Motorized surfboards rev up for full production

Grand opening scheduled for June 14-15

MOSES LAKE - Scott Bachman, Wade Isaacson and Fred Stevens' enthusiasm for their product is both evident and contagious.

The trio are part of the team at the Moses Lake affiliate of PowerSki International, which has two names: Advantage Industries and surfboard manufacturing company PowerSports International.

A rental agency, Adventure Enterprises, will be offering the product for rent.

The company has been in existence for about 12 years, and on site in Moses Lake since the beginning of the year at its location at 3966 Andrews St.

While the company is operational, a grand opening is scheduled for June 14 and June 15, complete with demonstrations and the inventor of the company's product: motorized, jet-propelled surfboards.

Isaacson said the company expects to enter full production by September.

"What we're doing, instead of just jumping out and hiring massive people and having a melee, we hire one guy, get him trained, so that way we can ease them into it," he said. "We're still building boards and getting them out. That way, when we start the full line, everybody's educated."

The company is capable of producing 50 surfboards a month currently. At full production, it will produce 200 surfboards per month.

The company employs 12 people at present, but when at full-line production, they anticipate 30 people per line, with the capability to produce five lines with multiple shifts.

"That's why we're kind of taking our time to do it," Bachman said. "We want to do it right, so everything's exactly what it should be when it's under full production, so we have to make as little revisions as possible during that time."

Inventor Bob Montogomery originally began with a different product but it proved too heavy and had poor weight distribution, Isaacson said, but the company producing that product did not want to follow Montgomery's goals to correct those issues, so he cut all ties, researched and reinvented the entire surfboard.

"Now it's 45 horsepower, his own motor," Isaacson said. "Puts out a little over 300 pounds of thrust."

"Does 40 miles an hour on the water," Bachman said.

Moses Lake houses the company's first manufacturing plant.

Bachman said all orders are overseas, since the company has not yet been approved by the Environmental Protection Agency for the United States. Isaacson said the company is waiting for certification for a catalytic converter.

"We can sell them in the United States, but as an experimental watercraft," Bachman explained.

Bachmann was asked to join the company about two years ago, with Isaacson following several months later, because of their experiences with the marine and automotive industries and all-terrain vehicle business, respectively. The duo was brought on to revise some of the little issues with the product.

"I've never been much of a water person and as soon as I saw this two-stroke motor, flat-engine design they've got a patent on, I started drooling," Isaacson said. "Nobody's ever attempted to build a motor like this, it's 9 inches tall and 18 inches long, and to put out that kind of horsepower…"

There are more than 100 patents between the board and motor, Bachman said.

"That's the funniest thing about it, is you see people's reactions right when they see the thing, first time, and we open up the hatch cover and they see the motor, it's kind of the same shock factor: 'Wow,'" he continued. "They've got an ear-to-ear grin, but also with that it's kind of a fear-to-fear grin."

"To watch somebody gain respect over a water toy in 30 seconds or less is crazy," Isaacson said. "You give us 15 minutes and I can teach anybody to ride."

Bachman has lived in Moses Lake for eight years, Isaacson for six months and Stevens since he was a kindergartner. They credit financiers Dr. Stuart O'Byrne, Andrew Harvey of Irvine, Calif., and Jamie Weber as bringing them into the project.

Isaacson said Moses Lake is a job-hungry market with some of the biggest places for water.

"We want to make it a place to come and play in the water, and from what we've got from (Moses Lake Mayor Ron Covey) and people in town, they want to make this a water destination for Washington, period," he said. "That's the same thing everybody in town's trying to do, especially with the water front. It would be neat to have this as a vacation spot."

The company has distributors and dealers across the world, including Australia, New Zealand, China, Thailand, Japan, Europe, Egypt and Israel, Bachman said.

"We shipped our first big order to Israel," he said. "Just knowing all these different people from around the world, that's what we'd also like to bring: Outside worldly influences into the little town of Moses Lake, possibly make it gain in popularity in an international type of setting."

Stevens said the business will employ lots of people and promote Moses Lake.

"They want to have a water sports capital of the world image. We're going to give them the first, newest, fastest toy on the market," he said.

Cost of admission at the June grand opening demonstration, which will include live entertainment and vendors, will be $8.

For more information, call 509-762-2799 or access the company Web site at www.powerski.com.