Thrustmaster of Texas, Houston-based manufacturer of marine thrusters, has hired the father-son duo of Leonard and Jason Hill to join the company’s expanding waterjet team, joining waterjet sales managerJordan Tilton.

Jason and Leonard Hill. Photo courtesy Thrustmaster.

Jason and Leonard Hill. Photo courtesy Thrustmaster.

Leonard Hill joins Thrustmaster as a waterjet engineer. He began his waterjet career at Jacuzzi Brothers waterjet division in 1978. In 1984, Leonard purchased the waterjet product line from Jacuzzi and started North American Marine Jet (NAMJet). Leonard Hill invented the Traktor Jet, which combines all the features of the conventional waterjet with the added benefit of higher thrust, especially at low vessel speed.

Jason Hill will work as waterjet sales manager for Thrustmaster. He started working at NAMJet at the age of 15, later moving on to Motor Services Hugo Stamp, where he sold MJP and Alamarin waterjets in North America. Jason most recently worked at Marine Jet Power out of Sweden as U.S. salesman and program manager for the Ultrajet product line.

The Hills plan to launch a new waterjet model with Thrustmaster, a combination of the slow speed, high thrust, Traktor Jets Leonard designed in the mid-1990s that incorporates characteristics of high speed jets. It will be marketed as the Hi500 waterjet, according to Thrustmaster.