Sea Doo Commercial 2005

 Bombardier introduced its first personal watercraft in 1968, called the Bombardier Sea-Doo. It was designed and mentored by Clayton Jacobson II, who would later develop the more successful Kawasaki Jet Ski watercraft. Also heavily involved was Bombardier's Laurent Beaudoin, who was interested in expanding the success of the Ski-Doo snowmobile to the water. Marketed as the "Jet-powered Aqua Scooter", the original yellow Sea-Doo was 5 feet wide and 7.5 feet long, somewhat resembling a flying saucer. For 1968, it was powered by an air-cooled, 320cc engine with a top speed of 25 mph. Following complaints of overheating and inefficiency, it was replaced for 1969 with a water cooled 367cc engine. There were common complaints about discomfort from its flat seat and minimally-padded Ski-Doo supplied stainless steel handle bars. After only two years on the market, it was discontinued.

The Sea-Doo was re-introduced in 1988 as its own brand under Bombardier, signaling a turnaround in the company's declining fortunes. Annual sales for the Sea-Doo were over 100,000 units in the 1995 fiscal year, at which point the company had captured over half of the personal watercraft market. In 1997 the company earned $212 million on the Sea-Doo.