Improvisation: How to carry a boogieboard on a moped.

This one has been baffling me for a week or so, so I just set out to apply my good Boy Scout sense to it. Turns out the solution is absurdly simple.

You will need:

About 12′ of nylon 1″ strap (or rope, or seat belt material, or rubber bands.. I’m sure anything will work if its relatively strong)

An adjustable buckle (I used 3 of them since my 12′ strap was actually 3 4′ straps snapped together)

A boogie board

Fins

Another bag is damn handy.

Step 1. place the center of the strap about 1 foot below the nose of the board

Step 2. Pick up the board and put it on your back, maintaining the placement of the strap.

Step 3. Cross the tailing ends of the strap over your chest and under your arms

Step 4. Thread your fins onto the strap, one on each side for balance, or both on one side for ease.

Step 5. Click the buckle together behind your back and the board. Tighten any loose slack in the arrangement. You are now ready to roll.

I prefer to add a large semi waterproof fanny pack to the mix. Its large strap helps hold the board tightly to my back and it gives me a place to keep junk. It also fits under the moped seat for convenience when out in the water. Makes it slightly less convenient for people to steal your wallet and stuff.

Study the pictures below and you’ll get a feel for the way the rig works. I suppose a dedicated surfer could also use the curvature of their spine to help shape the rocker of their board.. The stiffness of the board provides the leverage that keeps the whole setup in place.

Get it? Nothing to it. Cost: About 6 bucks (even in Hawaii!) board and fins not included.

So much for today’s supplemmental. It should be warm enough by now to hit the beach. Hang Loose!

Instructable: Underwater cam for 30 bucks.

Obtain a 6 dollar underwater film camera. I shot the film inside it (See results here) and paid for the developing. That sort of sucked so I got to thinking about a way to take the waterproof shell and adapt it to run my previously purchased 20 dollar digital camera to work underwater.

Took the film camera out of the shell.

Wandered around the house until I found something that would work. In this case, a dishwashing sponge.

Checked size, eyeball measured the sponge for cutting

Tore the brillo off the yellow sponge.

Cut the sponge to hold the camera up and left in the shell so the cantilevered transverse plastic jobby can depress the shutter release button.

Like this

Put some more of the sponge on top and underneath the camera for stability when pressing the release

Closed the shell around the camera

And took pictures.

As you can see from the proofs in this post, the cheapo cam is a piece of total crap. But if my design doesn’t work I’m not out much. Next step may be to put a better camera in there. I’ll post up some undersea results at the earliest possible convenience.

Maybe yet today