MotorActionMedia.com is the first to interview Hurricane Industries’ owner, Derrick Kemnitz Jr. on the recent unveiling of the new Eclipse hull.
Derrick, you recently unveiled an all new Hurricane model, how long has this been in the works?
The Eclipse project started to come to life about 12 months ago, after spending about 6 months of on the water testing with various prototype units.
Could you tell me a little about the new ski, what makes it stand out from your previous models?
Without going into too much detail, the hull features 4 all-new Hurricane proprietary changes that no other hull (race or freestyle) has seen. We’ve been testing these changes on our personal competition skis over the last couple of years with various updates over time, and eventually got to a point where we felt we were ready to apply these changes into a complete & final product. What makes it so special is the science of the design, as to where with a freestyle hull, you want it to come out of the water. What many people don’t understand is that literally every little shape & line on the bottom deck will affect how a hull performs, at an extreme level as well. So with a lot of little changes here & there, there end result is an whole new animal.
What inspired you to renovate your designs?
Simply for the sake of evolution – I am a firm believer that everything can always be better. But this time, instead of taking another step forward, we worked to create a hull that we felt the sport would be seeing in 5 years time, at its current pace, not just the usual “shorter, wider, more rocker”. If you’re going to do something new, why not do something different?
Are there any particular details with your new ski that are different than other freestyle hulls on the market?
Almost all of the major differences are in the design of the bottom which makes it perform so well, which I would prefer to keep a secret for the time being.
One of the bigger details that separates us from the rest would be the composition of the hull, as in most builders will use one, maybe two forms of carbon fiber to create a carbon hull. I pride myself on how much experimenting & testing we have done with various materials to better understand the structural properties of all of my options, and have applied all of our research into building the lightest & strongest hull we can. The end result is our new Eclipse features 6 different types of carbon fiber fabrics, each applied to a part of the lay up where it is best suited for superior strength & minimal weight.
The Eclipse also utilizes all carbon fiber plumbing, exhaust tube, cooling lines, drive line all use carbon fiber tubing instead of the traditional aluminum or PVC. Weight savings are minimal for the 1100% price increase in materials, that decision was simply a part of us trying to build a hull with the best of everything.
Same with our intake & pump shoe – most use aluminum, ours are made in house of carbon fiber.
Is there any meaning behind the new name — “Eclipse”?
I honestly believe that it is the most advanced freestyle hull built to date – and since we started the project we have joked that it’s here to ‘Black out the Competition’.
I understand that this hull is currently not available for retail purchase, what is your reasoning for that?
The first part of that, is between the labor put into assembly & the cost of the high end materials we are using for it, we felt like no one would buy a $15,000 hull, so why bother? But at the same time, I’ve been wanting to create something to the absolute best of my abilities out of the love of the sport, between performance, design & engineering, and that’s where we are now. At that point, we’ve decided to keep production limited to 7 units, as this is the 7th hull model we have created, and keep them exclusive to our sponsored riders & a select couple of long time customers, to help give our riders a competitive edge, and as a form of appreciation to our most loyal consumers.
While some in the industry aren’t used to builders not selling out at every angle they can, its no different than what some super car companies do with their flagship models. There are plenty of parts that we make for our own personal use but don’t offer it to retail, however this is the first time we’ve done so with something as large as a hull.
What are your hopes for this new hull?
Simply to make something actually different than what everyone is used to in the sport, and that our circle feels is the best handling & performing hull for our riding style – and we’ve already accomplished that.
Now that things have wrapped on this project, what else is in store for Hurricane Industries?
Nothing else at this extent at the moment, just keeping up with production and finishing up development on a handful of small parts.
For more information on Hurricane Industries, visit their website by clicking here.