Road or Water, Quadski Turns Heads

Four wheels and it floats.

It’s called the Gibbs Quadski.

Gibbs Sports Amphibians, the Michigan company that makes them, calls it a High Speed Amphibian vehicle.

But users looking for a James Bond experience drive it like an ATV into the water and then ride around on it like a Jet Ski.

The machine packs a 45-mph punch on land or water. It features a 140 horsepower, 1.3 liter, four-cylinder BMW engine and Gibbs jet propulsion system. To stop on land disc brakes are at each wheel.

They cost around $39,000, said Marty Skapik, owner of Cycle Springs Powersports in Clearwater, a dealer selling the prototype machine that was unvieled at the Detroit Auto Show in October.

Skapik just started selling them two week ago.

A small crowd gathered on the sandy banks of the Dunedin Causeway on March 11 as the fire engine red vessel left a circular wake around some styrofoam buoys just off the shore.

While the driver had some technical issues getting the vehicle back on land, the wheels open and retract in about four seconds.

The Quadski being used was a prototype that had about two years of testing on it, Skapik said. The company offered it for demonstrations rather than use one from the showroom floor, Skapik said.

In the first week about 50 people were interested in taking one out, he said.

“There’s nothing else like it anywhere,” Skapik said.

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