The Uncut and Unverified History of Personal Watercraft

About twenty years ago the Bombardier family became fixated with developing a water scooter.  The family from Quebec was already relatively well know and wildly rich from the previous sales of their version of the snowmobile which they called a Ski Doo.  The Ski Doo had a familiar yellow and black colour scheme and had become the snowmobile of choice in Canada and the USA.

The idea was to create a water Ski Doo.  The look would be similar to the snow version but would operate on the water. They wanted to create the first personal watercraft.  If you could make money selling these recreational vehicles in the winter then surely you could make double the dough selling  recreational vehicles in the winter and the summer.  Or so they thought.

The ended up recruiting a fellow from North Carolina (whose name escapes me) to work with them on this new water scooter invention.  This American fellow had been working with his own ideas about creating a motorcycle that operate on water.  He had tentatively called his design a jet ski, I think.

I believe that the first official launch of the Bombardier brand of Seadoo was in the early to mid-sixties.  the first launch had colours, design and handle bars that were taken directly from the Ski doo.  The first prototype had some problems, particularly problems with the engine over heating.  There were also problems with the salt water corroding the handle bars and other metal details.  A year later, a second prototype was launched.  This second model was able to fix some of the problems inherent with the first model but serious problems remained.  It is said that the American partner suggested some solutions to the Bombardier family but these solutions were dismissed.

After two years of putting the product on the market, Bombardier decided to scrap the project and sold the rights to their American partner.  The American partner then hooked up with Kawasaki and together they brought the Kawasaki Jet Ski to the market.

As a side note, the Seadoo ads from the sixties are the best retro ads I have ever seen.  Although, presumably, not retro at the time they were released.

Twenty years later Bombardier (either in its original form or as a smaller company spun off to handle the recreational vehicle aspect of the larger company) took Seadoo out of moth balls.  There are now a number of different Seadoo products on the market.  There are Seadoo PWCs, Seadoo boats, and Seadoo covers.  The Seadoo boats are made from an innovative design that allows them to properly function in very shallow water.  Go to any lake or river in your area and you are likely to see a Seadoo product.