View the article, photos, and interview

Extreme boats Magazine | exclusive
exclusive interview with
randy schultz
story ron polli • photos Jeff Isom / Debbie Schultz
It’s not often that an entirely new performance boat manufacturer arrives on
the scene. It is even rarer that their first offering is a 41’ Cat - a Luxury Cat at
that! In this exclusive interview, Extreme Boats interviews the man
behind the boat - Liquid Glass boat builder, Randy Schultz.
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e x t r e m e b o at s m a g a z i n e | i s s u e 4 .7
Bringing Back the Passion
extreme builders | Liquid glass
Randy Schultz, creator of the new 41’
Luxury Cat, has decades of experience
as a boat builder, but this time he set
out to build something special. For the
graphics, he enlisted Mark Morris of
Visual Imagination.
41’ luxury cat
to Performance Boating
i s s u e 4 .7 | e x t r e m e b o at s m a g a z i n e
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extreme builders | Liquid glass
Liquid Glass 41’ Luxury Cat
something special | First close your eyes and let
Mercury Racing
worked with
Randy and the
LG crew to dial
in the new 41
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your mind focus what your ultimate forty plus foot cat
would look like, ride like and handle like? How would
the throttles feel in your hand? At what angle would you
hold the steering wheel? Where would your back seat
passengers be positioned and what would they have to
hold onto? Would they be able to see over the dashboard
while running? What would the cabin look like? How fast
would you want it to go? Would you like adjustable seats
that move - like a car has?
Think about every inch, every nook and cranny, and
how you’d use that space. It’s a lot to consider, but that’s
what Randy Schultz has been doing for the last decade for
others. Now Randy has built the boat that he wants to own
- and you can own one too.
After twenty eight years of designing and
building custom boats, Randy Schultz is finally
ready to introduce the boat of his dreams
and its called Liquid Glass Powerboats. You’ve
probably heard of Randy from his career at Profile
Powerboats. Randy built that company from scratch
and sold it just three years ago because the
company grew beyond his comfort zone.
Not a bad problem to have but at the same time it
forced Randy to do things that he was uncomfortable
doing, like dealing with accountants and lawyers.
As Randy says “Sometimes I’d felt more like a
babysitter than a boat builder, I never want to grow a
company that large again. Liquid Glass will be a specialty
boutique shop for luxury performance boats, real custom
work for a special clientele.”
Randy is very passionate about his work and
once you get him talking about his favorite subject,
there’s simply no stopping him.
e x t r e m e b o at s m a g a z i n e | i s s u e 4 .7
Bringing Back the Passion
extreme boats magazine | exclusive
Randy Schultz interview
What was your inspiration
for building a brand new
forty-one foot Cat from
scratch?
Randy: I’m finally building
the boat that’s been swirling
around in my head for the last
dozen years or so. My original
goal was to finish the thirty-five foot cat that I started
building in the 80s. We built a plug and it ran really well,
but we didn’t have room to build it in our shop and still
have room to build the other Profile models.
It was always in my mind, then three years ago after I
sold Profile I started working on the big cat again. I ended
up wanting to make so many changes to the original design
that we just scrapped it and started over from a clean
sheet of paper. With the help of my brother-in-law and his
wonderful CNC machine, we made the plug. This boat is
perfect in every way, you can’t build something like this by
hand and have it symmetrically perfect, but this one is.
I built this boat because I can see a need for a luxury
cat that is more focused on comfort than squeezing out
every last mile per hour. We designed this boat to have a
full cabin with a unique layout that makes it far more usable
than a typical cat cabin.
What can you tell our readers about the 41?
This first boat is powered with a pair of Mercury Racing’s
new 700s and NXT drive system. It will be plenty fast, but
this boat is not about all out speed. That’s not the customer
I’m looking for. I want someone that wants to be involved
with every step of the design and build process. I will find
buyers that want a unique boat and can appreciate superior
design, construction, components and handling.
We’ll offer some creature comforts that have never
been found on a boat before. Like power seats that have
sixteen different functions. Power foot rests that go along
with the seat. We have finally figured out how to allow
back seat passengers to hold on in a comfortable fashion.
We sculpted handholds into the back seat armrests;
System View
Randy wanted
a modern
dashboard, so
he uses Mercury
Racing’s System
View to provide
the driver
with all of the
information
continued on page 32
to Performance Boating
i s s u e 4 .7 | e x t r e m e b o at s m a g a z i n e
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extreme boats magazine | exclusive
Hull and Deck Features
Hull produced from CNC-machined tooling
Infusion Molded hull and deck construction
Stepped, ventilated hull
Hull and deck chemically bonded (no rubrail)
Full length stringer system
Hi-Tec Foam core
Two 125-gallon fuel tanks
5 bulkheads
High-gloss white Gelcoat base finish
16 degree tunnel rise
Molded air intake system
Navigation lights
6 flush-mounted pop-up cleats
Interior Features
6 passenger cockpit seating
Mercury Racing System View® – RaceEdition engine and gauge readout
Livorsi Marine™ throttles and shifters
Electronic trim indicators
Carling™ switches (marine grade)
Ignition safety stop switches
State-of-the-art electrical wiring system
Powder-coated fuel fill
Left-hand or right-hand steering capability
Electrically adjustable, bolstered driver/passenger sport seats
Two electrically adjustable (fore and aft) footrests
4-person aft seating w/integrated support handles / extra-plush seats
Tilt steering wheel
A/V Center with media controls and high performance speakers
Custom carbon fiber dash inlay or custom painted
Fire extinguisher with mount
Air and sea temperature monitoring
Custom high-grade, snap in/out marine carpet
Integrated, flush mounted grab handles
Twin electric engine hatch covers
Indirect cockpit lighting
Ample storage: side panels and below aft seating
Custom Liquid Glass bumpers and dock tie ropes
Drivetrain
Liquid Glass
1310 West 1st Street
Sumner, IA 50674
Phone: 563-578-5900
Email: [email protected]
w w w.liquidglasspowerboats.com
Proprietary race engine mounting system
Twin 700hp Mercury Racing® engines with dry sump NXT1® drives
Dual stainless steel propellers
Stainless Steel through-bolted hardware
Backing plates
Halon system
Dual OPTIMA® heavy-duty marine batteries
Offshore-style battery mounts
Hydraulic steering
Automatic bilge pumps
Bilge blowers
2 sea strainers
Engine compartment lighting
Float switches
Battery switch
Diamond plate flooring
Custom engineered CMI® exhaust pipes with mufflers
4 chrome noise suppression exhausts
Flush mounted dual air vents
i s s u e 4 .7 | e x t r e m e b o at s m a g a z i n e
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extreme builders | Liquid glass
I think that’s a first. We will also offer steering from both sides
and a tilt steering wheel to finish off the helm position. We
are looking at every single part to see how we can improve
on what’s currently being used. We are working to achieve
ergonomic perfection, if that’s possible.
Who is your ideal customer for the 41’?
I want to deal with the type of person who won’t buy a
car off the lot, they order them and enjoy the process of
building something to their personal specifications. I want
to work closely with discerning customers and build a
limited number of boats a year so it remains fun for me.
This will be a very high end, very trick boat, every one will
be different. Actually, I’d like to do some theme boats. I
just won’t deal with customers that have deadlines. You
Brand New can’t rush something like this.
The team started
completely
from scratch
when designing
the new Hull.
The pictures
show their
preparation of
the original plug
and mold.
Will having a full cabin make you lose some speed?
I know this boat will go very fast, and I know it will handle
1075s but how fast do you really need to go to enjoy
boating? Who cares about that last mile per hour, I’d rather
the boat be safe and comfortable. That to me is more
important than how fast it goes.
I’m very concerned about the safety of my customers. I like
people to enjoy boating in my boats. I don’t build boats for
racing. I build boats for pleasure boating and when someone
steps up to a fast cat, I’d like to see them attend a hands-on
class like Tres Martin offers. I’m glad to see the industry move
in this direction. I’ve always been big on showing people
how to properly operate their new boat, but with fast cats, it’s
even more important to get some practical experience before
opening the throttles on something that goes over a hundred
miles per hour and doesn’t have brakes.
The cabin won’t make it slow, because we are figuring
the CG (center of gravity) with the weight of the cabin. We
tested the first boat without having the gas tank secured
in place. By moving the gas tank we found where the hull
balances at speed with a normal load. Get the CG right and
everything else falls into place. That’s really the most critical
issue to having a boat run right.
Are you going high tech with the dashboard or do you
still like dozens of gauges?
Last year I built myself a new boat and installed Mercury
Racing’s new SystemView. I’m old school but I’m smart enough
to know new technology can be the better way. Who has time
to watch gauges when you’re running fast? This system is way
more than a simple gauge, if there’s any sort of malfunction, it
will warn the driver and possibly slow the engine so it doesn’t
get hurt. We’ll offer some gauges, but this is great technology, it
continued on page 34
helps to keep the pleasure in boating.
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Bringing Back the Passion
e x t r e m e b o at s m a g a z i n e | i s s u e 4 .7
extreme builders | Liquid glass
What process will you use to build the boats?
PPI
Premier
Performance
Interiors (fl)
built the custom
seats and
interior for the
new 41
We’ll build all future boats using the Infusion
Molding process, this first one was built the old
fashion way. With Infusion molding, the Resin is
injected into the mold cavity under pressure. The
motive force is pressure therefore, the pressure in
the mold cavity is higher than atmospheric pressure.
In contrast, vacuum bagging methods use vacuum
as the motive force, and the pressure in the mold
cavity is lower than atmospheric pressure. It allows
for a perfect resin to glass ratio, there’s no more
guess work. It’s lighter and stronger than any other
method of boat building. It’s also a very clean way to
make a boat. It’s not for mass production but for this
application it’s fantastic to work with, I’ve never seen
anything quite like it, and I don’t impress that easily.
We’ll also use my proprietary engine rail
mounting system. This is something that I designed
and it allows for a very stable engine platform plus
it dramatically cuts down on engine installation and
removal time.
Why didn’t you build this boat while you had
the staff of Profile Powerboats to help you?
I founded Profile twenty eight years ago, it was
really fun, I liked it, I enjoy designing and building
boats. The problem is when you build too many
boats, you end up with lots of employees that can
translate to lots of headaches. We used to build
about fifty boats a year and the fun went out of it for me.
It became purely a business. So for this project I’m going
to outsource everything to the very best suppliers,
Mark Morris at Visual Imagination has done the
paintwork on this boat and Premier Performance Interiors
(PPI) provided the interior, Marine Audio Customs provided
the audio/visual technology. PPI came up with a really
unique interior for us. When I was at Profile I tried to doing
everything in house, now we will buy the best components
available when we need something. It is more efficient, and
we get a better end result.
How did you get the boat dialed in?
This past summer we spent two days in Fond-du-Lac, (WI)
for some dialing it in with the help of Mercury Racing. I can’t
tell you what a huge benefit it was to have the opportunity
to take a new boat to Mercury for the final tweaking. Their
willingness to help combined with an arsenal of knowledge
and the ability to make real time changes is second to
none. Once we left their facility this project was dialed in
and complete. CE certification is eminent so then we can
sell them to the overseas market.
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You can’t be doing this all alone, who’s helping you?
In order to keep this fun for me, I took on a business
partner, Dave Kratz. He’ll handle the business-side of
boatbuilding and I’ll build boats. His son Ryan is working
on our marketing and business development right now
and he’ll be helping with sales, but the backbone of this
company is my wife Debbie. She does it all, from talking to
customers to bookkeeping, designing the fabrics that we
use. I don’t know what I’d do without her.
What’s next for Liquid Glass?
Randy smiles and looks down the road before saying;
Well, like I said, I hate deadlines and I’ve already had one
and missed it. This boat was supposed to be at the Miami
Boat Show last February. Now the plan is to take an order
or two to the 2008 Miami Boat Show and then crank up
production from there. ebm
See you in Miami! Look for the new Liquid Glass
41’ Luxury Cat at the 2008 Miami Boat Show
where Randy has promised to take EBM for a ride
so we can do a follow-up article.
Bringing Back the Passion
e x t r e m e b o at s m a g a z i n e | i s s u e 4 .7