Gold Coast boat maker turns power skis into floating lounges

A Gold Coast boat maker aims to turn power skis into party and fishing hubs, launching a dockable pontoon that latches onto the front of a ski with seating for up to four people.

The SeaQuester power ski-powered boat will cost from about $20,000 when it launches later this month, with the pontoon set up as either a four-seat “sports” lounge or as a two-seat fishing rig. Initially, it will fit either SeaDoo and Yamaha products before potentially being expanded to other more niche PWC brands.

Spokesman Damien Scully said the SeaQuester – ideal for the enclosed waters around the Gold Coast – would even come with an optional slightly bigger, circa $3000 trailer that could transport both the pontoon and the power ski to the water and back, where the owner could choose to launch either the power ski by itself, or with the SeaQuester attached.

The combined power ski and SeaQuester can carry up to five adults.

“We’re using a good quality trailer,” Scully said. “We’re using the graphics and designs that fit in with the jet ski itself, so it will have the same colour hull – that’s an option.

“We’re trying to fit the decals and everything else in the same detail as the jet ski itself, so they look like the one unit.”

SeaQuest will initially produce one of the modular pontoons a week, adding more colours and models – including a planned offshore version – as the business came up to speed, Scully said. Once it had established itself, the number of SeaQuester boats it would produce would ramp up.

“Obviously, with the Gold Coast being the biggest market for jet skis in the world per capita, that’s obviously a target market for us,” he said. “The boat is very stable in these areas.”

“On weekends [the Gold Coast] is a thoroughfare of jet skis and boats – it’s unbelievable. That’s where the market is.”

However, there’s a small hitch. Owners will need to register the SeaQuester as a separate watercraft and cover it separately under insurance. The upside of this is that when rigged with an electric motor, the SeaQuest becomes a boat in its own right.

Scully said once SeaQuester was comfortable with its Gold Coast-based operations – it is currently sharing shed space with luxury boat builder Maritimo – it would start expand into other Australian cities.

The SeaQuester Sport will come with all the optimised guides and straps needed to attach the power ski. Colour coding and seating are also standard, and in the fishing model two of the seats are converted into storage boxes, fishing rod holders are attached, and a bigger electric motor replaces the smaller one deployed for the Sport.

The SeaQuester will also come with a battery and navigation lights, as well as all the latches and cleats needed for tying up.

Scully said trials of the SeaQuester showed it was quite easy to use in enclosed waters. “The performance is unbelievable,” he said. “When you’re riding it, it’s not as though you’ve got this big boat attached to the front of it – it becomes part of the ski in the way it is designed.

“You are still able to use all the features of the jet ski, such as the ski’s braking systems.”

The idea of the SeaQuest was dreamed up by second-generation shipwright and former Riviera designer Russell Weston, and was picked by Scully after he started doing more freshwater fishing and needed more room around his power ski.

“With the jet skis, we thought this would give us a bit more versatility and the conversation started up with Russ,” Scully said. “He’d been two years into the project, so we said ‘we’ll give you a hand’.”

SeaQuester is aiming for a November launch of its first boat, with two pre-production hulls – a sport and a fishing version – already built. After it meets the anticipated rush of orders from Gold Coast buyers keen to snap one up for the northern summer, Scully said the time could be right to head further south and expand into Sydney by about June.