When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. When life breaks your ankle requiring surgery (and two steel pins) and nearly crushes your larynx during the first round of the AquaX racing, you build a E85-fueled supercharged Sea-Doo…right? Well, that’s exactly what happened to Pro Open Runabout Sea-Doo racer Claude Clayton two weeks ago in Daytona Beach, Florida, and that’s exactly what the intrepid Mississippian plans to do.
Buoyed by sponsors Judge Motorsports, Engine Tech Billet Superchargers, Jettrim, Sea-Doo, Slippery Wetsuits and Oakley, Clayton plans to take a bone-stock, production ski and using only bolt-on parts, build a competitive Pro Open race boat that has awesome closed-course capabilities and will run 85mph while running on E85 fuel. Dubbed the “Bolt85 Project,” the numerical theme is hoped to be carried further by completing the machine with (or less than) $8,500 in additional parts.
Because of Clayton’s injuries and impending surgeries, master mechanic Tim Judge will be driving out to Clayton’s Tupelo, Mississippi home to oversee much of the building and testing the ski. You can look for future updates and videos from the Bolt85 build exclusively here at The Watercraft Journal, as well as updates on Clayton’s turbocharged Open class runabout, which recently received a newly rebuilt motor.
