Krown Magazine Exclusive:

The World’s First Look at the Future of Performance Boating

Just for us, our friend John West, owner of Ultra Boats in El Cajon, unveiled his latest creation, and it’s a masterpiece! Four months in the making, and not quite finished, John invited Krown Magazine to his workshop for a sneak peek.

We would be the first people in the world (besides the Ultra Boats team of builders) to see what John was working on in the months since we spoke with him last. (Krown-Volume 2-Issue 1, 2004) When he called and said the boat wasn’t quite ready for TV or magazines yet, but WE could come down and take a look, we graciously accepted his invitation.

Built for well-known chopper/hot rod guru Jesse James of West Coast Choppers, (Jesse’s building John a custom El Diablo chopper in return.) the 27’ Catamarran sports a massive Derebery Performance Marine 632 cubic inch (1300 hp at 13 lbs. of boost) engine. And that’s just what’s under the hood!

The artwork is a first. Unlike ANY boat of its kind in the world, the graphics are airbrushed IN THE MOLD! The gel coat alone took 5 workers 64 hours to complete, and cost $60,000. (The total cost of the boat was estimated to be about $250,000.) It’s absolutely beautiful!

First choppers – now hot rods, we asked John if he thought this was the beginning of a new TV build. “Could this be the next thing on TV? It’s starting to look like it may turn into one. I would love to see performance boating grow in popularity like choppers have.”

There is actually a TV documentary being done on Ultra Boats that follows the entire build of this boat, and will be airing in the near future. (But Krown saw it first!)

Can’t wait to see the El Diablo that Jesse builds. If it’s anything like this boat, it’s gonna be extraordinary!

Thanks again for the exclusive John. We were amazed beyond words. Looking forward to seeing you and your newest creations soon. “Monster Marina?!?!”…

by Sean Marcotte