WAVE OF INNOVATION
Gold Coaster making boats powered by jet ski
WHAT do you get when you put a jet ski and a boat together?
Say hello to the hottest fibreglass invention to make a splash this summer – the jet ski boat.
Hope Island start-up business Seaquester, launched by veteran boat builder Russ Weston, hopes to be selling the $18,000 jet ski boats as soon as March.
Mr Weston said the idea for the novel craft came to him after he struggled to fit his whole family on a jet ski.
He spent six months perfecting his boat before taking a prototype out on the water on Christmas Day.
“The family loved it, it totally exceeded all of our expectations,” he said.
“I’m hoping to employ four boat builders to help me get one out a week. At first I just wanted to make one for myself but the attention I got from taking it to Wavebreak Island, it was like bees to a honey pot. I knew I had a business on my hands.”
Mr Weston said the idea had been tried before in the 1980s, but the 90 horse power jet skis common at the time were not powerful enough.
“The idea was way ahead of its time,” he said. “The ones we are building are up to 300 horse power.”
Mr Weston, who already has two firm orders for his boats, said his invention could be made to work with almost any jet ski. “The craft clips on to all late model Seadoos and Yamaha jet skis but I’m able to fit the correct docking kit to each model,” he said.