Slated for introduction at the 2014 Miami International Boat in February, an all-new Outerlimits SL 40 is being designed to reach 120 mph on twin staggered Mercury Racing 700SCi engines. That’s the word from Mike Fiore, the owner and founder of the Bristol, R.I. custom V-bottom and catamaran company, which celebrates its 20th anniversary in July.

“We are taking all that we learned from the SV29—all of the research and development—and applying it to the design of the 40,” said Fiore during a telephone interview this afternoon. “The 40 will be an evolution of the SV29, but just like the 29 it will be a three-piece, carbon fiber and epoxy boat with monocoque construction and our proprietary hull-and-deck bonding system.”

Said Fiore (shown drivng the SV29): "It' going to be an all-new model. We're gluttons for punishment that way."

Fiore, who was in San Francisco today for the christening party of the Team Oracle America's Cup sailing boat—Fiore worked extensively on one of the team’s 42-foot support RIBs—said he wants the majority of SL 40s to be built with 700SCi engines.

“The boat will be targeted to be built with Mercury Racing 700 power,” he said. “We’re looking to create a turnkey, 120-mph boat with a one-year warranty.”

On a matter unrelated to this column, I called Mike D’Anniballe at Sterling Performance Engines in Milford, Mich., this morning. I actually called him to check in on his 1,700-hp turbocharged engine project, which is still happening but not on the front burner at the moment. That’s because of Sterling’s ongoing long-term testing of engine parts for the automotive and industry and because of its solid marine engine rebuild business.

“We’ve been very busy with rebuilds—that’s been a good business for us,” said D’Anniballe. “To tell the truth, we do more rebuild work fixing things that other builders messed up than anything else and it’s been really strong this spring.”

Read More: Spring Fever

Forget all the jargon about “increasing volumetric efficiency” when it come to how supercharging and turbocharging work to create more power in high-performance marine engines. It isn’t that the verbiage is wrong—in fact it’s technically correct. It’s just that for most folks trying to understand the basics of turbochargers and superchargers, it’s mind-numbing gibberish.

Instead, think of it this way. An internal combustion engine burns fuel through the use of an oxidizer—with the igniting help of a spark—meaning air. The more air you bring into each cylinder, the more fuel it is able to burn and, if tuned and calibrated correctly, the more power the engine is able to make. But unlike fuel, air can be compressed.

Read More: Tech Basics: Turbochargers vs. Superchargers

(Photo courtesy/copyright Jay Nichols/Naples Image.)

The first Powerboat P1 SuperStock USA Championship race of the season got off to an exciting start last weekend in Stuart, Fla., as father-and-son pairing Team Morton Water took the overall honors after defending champions Andy Biddle and Tracy Blumenstein ran into technical problems in Team Pro Boat in the opening heat and were penalized for jumping the start in the second heat.

Tom and Jason Morton came out strong in the opening heat on Saturday, finishing ahead of the other father-and-son team of Bill and Elijah Kingery, who are in their second full season of racing in P1. Third place went to James Norvill and Christian Young in the P1 Marine Foundation-sponsored boat.

The racing was competitive in the season opener for the Powerboat P1 SuperStock USA Championship in Stuart, Fla.The second heat saw Team Pro Boat take an early lead but race officials imposed a 30-second penalty for jumping the start. This handed the race win to Glen Gray and Daniel Racz in the Team AO Coolers boat. The Kingery pairing showed consistent form in the Pier 57 boat to take another second place, giving them the overall weekend lead heading into Sunday’s heats.

On Sunday, the Mortons continued their form to take the overall lead in the P1 SuperStock USA Championship. A first place in the opening heat and a second place in the final heat gave them 69 heat points, just three ahead of the AO Coolers boat that fought hard for the win.

“What a great weekend!” exclaimed Tom Morton. “We worked really hard to make up for where we placed in the second heat on Saturday. We’re heading home to North Carolina very happy and proud to be the championship leaders. We’ve got to get some practice in before the next race in Daytona as the conditions are going to be so different to this weekend.”

Second place in Sunday's first heat went to Team Pro Boat, which was followed by the P1 Marine Foundation boat with United Kingdom pilots James Norvill and Christian Young. The final heat of the weekend was won by AO Coolers, followed by Morton Water and Pier 57.

Read more: Team Morton Water Takes Top Honors in P1 Opener