rodndtube.com's (OLD) MyPaipoBoards Forums. Reading but no posting on the OLD forums.

[Birdie]

This is what happens when the oil industry 'meets' the surf industry...

Yikes!

Billabong Tow-in's Watch Out!!!

http://surfango.com/

[rodndtube]

Scary! I saw way too many of those powered surfboards as a surfers' swap meet one week ago.
_________________
rodNDtube
"Prone to ride"
I love my papa li`ili`i

[doc]

Those things, or variations on the theme, have been around for a long time. Like 40 years. Somebody always has this bright idea. Though the ( guffaw) Power Polo thing is new....and.....well, ...different barely begins to cover it..

Future games, leagues, and clubs are in the works. they say. Ah huh. I want some of whatever mind-altering drugs these people are on, to come up with some twisted version of polo, played from these silly things. Can you see a pond full of these jokers, puttering around and waving cricket bats at each other? I gotta set my coffee down, before I spray it all over.

I was on one ( in a pond) last year, when somebody brought a rebuilt/salvaged one by the shop around closing time...and the boss and me had had a few beers and figured 'what the hell'.... and twenty minutes later I'm out tooling around the pond while half in the bag. Hilarious. Barely made it to planing speed in a straight line and bogged on the turns.

Top speed- not more than 15 MPH. A little more than 2x faster than I can row. There have been some rather fast versions ( ~30 mph) , but they never made it to prime time, prolly 'cos the necessary motor weighed in at around 100 lbs or more and was two stroke and dirty at that.

Note that the website is about 1/3 functional, that the illustrations are photoshopped motion GIFs rather than actual stuff in use. I dunno if they'd have the chutzpah to show one actually in the water, 'cos it wouldn't be looking nearly as fast.

And then there is the power bodyboard.....

The Power Body Board finally lets riders experience flying on top of the waters. No longer is the body board just for riding waves, all of the fun that was once intended for the ocean is now available in your back yard lake. While lying down, riders strap the acceleration button to their hand, with the actual button against the board surface. Then all riders have to do is squeeze the board, or apply pressure, and you go. Once in motion, the Power Body Board maneuvers much in the same way as it would in the ocean. This particular product puts the riders closer to the water than ever before. The Power Bodyboard equipped with 300W brushless motor and advanced NiMH battery. Top speed of body board is 7 Mph.


Oooooo------ Seven miles per hour. Be still my fluttering heart. On a hot day, when the battery has maximum zip. Ciold day, well, try three mph.

The powered kayak version, with a 150cc 4 stroke (and thus around 3 hp) engine that they claim will do 25 MPH- in their wildest dreams with a following hurricane while being operated by an anorexic dwarf - is about the only practical item, and that mebbe for fishing.

Nah - this is something ol' Poohbah can pick up as a failed product in a year or so, before they get a certain curiosity value on eBay and get more expensive. Hint, get lots of spare parts or a dozen of 'em for spare parts- those Chinese Briggs and Strattons have never seemed especially reliable.

[Poobah]

I don't need to buy one of those things. I can just photo chop myself onto one if I want to be one of their team riders. Hey Phantom, they named one of their power bodyboard models after you. Please tell us you haven't sold out.

[Birdie]

Poobah,

I think you should photoshop yourself on one - on a XXXL wave - and send it in to Surfer mag...