Whether it’s a 2-stroke or 4-stroke, SBT, Inc (Short Block Technologies) continues to lead the personal watercraft industry as the largest supplier of replacement engines, props and OE-replacement parts, maintaining an inventory and arguably the most complete array of PWC engine and drive line parts in the world. Their Clearwater, Florida headquarters is a continually-growing facility that expands as much as it upgrades in technology. Even with the addition of a top-level engine dynamometer, there is no substitution for real-world on-the-water testing.
For that, SBT maintains it’s own private 40 acre test lake a few miles away. Dubbed “Alligator Pointe,” the test facility is rife with gators and other wildlife as to be expected. Equally, a custom dock arrangement allows for hours of accelerated failure testing, pushing up to four skis at once through intervals of RPMs. Equally, the SBT crew uses a Stalker radar gun for speed runs. All of this is to ensure that SBT is employing the best practices in their engine development and manufacturing.
Below is a video segment from 2009 introducing the then-new engine test facility, Alligator Pointe. It’s a rare inside look at SBT’s commitment to quality, and in an effort to “further improve their engine’s durability and performance over OEM.”
