It’s never too early to plan for the summer. And if you’re been dreaming up new ways to have fun on the water, the Waterpillar just might be right up your alley.
A manual-powered watercraft, it’s a tandem bike that lets you pedal your way over the water using two giant floating wheels. It doesn’t look like the most comfortable thing in the world (check the videos on the website and you’ll see what I mean), but the belt drive looks reasonably functional and the whole thing genuinely seems fun.
The Waterpillar measures 7 x 7 x 8.2 feet (h x l x w) and weighs a hefty 375 lbs. Granted, you’ll probably have to bring a truck (not to mention, extra muscle) to take it to the beach, but all that trouble should be worth the fun. Frame is made from anodized aluminum tubing and stainless steel, leaving it sturdy and corrosion-resistant. The oversized wheels are molded from high-density polyethylene plastic.
Seats are lined up in a side-by-side configuration, which sort of leaves it imbalanced when only one person is using the ride. It doesn’t turn-turtle even with that problem, though (at least, on the videos we’ve seen), so the thing should prove perfectly safe. In fact, the website claims it’s perfectly stable in any aquatic environment (we’ll see how true that is when the deluge of 2012 happens… oh wait, that’s just a movie).
You can now get the Waterpillar both for rent and for purchase in the US and the Carribean. Price is $4,600.