Newcomer Platinum Powerboats launches the tech-filled 428 Platinum
By PRA’s Gregg Mansfield
Platinum Powerboats spent three years designing, developing and testing before releasing its new 42-foot offshore catamaran.
Company founders Scott Grants and Edwin Scheer wanted the 428 Platinum as close to perfect before taking it public during the 2025 Lake of the Ozarks Shootout.
“We could have come out with a boat in six months and did what everybody else does,” Grants said. “We wanted a boat that was incredibly innovative, and that takes time.”
The innovation can be found from the hull design to the catamaran’s build materials. Platinum worked with aerospace engineers on the hull, testing the boat in wind tunnels and hydrodynamic simulations.
“We actually went and spoke with chemists that build windmill blades to see how we could build a boat lighter and stronger,” Grants said. “The whole point of this was to be innovative.”
Aerodynamic and hydrodynamic development took two years with Platinum experimenting with different resins and chemical compounds for a year before finalizing a build schedule.
Built in O’Fallon, Missouri, Platinum Powerboats offers a pleasure and race version of the 428 Platinum. If anyone knows how to set up a race boat, it’s Grants and Scheer, both national and world champions. The racers competed in Super Cat Lite class in the early 2000s and Scheer is the former owner of Motion Powerboats. Scheer still races, throttling a boat in the Factory class.
It was the launch of the Factory class and the limited options for teams that were the impetus to start Platinum Powerboats, said Grants.
“We felt we could build a better boat, and that’s kind of where this started,” Grants said. “We thought we could be more innovative and offer a better product than what is being built right now.”
The first 428 Platinum catamaran out of the mold was a pleasure version for Jeff Azevedo of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Available in a six- or eight-seat configuration, Azevedo opted for the eight-seat option. Platinum built the carbon-fiber seat buckets in-house and modeled the seats after the McLaren Senna. Mayden Design Co. did the interior work.
Grants said that the 428 Platinum’s cockpit is both larger and deeper than other catamarans in its class.
“Unless you’re an 8-year-old, you can’t sit in other manufacturer’s outer rear seats because there’s no room,” Grants said. “If you look at our boat, I can sit in the outer rear seat with my legs completely straight and not touch the second-row seats. We wanted to make sure it was a comfortable eight-seat boat.”
To improve cockpit access and usability, Platinum designed a center walkthrough to an integrated swim platform. On both sides of the walkthrough, there are power loungers with customizable built-in storage and coolers..
Grants said the parts for the dash are 3D-printed, allowing customers extensive customization. “We’re not limited to a single GPS in the center and maybe one on the side,” he said. “We can absolutely do anything.”
Stephen Miles Designs did the paintwork on the first 428 Platinum, a stunning piece that was showcased at the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout and the Key West Championships. The Missouri builder isn’t exclusive to one painter, with other boats being painted by Visual Imagination’s Mark Morris and Doug Harrell Design.
The 428 Platinum was built around Mercury Racing 500R outboards, and once the catamaran is fully dialed in, Grants expects it to exceed 130 mph. With the outboards backed by a three-year warranty and an optional extended protection plan, Grants said the outboards are the perfect package for the boat that is 42’ 8” long with a 10’ 10” beam.
“Mercury Racing has made it really cost-effective to go out and go fast,” Grants said. “I’ve had a tremendous amount of big sterndrives in the past, and the maintenance is simply nowhere as cost effective compared to these 500 outboards.”
Grants said production of the 428 Platinum will be limited to 12 catamarans a year with a full boat taking about five months to build. Platinum is currently building an offshore race boat for Rob Lockyer’s Good Boy Vodka and a second boat for Grants and Scheer to run in poker runs or race.
While Platinum offers a race-boat version, the new company’s focus is on the pleasure boat market, including a canopied poker run series that features a six-seat interior.
“As this developed, select people in the industry said we should start building pleasure boats because there’s not a boat on the market with the technology this boat has,” Grants said.
Contact Information
Platinum Powerboats, 315-657-0865
