Key Figures · Hull builder

Nick Barton

Called owner and founder of Krash Industries by The Watercraft Journal in 2017, when it reported the maker's KV997 engine and a ready-to-ride ski, and CEO and co-founder by Stockhead in 2019.

1. The early years, in print, 1981 to 1993
2. The makers and their machines, 1985 to 2005
3. Noise, safety and federal rules, 1996 to 2002
4. The rule book years, 2002 to 2018 (this page's records)
5. Three rule books, 2021 to 2026

1990200020102020

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Design and invention

2017 · Likely

The Watercraft Journal's report of 24 March 2017 says that, finding no suitable powerplant for Australian surf, he made his own: the KV997, a two-cylinder two-stroke whose parts are not compatible with Yamaha's, offered new for 2017. It quotes him on its connecting rods and pins, cylinders, carburettors and four ignition maps. Stockhead's report of 31 October 2019 calls the KV-997 drivetrain at the heart of the Krash product his and says he developed it, and reports him saying the idea came from the constant modifications he made to his own watercraft. Both report his own account, and the specification is the maker's.

Sources: Watercraft Journal Krash KV997 2017; Stockhead K2K Holdings 2019

Business

2017 and 2019 · Likely

The Watercraft Journal calls him Krash Industries' owner and founder in its report of 24 March 2017. In its interview of 15 November 2018 the company's National Sales Manager calls him the owner of Krash Industries, which shows how the company described him that month and is not the magazine's own finding. Stockhead's report of 31 October 2019 on K2K Holdings, which it says sells Krash-branded jet skis, calls him the company's CEO and co-founder. The sources use different words and none says when he took up any of them or which company holds the office in law (read in full, 2026-10-07).

Sources: Watercraft Journal Krash KV997 2017; Watercraft Journal Krash dealers 2018; Stockhead K2K Holdings 2019

2017 · Likely

The Watercraft Journal reported on 12 April 2017 that he pushed to offer a ready-to-ride Krash ski, that Krash's hulls, the Reaper, Predator and 50 Cal, would keep being made in Thailand and the skis would be assembled by him and the Krash crew in Australia, so that every ski went back through him before reaching the customer, that pre-orders were open, and that the launch of the JB-1 hulls had been six years earlier.

Sources: Watercraft Journal Krash ski 2017

Likely

In The Watercraft Journal's interview of 15 November 2018, the company's National Sales Manager says Krash Industries began in 2008 as an aftermarket hull builder and that its owner, Nick Barton, decided to offer a complete turn-key ski. jetdrift.com, repeating the company's account, also gives 2008. This is the company's account of its own history, and no held document independent of the company dates 2008 (searched the archive's mirror and research cache, 2026-10-07).

Sources: Watercraft Journal Krash dealers 2018; jetdrift.com Krash US launch 2019

2019 · Likely

Stockhead reported on 31 October 2019 that K2K Holdings had expanded its US dealer network from one store to 26 in 2019, and jetdrift.com, repeating the company's account, introduced Krash to the US market on 10 May 2019 and called him its CEO and President. The 2018 interview describes a dealership programme planned for 2019.

Sources: Stockhead K2K Holdings 2019; jetdrift.com Krash US launch 2019; Watercraft Journal Krash dealers 2018

Likely

The US trademark record for KRASH, for personal watercraft, surf skis and boats among other goods, shows K2K Holdings Pty. Ltd., an Australian company, as the current owner of a mark with a filing date of 7 April 2016 (an extension of an international registration), registered on 28 January 2020 and cancelled on 14 August 2026 because the registrant did not file an acceptable declaration under Section 71, a status that says nothing about trading. The record names no person. What ties it to him is Stockhead's report that K2K Holdings sells the Krash-branded skis and that he is its CEO and co-founder.

Sources: USPTO KRASH mark; Stockhead K2K Holdings 2019

Elsewhere in the archive

• History chapter: The aftermarket: hulls, rule books and closures
• Era: The rule book years

What the archive has not read (3)

• No held document independent of the company dates the founding of Krash Industries or K2K Holdings (searched the archive's mirror and research cache, 2026-10-07). The 2008 start is the sales manager's account, which jetdrift.com repeats. The sales manager also says the company launched its Ready To Perform complete skis around 2014 with the KV997 engine, and jetdrift.com puts them five years before its May 2019 post, while The Watercraft Journal's reports of 24 March and 12 April 2017 call the KV997 new for 2017 and the ready-to-ride ski the first, so the held texts do not agree on that date and the record gives none. An Australian business register page, seen only in a copy saved during research, that lists the name Krash Industries from 10 November 2015 names a different company and is tied only by the name.
• No result sheet names him (searched the archive's mirror and research cache for his name, 2026-10-07). The review site and a supplier's blog call him a freestyle champion, and no held World Finals, UIM or offshore result text prints his name, so no title or result is printed.
• No patent in his name turned up (searched USPTO Patent Public Search and Google Patents, 2026-10-05), and the only trademark held is the KRASH mark, whose owner is K2K Holdings.

Documents cited on this page

• Watercraft Journal Krash KV997 2017 (watercraftjournal.com): Videos: Krash Industries Introduces All-New KV997 Two-Stroke Engine, by Kevin Shaw (The Watercraft Journal, 24 March 2017), The Watercraft Journal, 2017-03-24; enthusiast media, medium. The magazine's report, under its editor-in-chief's name, on a hull maker's new two-cylinder two-stroke engine. Its lead calls Nick Barton the maker's owner and founder in the magazine's own voice, and the body quotes him on the engine's design. Medium as trade press for who is named and what he is quoted as saying; the engine's specification and the reasons given for it are the maker's, and the report's praise is not used. The held copy omits site menus, comments and the author note.
• Stockhead K2K Holdings 2019 (stockhead.com.au): K2K has plans to disrupt the $US8bn adrenaline motorsports market, by Sam Jacobs (Stockhead, Private-i, 31 October 2019), Stockhead, 2019-10-31; editorial, medium. An Australian financial-news outlet's report on K2K Holdings, which it says sells Krash-branded jet skis, built on an interview with the executive it calls the company's CEO and co-founder. Medium as an independent publisher's report for who is named and in what role; what the executive says of the company's plans and markets is his own account. The report's sales, funding and production figures are replaced in the held copy and nothing from them is used. The held copy is the text as read.
• Watercraft Journal Krash dealers 2018 (watercraftjournal.com): Seven Deadly Questions: Krash Industries' Mike Hodges on New Dealers (The Watercraft Journal, 15 November 2018), The Watercraft Journal, 2018-11-15; enthusiast media, medium. An interview with the company's National Sales Manager on a dealer network for its complete freeride and freestyle skis. Medium as trade press for who was interviewed and what he said; the start in 2008 as a hull builder and the launch of complete skis around 2014 are the company's account of itself and low as history. Prices it prints are not used.
• Watercraft Journal Krash ski 2017 (watercraftjournal.com): Krash Industries Introduces The First $12K Turn-Key Freeride Ski (The Watercraft Journal), The Watercraft Journal, 2017-04-12; enthusiast media, medium. A trade report on a hull maker's complete freeride ski, which in passing calls Steve Laham the founder and owner of Butch's Ski Shop and reports the maker's account of his help with US dealers. Medium as trade press.
• jetdrift.com Krash US launch 2019 (jetdrift.com): Krash Freestyle Watercrafts Ride into the US Market! [Video] (jetdrift.com, 10 May 2019), jetdrift.com, 2019-05-10; enthusiast media, low. An enthusiast review site's introduction of the maker to the US market, which lists the maker's own website as its source and repeats much of the maker's account, so it is not independent of the company. It calls Nick Barton the maker's CEO and President and says a watercraft was donated by its CEO for a recreation tour. Low as a repetition of the company's account; used only for the title it gives him and only beside a medium source. Its praise of him as a champion has no result sheet behind it and is not used. (as Stockhead K2K Holdings 2019 above)
• USPTO KRASH mark (tsdr.uspto.gov): KRASH, US registration 5969616, serial 79198027 (USPTO TSDR status), United States Patent and Trademark Office, 2020-01-28; government, high. The registry's status page for the KRASH mark, filed on 7 April 2016 through an international registration, registered on 28 January 2020 and cancelled on 14 August 2026 because the registrant did not file an acceptable declaration under Section 71. Goods include personal watercraft, surf skis and boats, clothing and retail services. The owner is K2K Holdings Pty. Ltd., an Australian company; the page does not say that company runs Krash Industries, so the tie rests on the name. Owner and attorney addresses were already omitted in the copy saved when it was read.

Cite this page

“Nick Barton”, BaddJet archive, https://baddjetarchive.com/key-figures/nick-barton/

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