Category Archives: Transportation

Flying on a Hammerhead Shark

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Every once in a while a project morphs or leads into several different projects. An example is my hammerhead shark balance board Hammerhead Balance Board.

It’s made from a recycled desktop. I really wanted something different than a standard skateboard/surfboard shape, so I went with this design idea.

A balance board is like a skateboard but with a roller and track on its underside, instead of wheels. The board is 40″ long.

Just imagine a board that you stand on, with a movable fulcrum centered underneath. I decided that I would be less likely to break bones on this, as opposed to a skateboard – right!

Additionally, I thought once I improved my balance, I could add wheels to the balance board and it would morph into a skateboard.

Here is the roller that I will be using. I ordered this one from Vew-Do.

While building the board, I decided that I needed a balance paddle. So begins another project. I felt that I needed a safety stick (like a cane), so that I would not tip over while on the board.

Here is the balance paddle under construction. It’s made with 4 old ceiling fan blades glued together (a fan blade pair on each end) and laminated pallet wood for the paddle shaft.

I’ll show you how to build the paddle in a future post as well.

The balance board is not even complete, and now I am making a paddle too. But wait, there is more!

One morning I awoke from a dream and realized that I had been flying on the back of a hammerhead shark. So very cool I thought, “How could I do this – I mean really do this.”

Then it hit me, add a hydrofoil wing to the bottom of the board. If I could add the wing, I could literally fly above the water on the back of a hammerhead shark – a dream come true!

Hey, guess what? I am building a hydrofoil wing. I ordered this cool kit from Clearwater Hydrofoils. Of course it has to be fiberglassed, but I will learn a new skill. One post soon, I’ll show you that process too.

So, one project often morphs and/or leads to many others. The project fun never ends! What would life be without projects?

Woody Bike Box

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After completing my eBike Build, I realized that I needed a bike box to carry items back from the store, farmer’s market, and oh – the brew pub!

I have always liked cars referred to as Woodies (autos that have wood on the sides), and knowing that I’ll never own one, I decided to make my bike box resemble a woody.

One of my favorite woodies is the Morris Minor Traveller, also known as the Morris Minor Woody.

Here is a picture of one that I took when donating a used bike. The man who refurbishes the bikes and then gives them away, restored this Morris Minor Woody in his garage – it’s beautiful!

First step was to come up with a design. I took a bit of artistic license and came up with this layout.

I decided to make the box out of pallet wood. It’s free and it’s recycled – two things I like. Here are the two side pieces. I glued and pinned the wood together using toothpicks. It works really well.

In this picture, I have the basic box made and am gluing it all together. I set it up with a level to ensure everything was square.

In the original design, I had a center wood post on each box side. After looking at the box, I decided that it did not resemble the back end of the Morris Minor Woody. Back to the drawing board. I made a cardboard arch to resemble the arch above the car tire. I really liked this concept and went with it.

With the wheel arch cut and glued in place, I made a template for the side panels. I used a recycled piece of thin oak veneer that was already stained. It looked pretty nice.

Here is the final version. I decided to paint one side of the panels blue to match the bike. I added tabs to make the sides reversible – wood or blue. Additionally, I bought a blue Morris Minor Woody metal pin and added it to the back of the box.

Adding the arch was the game changer. Now the box really captures the image that I wanted.

Here is the eBike with box attached and ready to go to the brew pub, I mean shopping.