes at 9 p.m.. So I’m looking through this week’s batch of press releases that didn’t immediately fall prey to the delete button and I’m surprised missed this one.

BBLADES Professional Propellers based in Princeton, Wis., is offering good deals on Mercury Propeller Flo-Torq II Hub Kits until the end of the month or while supplies last. Two styles of kits are available:

•For Tempest Plus, Trophy Plus, Revolution 4 and Bravo I propellers, kit #835257K6 is $35

•For MerCruiser Alpha & Bravo One drive packages less than 400 hp and Mercury, Mariner and Force outboards from 40 hp through the entire Verado line kit #835257K1 is $30.

Not exactly huge news, but it might fit the bill for those looking to do a little “spring tuning” on the cheap.

Internet connections allowing, I’ll be reporting from Desert Storm for the next couple of days.

Delivery of Nor-Tech’s new 340 Center Console model, which is based off its successful 390 Center Console, will begin in June. To date, four 34-footers have been sold—two with twin Mercury Verado outboard engines and two with twin 300-hp Yamaha outboards.

“We were about the 30 days behind the most optimistic of schedules,” said Terry Sobo, the director of sales marketing for the Cape Coral, Fla., company. “But we are pleased with our progress and the interest in the 34.”

In related news, the company is building a Southern Kingfish Association tournament version of the 390 Center Console for a team in St. Petersburg, Fla.

“So far, the 390 Center Console models we’ve built have been oriented toward the typical guy transitioning from a performance boat, meaning they have lots of cushy features,” said Sobo. “This one is more toward the hardcore fishing side, with big fish boxes, livewells and stuff like that.”

On the less “hardcore” side, the company is developing a leisure performance cruiser based on the 39-footer, which has a 10-foot beam, dubbed the 420 Monte Carlo.

“We’re going after that Riva-style market,” Sobo explained. “It’s going to be a nice open boat with a walk-through in the sunpad/engine hatch, a spacious cockpit and a cuddy cabin up front, kind of like a nice, open-style runabout with a pair of diesel engines or Mercury 525s.”

If you’re at all dialed into the high-performance marine engine world, you know the name Paul Pfaff. Based in Huntington Beach, Calif., Paul Pfaff and the crew at the company he founded—called Paul Pfaff Racing Engines—have been building high-quality naturally aspirated and supercharged engines for more than 30 years.

The latest news out of the Pfaff camp? The company has been purchased by STRUT Marine, the go-fast boat service extension of the well-known STRUT company that made its name on aesthetic accessories and jewelry items—call them bling if you will—for the automobile and audio markets.

Read more: STRUT Marine Acquires Paul Pfaff Enterprises

Caught up with Ron Potter of Potter Performance Engines earlier today for an engine-builder round-up piece I’m doing for Powerboat magazine. Potter, who founded the Bradenton, Fla., company 5-1/2 years ago, said he’d just tested the newly renovated Speed Racer Marine Technology, Inc., catamaran with MTI principal Randy Scism last week. The boat is owned by Bob Christie, a well-known participant and sponsor (and in the interest of full disclosure, a personal friend of mine) on the poker run scene who lives in New Jersey.

In addition to getting a new six-person cockpit, windshield and GPS system, the 44-footer and its twin supercharged Potter engines were completely re-rigged. Gone are the surface drives and crash boxes, replaced by No. 6 drives with two-speed transmissions.

“We ran it for half a day in Sarasota Bay (Fla.) at various speeds and loads, and at 5,700 rpm we were running 165 mph,” said Potter. “That boat has 180 mph in it—I’m telling you. And with the two-speed transmissions, it’s like a Rolls Royce around the docks.

“MTI gutted and re-rigged the whole boat,” Potter continued. “It’s like a new boat, and it’s the best-rigged, best-handling cat I’ve ever been in. It’s sweet, man.”

Skeptics who thought supercharged big-power marine engines would never be able to meet California Air Resources Board certification standards will need to think again, thanks to the 1,335-hp and 1,365-hp electronically fuel-injected blower engines from Teague Custom Marine. According to a press release from the Valencia, Calif., custom engine, rigging and parts shop, Teague Custom Marine is one of just three marine engine builders that are CARB-certified for new engine sales in California.

“With California emissions regulations in full swing and national Environmental Protection Agency regulations on the horizon, it will be a turbulent time for the high-performance marine engine industry,” said Bob Teague, the founder and owner of Teague Custom Marine, in the release. “With the certification of the 1335 and 1365 already completed, we can be sure that Teague Custom Marine will remain a high-profile player in the extreme performance arena in the future.”

Called the Quad Rotor 1365 EFI, the engine makes its power—as well as 1,100 foot-pounds of torque—on 91-octane fuel.  The 1,335-hp version of the engine also runs on 91-octane gasoline, but is equipped with either dual 4.0-litre quad-rotor Whipple blowers or a single 5.0-litre quad-rotor Whipple blower and a single intercooler. The higher-output engine incorporates dual Whipple 4.0-litre quad-rotor superchargers with two dual-core intercoolers.

Standard on all Teague Custom Marine Engines of 1,200 hp and above is the new Velvet Drive 72-LHP hydraulic transmission and exclusive Severe Duty Drive Plate. Using 16 forward clutches, the 72-LHP is rated to a massive 2,500 foot-pounds of torque and reportedly is among the durable and reliable offerings on the market.

The debut of the Outerlimits-built catamaran for the 2011 Union Internationale Motonautique Class 1 offshore racing season will have to wait for the next event July 15-17 in Arendal, Norway. The team of Luca Fendi and Giovanni Carpitella had hoped to have the 48-footer ready for the season-opener last week in Abu Dhabi, but they ran out of time.

“The freight company couldn’t guaranty delivery of the boat by race day, so they rented a boat from the Victory team for Abu Dhabi,” said Mike Fiore, the founder and principal of Outerlimits in Bristol, R.I. “This gives them a month to test and prepare.”

Fiore said he will travel to Arendal for the race and will provide real-time updates—including photos—to speedonthewater.com.