All about the Cobra Terminator Cat

If you came here looking for a Ford Mustang, you made a wrong turn.

Cobra Terminator describes a high performance racing catamaran that was produced quite a while before Ford thought about calling their high performance Mustang a Cobra Terminator.

Bruce Grout and Joe Celello raced this 36ft Cobra (right).

Bruce and Joe also raced this 30ft Cobra Terminator(right).

Later it was offered for sale (below).

Stripped of the sponsors logo, this Cobra Terminator sat for sale in a New Jersey boat yard.

Twin Mercury outboards provide reliable power.

Full instrumentation.

A wide beam provides stable handling.

A high performance package.

The Cobra Terminator was originaly designed to be a single engine 'bay blaster' or a twin outboard 'rocket'. Created in 1990 by Peter Casini, these "hulls of the future" featured Kevlar and E-Glass with balsa coring and high density foams for light weight and strength. Out of these designs came Casini's first race boat, aptly named the 30' Cobra Terminator.

The Cobra Terminator was the test boat for the Mercruiser Blackhawk Outdrive. In a 30ft Cobra with a completely stock 454 Blackhawk (that put out maybe 385 hp), full cockpit interior, full cabin interior, K planes, and tons of options, Peter Casini hit 74.9 mph. All this with 3/4 load of fuel, three fat guys on a warm, humid day on Lake X, which of course is 2-4 mph slower than salt water. Plus, humidity knocked down the HP by over 15-20 percent! There was an article done on this boat by Boating magazine around 1994.

In 1992 the Terminator Cat won the first of Cobra Boat's numerous regional, national, and world offshore racing championships. Then Cobra went into production and for three years, this hull was available to the general public. Typival powqer options included single Mercruiser outdrive, twin Mercury outboards, or triple Mercury racing outboard motors. Not satisfied with Offshore Racing World Championships, Peter Casini next took the hull of the Terminator and created a sport fishing boat. The fuel efficient and incredibly maneuverable 30' Cobra Predator reaches speeds of over 90mph.

Peter Casini's most recent adventure as head of Top Cat Marine Security built the high-speed Cobra Predator Patrol Boat for law enforcement assault teams.

Donald owns this beautiful Cobra Terminator 30 foot Cat. As the third owner, he described how this boat was originally given away at a raffle by a Coca-Cola distributor. Decorated in Coca-Cola colors, it also had a large Coca-Cola emblem on it that was later removed.

I believe this red is the original base-color of these boats (the stripes were added by the customer specifically for the Coca-Cola promotion) as my hull originally had this same color under the white gel-coat.

Eddy Rodriguez runs this 1996 30ft Cobra Terminator in south Florida.

Twin Mercury 250 EFI outboards push this hull 84+ mph (right).

Here's the same hull with triple Mercs (right) running at 100+ mph.

It was originally raced APBA by Skip Funk in the Baltimore area.

Early Race Days of the Cobra Terminator

Produced using the 'open mold' fiberglass process with only the best materials: Kevlar cloth, epoxy resin, and E-glass, this hull is extremely rigid and light weight.

Most Catamaran hulls will break up when run like this. The Cobra Terminator takes it all and finishes the race.

Pancrecarb race team flying high with triple Mercs.

The 'Great Adventure' D5 (right) featured enclosed canopies and four mercury outboards.

As you can see in these photos: this is a hull that takes all the abuse you can throw at it, and it still finishes the race . . amazing!

The 'Great Adventure' S7 (left) airborne during a race

The S15 race team (right) ran with enclosed canopies.

Most fiberglass Cats in this size weigh around 5500 to 6000 Lbs, yet the 30 foot Cobra Terminator only weighs 2455 Lbs.

Cobra Here's a video of a twin O/B powered Cobra.

The Cobra Terminator for pleasure cruising

That same Offshore Race Boat performance is available for pleasure cruising.

If you can provide any details about any of these photos please contact me

I'm trying to identify this boat (photo 11 right)

I'm also trying to identify this boat (photo 12 right)

The Cobra Terminator was produced with multiple outboards and single outdrive power.

Johnny Venomous on the Hudson River in NY (right).

'Never Enough' is a very rare Cobra as it's fitted with twin Mercruiser outdrives (right).

I'm always interested in learning more about the early race days of the Cobra Terminator.
If you have any information or photos relating to the history of the Cobra Terminator please contact me

Thanks to all those folks who have provided historical information and personal photos of their Cobra Terminator.