About

A Brief Introduction to Water Thunder Performance

I have been building high performance engines for over two decades. I first cut my teeth in oval track. Then became consumed with the unrestricted form of drag racing. While in high school I built my first 11 second small block street car and continually progressed onward to become a crew chief on a 6 second 715 cubic inch Pro Mod, along the way learning and evolving from each step.

Being a Florida native and living in Brevard County my entire life, I have always been involved in outdoor activities such as hunting, fishing and especially airboating. My first airboat was a 90 Lycoming on a Peanut Gore hull that had to be hand propped. I have since owned at least 13 different types of air boats. Airboating is my passion and it was clear to me there was a demand for high performance, light airboat engines. All the motors available were just crate motors that were not intended for airboat use. And the high cost of used 40 year old aircraft engine parts along with the availability of components made us look elsewhere.

So I took the latest most advanced light-weight domestic power plants and went to work improving them and testing them in an airboating environment. Along with testing all the available gearbox ratios and propellers. Since airboating is my passion, I started a business building performance airboat engines aimed specifically at the needs of airboaters. Over the past decade I have consistently pushed the envelope and improved the performance of our airboat engines while developing ways to improve power, reliability, and even fuel economy. At WaterThunder Performance, we tailor each engine to the individual's specific boating needs. From 11 foot ride boats all the way to a 22 foot work platform, we can build a power plant to fit your needs. One size does not fit all, so we build airboat engines ranging from 300 horsepower to over a 1,000 horsepower. We have also developed rugged, reliable, high horsepower engines for agency and search/ rescue boats. These engines also have the ability to run on poor gas in the event of a catastrophe! After Katrina this need became apparent when several agencies requested for the ability to run low octane fuel. It was realized after a catastrophe high octane fuel was not available in most areas. This problem is also common in Alaska where the fuel offered is usually a very low grade! We have several motors in Alaska designed to run on substandard fuel.

We have devolved a complete line of LS1, LS2, LS6, L92 and LS7 all aluminum Small Block Chevy's starting from 400 horsepower all they way up to 900 horsepower. These Engines range from 346 cubic inches all the way up to 440 cubic inches while only weighing 430 pounds. Even after installing a gearbox and radiator, these power plant's still weigh less then most Lycoming or Continental 6 cylinder aircraft engines. Our GENIII LS series motors make on average twice the horsepower of most aircraft engines plus all parts can be bought new at your local parts store. All of our components are new and manufactured since the year 2000, nothing is used from the 1900's. We have also worked hand-in-hand with a leading cam manufacturer to develop custom camshaft grinds tailored exclusively for our airboat engines. We have tested these cam’s on the dyno and on the water in our own boats. These custom grinds improve torque, horsepower, and yes, even fuel economy. WaterThunder Performance has also worked with two leading ignition system manufacturers to develop a reliable and tunable ignition system for our engines! If you want the weight of an aircraft with twice the horsepower we have the motor to meet your airboating needs.