Tim has always enjoyed boating and jet skis, so it became somewhat a natural extension that he tried to expand his horizons to the water.

Using some of the experience he acquired building the jet quad runners, he built a jet-powered jet ski when the jet skis became popular. I thought I'd try it, and see what would happen, he recalls.

it was powered by a surplus Teledyne J-402 engine used in a Cruise missle. The engine developed 700 lbs. of thrust.

He says, I was trying to expand into watersports and even went to Sea World of Ohio to talk with them about the possiblility of doing shows during the water ski events. However, the thought of doing 2 shows a day did not really appeal to me, and I was the only person that could operate it.

We built it, then tested it at the Portage Lakes near his home south of Akron (where my dad had tried a jet boat many years earlier). However, on it's first paid show at a lake in northeast Ohio, it slowly sank going around a turn. It just did not do what I thought it was going to do.

In hindsight, it was a mistake to build it. It certainly was a learning experience.