Battery Powered Kids: Motorized Surfboard
December 15, 2011, By Andy Hinds 2 comments
My twin toddler girls are obsessed with surfing. This would probably cause some consternation for a lot of dads, given the reputation of surfers in popular culture, but I'm pretty stoked about it. I would love to spend time riding waves with my girls someday, if I'm still sufficiently spry by the time they're big enough to paddle out. I'm sure they won't have any chance of getting caught up in the testosterone-fueled aggression and partying associated with surfing as long as they always show up at the spot with an elderly kook on a 10-foot longboard. Right?
My kids have never seen me surf (not that the sight would be very inspiring anyway), since my back has been jacked up for most of my tenure as a stay-at-home dad. But we've been to the beach quite a few times when the waves were up and teeming with surfers. Since the first few times we talked about surfing, they have used almost anything horizontal around the house as a "surfboard": towels, cutting boards, cloth diapers, their dad. They even use the prospect of their future surfing adventures while bargaining about finishing their meals.
"You better eat that up so you grow big and strong," I say.
"When I grow big, I can have surfing board?" they often respond.
"Of course you can!"
So once I got my hands on a couple of battery-powered "Mini Submarine Motors" from Tamiya, it didn't take me very long to imagine what kind of aquatic craft the kids would like to send puttering around in the bathtub or kiddie pool. I thought it would be easy enough to make a surfboard out of...something...that would be just the right size for their bathtub buddies to cruise around on.
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