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TheAutoBuilder
Hollywood, Bikes and Boats
West Coast Choppers Meets Ultra Custom Boats
Author
Warren Kosikov
Photography by Steven Llorca
Ever see those boats on the TV show Fear Factor? Those are Ultra Custom Boats built by John West and his team in El Cajon, California. Ever watch Monster Garage? That is Jesse James from West Coast Choppers, which is based in Long Beach, California. What happens when these two guys get together to build a boat and a bike is what we have here.
“I’ve been working with Jesse [James] for a few years now on different episodes of Monster Garage,” West said. “That is where we started talking about him building me a bike and me building him a boat. I’ve wanted an El Diablo for years and love the way it turned out. He built me a 6-inch stretched El Diablo with a 124-inch S&S engine riding on a 280 rear tire.”
What West built for James is a 27-Shadow that was built like no other Shadow to date. While they were in the conceptional stages of the boat, West told James that they could do “just about anything in the gel other than images or words.” So what happened? James’ artist sent over a drawing that had both words and airbrushed images.
“Rather than tell him he couldn’t have what he wanted, we decided to do what until that time was considered impossible,” West said. To complete the piece of art you see here, it took two master gelcoaters (Martin Casillas and Jaime Reyes), two apprentice gelcoaters and West over 60 hours to tape and shoot the gel. A total of 300 man hours pulled off 10 ghost images and three large airbrushed images (West himself did all the airbrushing), all done in the mold—in gel—backward.
The dash of the boat features Livorsi Marines platinum gauges and race throttles while the bulk of the hardware was custom-made by Dana Marine Products. The driver and passenger seats sit on custom-made billet drop-out bolsters with iron crosses machined right into them. Dana also did an incredible job with the custom swim steps that have rubber inserts as well as iron crosses on them. In fact, every piece of billet on the boat, from the deck hardware to the battery boxes, was custom-made by Dana. And, of course, its famous hydraulic engine hatch hinges are also on this boat.
The scoop that sits atop the engine hatch is also a custom piece. “We had to make a plug and mold to make a custom scoop to cover the blower,” West said. This scoop was made just for James’ boat and also incorporates James’ logo into the tooling. To finish it off in true hot rod fashion, the scoop was sent to West Coast Choppers to be painted by famed painter and pinstriper Peter “Hot Dog” Finlan.
Under the engine hatch is a Dereberry custom-built 632-cubic-inch engine. The engine made 1,200 horsepower and 1,200 ft-lbs of torque on the dyno running at 13 lbs of boost. The engine is currently set up to run at 5 lbs of boost, making 1,030 horsepower and 1,000 ft-lbs of torque. Obviously, with that kind of horsepower, choosing the right drive unit was important. Ultra went to IMCO for one of its new 4×4 Extreme units and full hydraulic steering. To allow the engine to breath properly, Ultra turned to CMI for a set of its Big Tube headers, which went to IMCO to have stainless S-bends made in order to incorporate a set of cool Gatlin exhaust tips. The rig is also equipped with a set of HPI clamp-on mufflers for the times James will be running where noise restrictions apply.
A boat this cool needs to sit atop a cool trailer, and this trailer is beyond cool. West went to the premier company in custom trailers: Extreme Custom Trailers. The main stipulation presented to Extreme by West was that the trailer had to “be fresh and not done before.” The folks at Extreme believe in building a trailer to add value to the boat not only aesthetically but also on a performance basis.
“This is one outrageous trailer, but if you subtract the bling-bling, there are some very important features that are in the trailer that any customer should have on his trailer,” said Tom from Extreme. “This is as much a go trailer as it is a show trailer.”
The trailer utilizes torsion axles, which means it has independent suspension to absorb the bumps. With the rubber insert, it also provides a smoother ride. The disc brakes on the axles were designed with the marine market in mind, and the braking system is powered by an electric-over-hydraulic actuator, which allows braking on demand. This system is better than surge brakes, according to Extreme, because “when you are traveling down a steep grade, the trailer and boat…[are] trying to outrun the tow vehicle, causing the surge brakes to engage, thus causing brake burn ups. With the electric-over-hydraulic [actuator], the system is tied to a brake control box and is only activated when you depress the brake pedal.”
Since West Coast Choppers is near the ocean and the boat might see some saltwater, the trailer frame is built with galvanized steel. Extreme Custom Trailers has a GalvaTube line which allows a person to have the performance of a galvanized trailer with the looks of a painted trailer.
The trailer rolls on 20-inch custom Jesse James wheels, and Extreme carried the theme of the bullet shells, cobwebs and iron crosses throughout the trailer. Other special features include a truss system supporting the bunks and gills for the side of the frame and LED lights all over the trailer. Lastly, a watertight camera was installed in the rear light housing so James can see what is behind him.
The crew of Martin Barnes, Ryan Aguilar and Joe Lavigne of Advanced Audio in El Cajon, California, took care of the audio needs for James’ boat. Speakers are aplenty and include eight JL Audio coaxials, four JL Audio 10-inch subwoofers, two JL Audio amps and a Pioneer head unit.
Jesse James will no doubt have some fun with this boat. As for how fast he will be going, all the folks at Ultra say that the boat will meet James’ requirements.
