Have It Your Way: WMF Watercraft Will Customize Your New Ski How You Like It
Face it. If you're gonna fork over the cash to buy a new personal watercraft, you're not really interested in having your ski look just like the guy's next to you. That's the benefit of owning something, you can personalize it to make it yours. Chances are your daily driver isn't bone stock, either. Even if its a bumper sticker proclaiming how proud you are of your 4th grader, we all like to put our personal stamp on everything we own. Individualism is a good thing after all.
Putting the "personal" back in personal watercraft, aftermarket parts suppliers, shops and tuners are helping enthusiasts personalize their watercraft to better suit their interests, hobbies or goals. Unfortunately, this process can be both time consuming and expensive, keeping you off the water longer than you might've hoped and sapping more money out of your pocket than you expected.
To remain competitive in this day and age, many dealers have needed to "adapt the message" to maintain sales. WMF Watercraft's blend of dealer, local shop and custom builder is a first for Millsboro, Delaware.
Tailor-Fit Fun
WMF Watercraft's service department works hand-in-hand with its new and pre-owned PWC sales, helping customers customize their new skis.
That is why it's so impressive what the guys over at WMF Watercraft in Millsboro, Delaware, having been up to. Pretty much the perfect blend of a dealership and a local watercraft shop, WMF is helping PWC enthusiasts get on the water with something that really excites them.
Rather than just trying to hustle new runabouts out the door, the WMF team offers a the client a world's worth of customizable options to truly tailor their ski to fit their personality.
Whether the customer wants to go cruising, long distance touring, racing, fishing or whatever, WMF Watercraft is committed to providing them the perfect PWC for them. This is only accomplished through WMF's staff of high-trained service technicians.
The capabilities of the service department is second to none, providing a gamut of abilities, from motor replacements, carburetor rebuilds, PWC restorations, performance mods, custom paint, powder coating, seats, mats, and more.
Of course, if you're not all that adventurous, that's OK too. WMF Watercraft will happily sell you a new or pre-owned PWC and keep it in top running order for as long as you own it.
Vivacious in Violet
Starting with a completely stock 2012 Sea-Doo RXP-X Ryan Peters wanted to surprise his wife Amanda with a very custom, very tailor-fit PWC. WMF Watercraft was more than happy to help.
No better example of WMF's custom capabilities could be conveyed than Amanda Peters' RXP-X. It started with her husband, Ryan Peters, who bought a pair of 2012 RXP-X from WMF Watercraft. Not exactly what you'd call a "his and hers" set, Ryan wanted to surprise his wife with a truly unique Sea-Doo that would be optioned just the way he knew she'd like.
According to Ryan, Amanda loves to get on the throttle (just not as much as her husband, who opted to have WMF build a gnarly 400-horse Pro Open RXP-X. Later on that build).
Working together with the WMF Watercraft Service Department team, Ryan opted for a fully array of RIVA Racing performance parts that would open up the Sea-Doo quite a bit without going "over the top." Additionally, Ryan knew Amanda would want her ski to look different from his.
He decided to replace all of the factory dayglow yellow on the RXP-X with a Hot Pink Pearl to match her Lotus Elise in the same hue. Needless to say, there would be zero mistaking hers for his.
RIVA's Intake Manifold Upgrade Kit dramatically opens up the air flow of the manifold by removing the factory air element from within. This requires a holesaw, which comes in the kit, as well as a billet end cap.
WMF Watercraft also installed RIVA Racing's cold air induction kit to improve the retuned engine's breathing.
Surprise Attack Craft
"We did the basic RIVA racing mods," explained WMF Watercraft owner Bill Forenski. By "basic" he means, they started by what many call "uncorking" the Rotax 4-Tec engine, both in how it breathes and how it exhales.
"First was an intake manifold upgrade," Bill continued. The factory four-stroke contains a very large air filter element inside of the plastic intake manifold.
The RIVA Racing Intake Manifold Kit requires that the manifold be removed and opened up using a provided holesaw. This matches the diameter of the filter element, allowing it to slide out. The RIVA kit provides a billet aluminum cap and cuff to close off the new hole in the manifold. This offers significant gains in air flow through the manifold, providing better throttle response and acceleration.
WMF's techs then replaced the large factory baffled air box with RIVA's cold air intake, and equally "opened up" the exhaust with RIVA's Free Flow Exhaust Pipe kit, with eliminates the obtrusive resonator box.
"Then we added a R&D Performance intake grate, a Solas 15/20R Impeller, RIVA's Pro-Series sponsons and a pump nozzle," Bill concluded. This ensured that Amanda's RXP-X would pull hard to its new peak 74mph - thanks in big part to a GPS speedometer override re-tuned ECU - at any speed.
Key to any good paint job is preparation. Thankfully, the components that needed repainting were removable.
With all of the eye-scorching yellow off of the RXP-X, the ski quickly changed its entire look.
A Woman's Touch
After the WMF team removed all of the factory dayglow decals, they brought all of the yellow plastic pieces to local painter John Wall, who color matched a hot pink pearl to mirror Amanda's Lotus coupe. The translucent hood screen was wrapped in a durable vinyl matte black wrap.
The final step was a new RIVA Racing seat cover to provide some added traction, as Amanda's new RXP-X would deftly outperform any stock ski on the water.
When the day came for the big reveal, Amanda was floored by what she saw. Parked next to Ryan's insanely-fast Pro Open RXP-X was her all-new, all-her violet Sea-Doo. Needless to say, her satisfaction was guaranteed!
A Bright Future
As today's runabouts become more and more like modern motorcycles, the spirit of individualizing them is becoming more prevalent.
Whether its a slight tweak in handling to give you a little tighter carving on the lake, a little more air flow to get some better mileage on the river, or a full-tilt build to really show off to the guys in the club, WMF Watercraft is seeing more and more customers asking, "How can I make this mine?"
Bill shared, "We're lucky to have RIVA's Dave Bambas, Armin and Mike work closely with us on all our builds. We are doing a FZS for a customer as we speak, and should be testing it soon!" We look forward to seeing what else comes out of WMF Watercraft in these next months!
It's your ski, you should have it reflect you. Today, WMF Watercraft can not only sell you the ski of your dreams, but set it up, customize it and tune it to your liking. Talk about full service!