Sea-Doo is a Canadian brand of

personal watercraft A personal watercraft (PWC), also called water scooter or jet ski, is a recreational watercraft that a rider sits or stands on, not within, as in a boat. PWCs have two style categories, first and most popular being a runabout or "sit down" whe ...

(PWC) and

boat A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically found on inl ...

s manufactured by

Bombardier Recreational Products BRP Inc. is the holding company for Bombardier Recreational Products Inc., operating as BRP, a Canadian manufacturer of snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles, side by sides, motorcycles, and personal watercraft. It was founded in 2003, when the Recr ...

(BRP). All Sea-Doo models are driven by an impeller-driven waterjet. All Sea-Doo PWC models are currently produced at BRP's plants in

Querétaro Querétaro (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro, links=no; Otomi language, Otomi: ''Hyodi Ndämxei''), is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. I ...

and Juárez,

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. Its

Rotax Rotax is the brand name for a range of internal combustion engines developed and manufactured by the Austrian company BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co KG (until 2016 BRP-Powertrain GmbH & Co. KG), in turn owned by the Canadian Bombardier Recreational Product ...

engines are produced at BRP's plant in

Gunskirchen Gunskirchen is a town in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. Geography Gunskirchen lies in the Hausruckviertel. About 11 percent of the municipality is forest, and 78 percent is farmland. Internal combustion engine maker Rotax has been headquart ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. In 2016, Sea-Doo had a 45.8% share of the PWC market.

History

Bombardier introduced its first personal watercraft in 1968, called the Bombardier Sea-Doo. It was designed and mentored by

Clayton Jacobson II Clayton Jacobson II (October 12, 1933 – August 18, 2022) was an American inventor who was credited with inventing the jet ski. Biography Early life Jacobson was born in Multnomah County Hospital, Portland, Oregon, on October 12, 1933, to Cl ...

, who would later develop the more successful Kawasaki

Jet Ski Jet Ski is the brand name of a personal watercraft (PWC) manufactured by Kawasaki, a Japanese company. The term is often used generically to refer to any type of personal watercraft used mainly for recreation, and it is also used as a verb to ...

watercraft. Also heavily involved was Bombardier's

Laurent Beaudoin Laurent Robert Beaudoin (; born May 13, 1938) is a Canadian businessman from Quebec. From 1979 to 2003, he was the CEO of the transportation company Bombardier. Early life Beaudoin was born in Laurier Station, Quebec. In 1959, while studying a ...

, who was interested in expanding the success of the

Ski-Doo Ski-Doo is a brand name of snowmobile manufactured by Bombardier Recreational Products (originally Bombardier Inc. before the spin-off). The Ski-Doo personal snowmobile brand is so iconic, especially in Canada, that it was listed in 17th place ...

snowmobile to the PWC market. Advertised as the "Jet-powered Aqua Scooter", the original yellow Sea-Doo was 5 feet wide and 7.5 feet long, somewhat resembling a flying saucer. In 1968, it was powered by an air-cooled, 320cc engine with a top speed of 25 mph. Following complaints of overheating and inefficiency, it was replaced in 1969 with a water-cooled 367cc engine. There were common complaints about discomfort from its flat seat and minimally-padded Ski-Doo supplied stainless steel handlebars. After only two years on the market, it was discontinued. The Sea-Doo was re-introduced in 1988 as its own brand under Bombardier. By 1995, annual sales for the Sea-Doo reached over 100,000 units, signaling a turnaround in the company's declining sales. By 1997 the company had $212 million in sales, recapturing over half of the PWC market. In 2022, during the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

, Sea-Doo personal watercraft converted into explosive

unmanned surface vehicle Unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), also known as unmanned surface vessels, autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs) in some cases, uncrewed surface vessels (USVs), or colloquially drone ships, or robot boats, are boats or ships that operate on the ...

s were used to attack Russian naval vessels at the

Sevastopol Naval Base The Sevastopol Naval Base (russian: Севастопольская военно-морская база; uk, Севастопольська військово-морська база) is a naval base located in Sevastopol, in the Political stat ...

Models

There are five categories of Sea-Doo models:

Recreation Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasur ...

, Tow Sports, Touring,

Sport Fishing Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is professional fishing for profit; or subsistence fishing, which is fishing ...

, and Performance. The Sea-Doo jet-powered sport boats included a four-seater Sportster 150 with 155 hp or 215 hp, a four-seater Speedster 150 with 255 hp, and a seven-seater Speedster 200 with 310 hp, and a Speedster 230 with space for up to twelve people. The Wake 200 model was made for wakeboarding and the two Challenger models were less sporty and more luxurious: a smaller Challenger 180 and a larger Challenger 210. In 2012, BRP discontinued sport boat production, citing a decline in global sales in the marine industry. This meant the loss of 350 jobs, including most of those at a plant in

Benton, Illinois Benton is a city in and the county seat of Franklin County, Illinois. The population was 6,709 at the 2020 census. History Founding Benton, the county seat of Franklin County, took its name from the prominent senator from Missouri, Thomas H ...

. The Sea-Doo Spark which was released in 2014 was aimed to attract new buyers to the decreasing PWC market. This model was in development for eight years and was code-named CAFE (clean, affordable, fun, and easy to use). It used a unique polytec hull and deck structure to cut costs and weight. The Spark quickly became the best-selling Sea-Doo model. In August 2021 they released a

Pontoon boat A pleasure boat with two lengthwise pontoons A pontoon boat is a flattish boat that relies on floats to remain buoyant. These pontoons (also called ''tubes'') contain much reserve buoyancy and allow designers to create large deck plans fitted w ...

style boat called the Switch. 2022 Sea-Doo line up * Sea-Doo Spark 2UP * Sea-Doo Spark 3UP * Sea-Doo Spark TRIXX 2UP * Sea-Doo Spark TRIXX 3UP * Sea-Doo GTI 90 * Sea-Doo GTI 130 * Sea-Doo GTI SE 130 * Sea-Doo GTI SE 170 * Sea-Doo GTX 170 * Sea-Doo GTX 230 * Sea-Doo GTX 300 * Sea-Doo GTX Limited 300 * Sea-Doo GTR 230 * Sea-Doo RXT-X 300 * Sea-Doo RXP-X 300 * Sea-Doo Wake 170 * Sea-Doo Wake Pro 230 * Sea-Doo Fish Pro Scout * Sea-Doo Fish Pro Sport * Sea-Doo Fish Pro Trophy * Sea-Doo Switch (Pontoon Boat) * Sea-Doo Switch Sport (Pontoon Boat) * Sea-Doo Switch Cruise (Pontoon Boat)

References

External links

Sea-Doo website
{{Set index article Bombardier Recreational Products Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1988 Personal water craft brands

History

Models

See also

References

External links