50 Years of Full-Throttle Innovation

Celebrating both the company’s founder and their 50th anniversary, PlayCraft Boats created the Legacy Edition Powertoon X-Treme to honor Jim Dorris and the revolutionary changes he made in the pontoon business. As a man who not only loved boats but also loved making them go fast, Jim made giant innovations in the pontoon industry by changing leisurely floating decks into high performance boats capable of impressive speed.

Designed with an eye-catching red, white, and blue theme, the Legacy model pays homage to the American flag and the patriotism that was always so important to Jim. Only 50 numbered models of the Powertoon X-Treme will be produced to celebrate each year the company has continuously been in business since 1974. But each will have the power, speed, and handling that PlayCraft is known for. Ready for lounging on the lake or racing in the Ozark Shootout, the boat features stylish designs, overstuffed seats, RAC-R-FINS, and a triple ‘toon package. Partnering with Mercury Racing which is also celebrating 50 years this year, the Legacy Edition model has Mercury Racing outboards available in single or twin applications.

The Speed Question
At the outset, pontoons had little to do with speed for their first several decades and were known as leisurely lounge boats with spacious decks and ample passenger seating—perfect for entertaining. But definitely not part of the boat racing sector. And that changed with a man who loved not only boats and speed, but also trying things no one else dared to do.

Jim joined the boating industry in 1968 and began his own boat-building company, PlayCraft Boats, in 1974. He spent the next 20 years building what he called “mom and pop boats” — those laid-back pontoons that were common for the time and generally apt for retired couples. And then his local Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri became a market for speed boats with their annual Shootout race.

The Shootout held at Lake of the Ozarks snowballed each year to include more and more boats at ever higher speeds. Today more than a hundred racing boats compete and thousands of spectator boats line the mile-long course to watch the racers. As a frequent spectator at the races in the early 1990s, Jim started thinking of ways to combine the comfort and passenger capacity of a pontoon boat with higher performance.

Brainstorming led to the Hydrotoon design, which then evolved into one of the first triple-toon designs called the Powertoon. PlayCraft named their lifting strakes RAC-R-FINS for a nod to the racing world. In 1995, Jim outfitted his latest PlayCraft with a Mercury 350hp, V8 sterndrive, reinforced boat structure with RAC-R-FINS, and entered his pontoon in the Shootout just to prove pontoons could be fast.

A Giant Leap For Pontoons
During an interview with PDB in the summer of 2021, Jim and his wife Carolyn told us about this history-making race. Jim said, “I decided to run a pontoon, but my wife thought I was kidding.” When they drove up to the start, a race official asked him politely to pull his boat aside to be out of the way of the racers. When Jim said he was going to race, the official asked him, “What with?” They were incredulous that he wanted to race a pontoon, and Carolyn was more than a little embarrassed.

But Jim made history that day with his run. He said, “When I started up the Mercury 350, it made a rumbling sound, and everyone looked around for the great big go fast boat. And when they realized it was a pontoon sounding like that, they couldn’t believe it!” His boat ran 46.9 mph that year, which was the first of many records PlayCraft would set at the annual Shootout, and thousands of spectator boats honked their horns in celebration when he went past.

Not everyone was encouraging that pontoons could become typical racers, though. John Odom, a PlayCraft dealer at Marty’s Marine, remembered, “There were a lot of people who snickered and laughed but Jim didn’t care; he never let anyone discourage him from doing something next level. Jim was the first one who said we’re going to jump in and do something different, and he never looked back.”

Setting Records
The Dorrises and their PlayCraft boats became regulars at the Shootout, and Jim spent time designing boats specifically for the rougher water conditions on the Lake of the Ozarks. Soon Carolyn started to race pontoons as well, and told us how surprised people were when they learned she was participating. “It was a big deal when I started running a boat,” she said. “People were expecting some young driver, and here I am retired!” She certainly wasn’t slow, however, and the first year she and Jim raced head-to-head, she won.

Their family became competitive racers—first Jim and Carolyn, then their children, and now their grandchildren have continued to compete in the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout, while building on the iconic PlayCraft name. And PlayCraft continued to make news and set records. At Mercury’s Lake X test facility in Florida in 2001, Jim was able to hit 81 mph in his pontoon. And in 2010, PlayCraft topped the once-impossible 100 mph mark, setting an incredible new record.

With his innovations in performance, Jim effectively changed the pontooning industry for good, and all other pontoon manufacturers began following his lead by adding reinforcements, lifting strakes, and higher performance options.

Proud of his innovations in pontooning, on PlayCraft’s website Jim said, “We’re responsible for the performance pontoon. We’ve taken the pontoon to a different level. With the Powertoon we gave consumers a pontoon that would perform more like a runabout. We live in the Show-Me State and we showed others what pontoon boats were truly capable of when no one else was doing it.”

Competitive Design
PlayCraft understands that there’s more to increasing speed and performance than simply adding higher horsepower to the back of the boat. Focusing on aerodynamics and hydrodynamics, PlayCraft builds several different lines of pontoons designed from top to bottom for optimum performance, and all are handcrafted at their factory in Richland, Mo.

Beginning with formed aluminum insulated with closed-celled Styrofoam, the pontoons are virtually unsinkable. After the logs are hand welded, cross members are bolted to the pontoon, and a one-piece plywood deck is screwed to the cross members; this maximizes the craft’s rigidity on the water. After flooring, railings, and the console is installed, the deck furniture and interior design is fully customizable, and a long list of luxurious amenities offers the utmost in comfort and convenience.

PlayCraft often utilizes designs that look at home in the racing world and seem more like NASCAR than leisure boating. With bright colors such as bold reds and blacks, racing stripes, striking rail patterns with Xs, and often the black and white checkered pattern of a racing flag, PlayCraft’s pontoons look fast even when they’re standing still. Their unique brand and design makes it easy to identify a PlayCraft pontoon from across the lake.

A Difficult Loss
The entire pontoon industry was shocked when Jim suddenly passed away in December of 2022. He had been active and healthy, so his unexpected death left a void in his family and his business. Jim’s son Joe now runs the business and has the goal to carry on the tradition of excellence and innovation begun by his father.

Joe said, “At PlayCraft we plan to be as innovative as we possibly can and continue to offer boats that our customers are proud to own. We have a team of dedicated employees who truly care about what they are producing and are always looking for ways to improve our products. Our mission today is to continue on with the legacy my dad Jim Dorris started 50 years ago.”

Both models of the Legacy Edition Powertoon X-Treme were showcased as a preview at the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout last August. Carolyn ran the single engine model and John Odom ran the twin. Of the event, Joe said, “We had an overwhelming response from the people who saw the boat and thought it was a great tribute for my father. Dad ran his first shootout in August 1995 and every year after that until his passing in December 2022.”

While Jim loved boating and cared about pushing pontoon performance as high as it could possibly go, his greatest values were in his family relationships. This was evident in our 2021 interview with Jim where we talked about the rich history of PlayCraft, the Shootout races with Carolyn, and many other fun stories. Somehow the conversation seemed to always circle back to his love of his family.

It’s only fitting that the Legacy Edition honors not just Jim’s innovations in the pontoon industry, but also his pride in his family and his roles as father, husband, and grandfather. He knew that lasting memories can be made on the water—whether it’s setting speed records or connecting with loved ones, and PlayCraft boats are built to make that happen.