Motor Action Media spent a week hanging out in the Jet Ski capital of the world: Lake Havasu City, AZ. We had the opportunity to go behind the scenes at some of the most well known shops in the industry.
JETTRIM: We stopped by Jettrim to have Pro Watercraft-style mats installed on our newest Jet Ski build. Jettrim is legendary for the highest-quality Jet Ski upholstery in the industry. The shop was packed with products and decorated with some amazing vintage memorabilia. While we were there, we were given the opportunity to see the creation process up close, and even take part in the process ourselves. Jackson, one of the awesome guys at Jettrim, helped me measure and cut out my own handle bar pad. He showed me the process of cutting, trimming, gluing, stitching, and putting this important piece together. While I carefully cut my bar pad out, I watched the other workers crank out several mat kits, seat covers, and custom chairs in the time it took me to finish my two bar pads. After finishing my bar pads, I watched as Andre installed my mats flawlessly. It’s not every day that someone gets the chance to make his or her own handle bar pad, so Motor Action Media was very thankful for this opportunity to get a VIP pass to the Jettrim shop.
PRO WATERCRAFT RACING
: The Pro Watercraft Racing shop was one of our favorite stops. The atmosphere was amped up by the loud music and the smell of fresh fiberglass. Several employees were in action when we arrived. We watched them work quickly and carefully, smiling and bobbing their heads to the music as it blared. Chris Hagest was very busy with his top-secret projects, but made time to show us around the shop. Pro Watercraft Racing has a very organized process of pushing their products through their assembly line. The tall shelves that line the walls are filled with molds for ride plates and sponsons, as well as the new products they are working on. The walls are lined with posters and plaques from Pro Watercraft’s sponsored racers from all over the world. Their intricate process for creating their handling components is clearly working, as Pro Watercraft dominates the market with some of the best products in the world.
QUEEN RACING: Motor Action Media popped by Queen Racing to see what Mark Queen was up to. Queen is famous for his incredible skills with tuning and building Hydrospace engines for some of the fastest personal watercraft racers like Mike Klippenstein, Gerry Wong, Brock Austin and more. When we opened the door, the first thing we saw was a wall packed with four-stroke Hydrospaces. Queen Racing was getting these skis ready for racers that will be competing this season. Queen Racing is also known for building fast UTVs, and the shop was also full of RZRs being modded and race prepped. Queen Racing was definitely busy with projects, so we were thankful that Mark had a few minutes to show us around.
BULLETT RACING: The name, “Bullett Racing” is associated with the most dominating aftermarket stand up Jet Ski hull – the Bullett V2 Wide Boy. We got to hang out with Rusty Geweke, and hear more about the process of creating these hulls and check out Bullett Racing headquarters. The Bullett Racing shop was crammed with aftermarket hulls of several varieties. In the lobby alone, three Bullett Wide Boys, two Bullett Hydrospace hulls, and a Bullett Blaster or two were on display on shop stands. The work area had even more skis on display. Rusty took the time to show us how their custom water boxes are made in-house, and showed us their Spark-engine Bullet V2 wide boy project.
DEVAS BLING: Motor Action Media had the pleasure of being present for the grand opening of the new Devas Bling head quarters in Lake Havasu City. Owner and “Queen Deva”, Stacy Britell Hawkins, showed us around the shop and let us see the process of blinging-out. Devas Bling is known for creating beautiful pieces of art by adding real Swarovski crystals to anything and everything. Stacy was an awesome vintage racer, and has stayed true to her love of Jet Ski racing throughout her career. A hot-pink and blinged-out Jet Ski is one of the first things you will see in the shop, as well as framed photos of her racing her Jet Ski. Stacy also had several moto helmets covered in crystals on display. Outside of Jet Ski bling, Devas Bling has also done tons of motorcycle bling. Tons of motorcycle parts were making their way through the bling-process. Devas Bling was definitely one of the coolest stops we visited in Havasu.
GASKET TECHNOLOGY: Gasket Tech is carefully tucked in a business complex. Upon entering the building you can see huge shelves of inventory all around the room. Plant manager, Susan Chapman Coland took us on a behind the scenes tour of the massive building and the process of creating their products. The main room of Gasket Tech was their inventory center. This room was packed with shelves. Each shelf contained hundreds of products, carefully organized and waiting to be shipped. The room next door was where the products were created. Ten or twenty giant machines buzzed and whirred as they ate materials and pumped out product. These machines stamped, cut and even screen-printed hundreds of different types of gaskets. After production, these products would be marked, organized and separated into inventory. They don’t spend much time on the shelf; Gasket Tech has orders sent out daily to customers all over the world.