Taking my toys to the park

[jeff kushner]

Kerry came over Friday and we went up to Ft Smallwood park so her little boy I could play with my toys. Very cool of her!

Quick 2.5 hr trip and I had a blast....they have a bunch of these swimming-crescents in a row, great way to maximize the beach linear footage while protecting against erosion.



I set the umbrella, then took to the water....that hat has traveled a ton of miles to several other states and countries but it's time, don't you think?

I bought the dual-unit bar with r/h trigger to mount my Subnado's on to try out.

Very different than using the arm mounts, just as cool though. You can spin yourself stupid if you choose! LOL



Only one video clip.....

Signed up for a 3 day in Aug to Florida, will play there too of course....going to visit fam in Daytona beach then up to Mt Dora for a couple of days.

 

[NorCal tortoise guy]

Looks like a fun toy!!

 

[wellington]

Man, if I were just a little younger. Looks like so much fun.

 

[Yvonne G]

Every time I see a "picture of you" I think of Tim Taylor's neighbor. . . was it Wilson?

 

[jeff kushner]

You know W, in Jamaica, I got an octogenarian on one and he had a blast......I think anyone who can walk into the water on their own could use one. Even Dashi who can't swim trusted enough to try....and he loved it! The amount of exercise overall is astonishing, it uses a lot of muscles but you don't notice till afterwards. In Jamaica, my chest muscles and shoulders began to pump up immediately. I would not put someone older on it in top gear as it's a bit aggressive for some folks. It's not hard using but if it gets pointed the wrong way, YOU are going to follow it and we've clearly established, I'm not going to be able to catch you! LOL

Saturday, my neck hurt after using them b/c in the dark, cloudy water. I realized that on the other trip, the water was clear so it's easy to see where you are going but at the park, I held my head above the water to see and with the force of the machine pushing against that, it hurt later that night. I'll have to find a solution, you saw those rocks, I don't want to crash into them! Prob cost the county a lot of money to place them there and they don't need me knocking them around, right? lol The park is 7 miles away and I have my Senior lifetime pass......how cool is that?


Mr. Wilson; This made me laugh......

 

[wellington]

Every time I see a "picture of you" I think of Tim Taylor's neighbor. . . was it Wilson?

Yes it was Wilson. Now that you say that, it's kinda just like him. Always peaking over the fence just showing enough of his face but not all.
Yep and this back of head/hat pic is so much like Wilson lol

 

[jeff kushner]

I packed my Subnados' to go to Kerry's at 11am. I want to go to Betterton beach over there. It's on the Upper Bay opposite Aberdeen proving grounds. She said lots of jellyfish were seen but superman has never been stung by a jellyfish, even when others are being stung. I have no idea why but they don't bother me so I don't worry about them...makes sense to me. I don't test the theory though. I do have some super anti-jellyfish sunscreen that has traveled to two oceans and one sea, without being opened because I always forget I have it.

 

[jeff kushner]

The above didn't work out as I forgot the battery covers...ah well.

So, we can file this under, "just because". I got to thinking about these things and a guy on the net (prestongoes) built a rack with 6 of them! Yeah, right? He clocked over 12mph Underwater! Cumbersome, but he flew!

So, I looked at his vid and decided that he basically had a great idea that more is almost always better. I didn't like his execution as I thought his side by side configuration starved some of his units of water......each to our own ideas, that's what makes life cool. Anyway, I told Kerry that I was thinking of an easy setup for 4 units at once. I told her that I would likely buy the bare units(no accessories, none) but only if I could figure out a simple, therefore usable means of doing it using factory parts.

I ordered them today.

Enter pure American ingenuity; I simply strapped the arm strap to the rack-mounted unit, then click in the 2nd unit.....this will be on each side. I only foggy part is that while I can operate the finger trigger and the rack mounted trigger at the same time, along with the other trigger throttle for the 4th unit with the other hand......there's got to be a better way than holding them separately .....we'll see. I should be able to figure a way to strap two loose trigger-throttles to the rack(it controls 2 units) so I an hit all three at once.

I wore those straps on my arms, they aren't going anywhere!

All in should weigh around 13lbs.

The second advantage is that now, I have 4 units and the mounts for 5. I can take 3 other people with me by each of us only taking one unit which was fine for snorkeling. Very fine!

 

[jeff kushner]

The above would have worked but the factory rear strap is for going around your arm and I didn't want all that extra "strappage" waving around in front of 4 propellers!
So I ordered 1" wide Hook & loop and clips.....amazon, 6 bucks to strap the arm mounts to the top units. Once strapped, there is a hardware snap connect to the 2nd unit.






Simple, clean and effective. The bottom units are controlled by the finger triggers, the top units by the built in trigger. The bottom units aren't going anywhere, very solid install!

I weighed it, 15.4lbs. It takes 15 seconds to release both bottom units.....in case I just want a set of charged spares for the dual rack.

Buying the way I did, I have the dual rack mount plus 4 other arm or single rack type mounts. I can take 3 friends if I want and we can each have one! One was plenty enough....

This is just cause....well that and;

SIXTY LBS of thrust.

Research shows this was by far the best way to do this. The only other modular unit is the LEFEET and it's a max of two units only giving you a total of 36lbs of thrust for a little more money & the same weight! The pro level models only give you more time, for a lot more money!

Just a random sampling of the available models.

Model	Trident wing	Pegasus	Geneinno S2 wing	WhiteShark Mix wing	Asiwo wing	LEFEET S1		Subnado		FOUR Subnados With gear
Rated thrust	26LBS	37LBS	22LBS	18​	19.8​	18​		15​	x4	60LBS Thrust
Cost	$670​	$3,700​	$380​	$529​	$399​	$799​		$400​	2x$305 sgl bodies units=610 + 2x$399 full kits + $138(dualbar)	$1,550 Bucks
Weight-LBS (rounded)	8​	13​	6​	9​	10​	7​		3​	4​	15 lbs

This will be fun at the park!

 

[jeff kushner]

Just cause

 

[TammyJ]

Well Jeff, it's getting there for you all right, yah mon. Now all you have to learn to do is breathe in and out while you're zooming along under the waves 😄. Don't mind me, I'm just jealous! In my dreams I swim and breathe underwater naturally, and I also fly in the sky all over the world!

 

[jeff kushner]

Kerry's coming over tomorrow and we'll go up to the local park....I told her I want to do a comparison vid with the last one she made, just to see the 2 way and 4way setups.

Kerry said she fears;

In local News
"A Pasadena man is missing and presumed drowned when he was last seen being towed out to sea behind...."

 

[jeff kushner]

We went up to the park Saturday after running errands. Kerry is so patient with me, I was a little sketchy but once I got to play with my toy, I was fine. Like a little kid...very sad.

The 4 unit configuration did not work out as planned as often happens when jeff (or any of his friends here) embark on their schemes. First, it's FAST, you'll see when I get the vid up. For me, having it not work is never defeat by any stretch....it simply is showing me "limits" so it's not a bad thing. It was a blast, but like Indoor skydiving, wasn't worth the beating, to me. Trolling motors use a formula of 2lb per 100lbs for small boats. So 1,000 lb boat, with 2 men totaling 1500 lbs would require a 30lb trolling motor minimum. This is 60lbs. for comparison.

Most noticeable in the water with it was that it was heavier than I liked it, and it's heavy enough that I prob will only set it up to show folks, it's just not practical for me. If you look at how I hold it, you can see how the bottom units aren't "countered" since the grips are outside of the top units and would need to be extended to use it often. That put a huge strain on the wrists. Second thing, ....imagine if you will, holding a Electric outboard boat engine with your hands, and starting it on full blast...................holy crud it was fast but it beat you to death for every yard! The Jet wash alone makes it so you can't angle it at your body or it becomes self-defeating, right? It was too powerful to hold offset for too long a time- think doing an IRON CROSS on the ropes....same deal! I'm just not there anymore. It was doable for a reasonable amount of time for superman but not recommended for mortal folks. I ran it for a while as 4X then released the bottom 2 units to go back to the 2X on the rack. Much more fun.

Two units on the rack is fantastic, 4 racked was more work than fun as I look back at Saturday now. It was an experiment with no real down sides since we're taking them to Fla on Friday for fun AND, now I have a set of "spares". Kerry & I are supposed to be in the Washington Post next weekend in the "Weekender" section or whatever they call it. The kid was taking pics for their "local beaches" column, we chatted for a bit, nice job for a 29 year old.....it was fun.

 

[jeff kushner]

speed run....https://youtube.com/shorts/JuZOO4f4_ao?feature=share