I love when enthusiasts get crafty with their vehicles. Wild RV builds often catch my eye, but motorcyclists also come up with some awesome modifications. A viral video a little while ago tipped off the internet to fun-loving builders dropping personal watercraft shells onto their scooters. They are glorious.
I can’t get over ’em.
The idea of dropping a PWC onto the frame of a scooter or moped is nothing new. A hilarious video from 2010 shows some unknown rider just casually arriving to a motorcycle meet on his Kawasaki Jet Ski while wearing a lifejacket:
More silly Jet Ski and Bombardier Sea-Doo-based scooters have popped up over the years, including enthusiast Nick Stemple’s build which caught our eye in this recent Twitter and TikTok video that we, of course, cannot embed. You can see a gif of it at the top of this blog.
In the clip, Stemple’s wife asks him to come home so she can tell him that she backed her car into a pole. You quickly forget all about the pole when she cuts to Stemple pulling into the driveway riding a Sea-Doo. “yes he drives a jetski” reads her caption, raising more questions than answering them.
I had to know more about the scooter-PWC hybrid so I did some digging and found a WTAJ TV story on Stemple’s silly build. It’s called the Scootski!
His Scootski is a Bombardier Sea-Doo dropped onto the frame and running gear of a scooter. The first version, featured in that above news story, was based on a Honda Elite 250. Stemple created a YouTube channel to document his adventures with the Scootski. The build has been updated quite a bit since that story. The scooter underneath is now a much more powerful Suzuki Burgman 650. Having the Suzuki’s bones gives it a whole lot more speed. This thing can actually do highway passes. Stemple’s Scootski also features lights, a licence plate and mirrors. Yep, it’s road legal!
As for how something like this is even put together? Very few jet ski scooter builders post how their creations came to be but the Cunningham Garage detailed its build:
It’s about as easy as you think. Cut some holes into the watercraft’s hull, drop the hull onto the scooter’s frame and secure it using metal plates bolting the hull to the frame. Just don’t expect to take the craft out on the lake again. Cunningham Garage actually took its build on the curvy Tail of the Dragon, so it’s clearly more than just for show.
I feel tempted to make my own interpretation of one of these. There are plenty of beat up scooters and PWC in my area that would make a great platform for a build like this.
This article has been updated since it was first published.