Need more good blokes like you in the scene.
Holidays are fucked for me. My “family” theyre all religious fanatics, racists and sexists. I dont align with their views and never have nor will I ever. Id rather spend a quiet day reading a good book, going for a hike or a day drive into the country-side or maybe a bike ride or skate.
Yes! Few people can see even if you are “ solo” there are lots of shit to do. Get a kayak,or a sk8 and go make the best of things! Do something that makes you feel alive.
Square off against a good natured killer and see how you do,learn something about yourself,work on it if you don’t like how you do.
Id rather spend a quiet day reading a good book, going for a hike or a day drive into the country-side or maybe a bike ride or skate.
Here is the thing now days I usually go about my business,I only engage with people if they talk to me or I think you need help ,or you did something to someone . But if you see another person doing your thing stop and say hi,sometimes they tell you to fuck off,some times you might make friends,if not who were they,to you? Anyone? Do they matter if they aren’t welcoming to like minded strangers? I have a gruff disposition,I don’t expect people to like me,but approaching me to ask about my inflatable kayaks and my disposition will change. However I’m 50 I’m ok if you are younger,you will have to put yourself out there and risk something to get some thing,kinda like chicks(fuck me if friends were as easy as women are to meet).
It’s helpful to keep perspective,lots of people have your exact issues,unfortunately you aren’t that unique,that’s good it means there are like minded people.
LIFE IS A STRUGGLE,YOU CAN ONLY BE BRAVE IF YOU ARE AFRAID,by definition
To right mate. To stand infront of someone who wants to kill you as you do them is something very few can understand or have experienced what our sport and lifestyle is.
Greeting all, first post.
This time last year I was packing, deciding what to take with me, what to abandon.
I Had to leave San Diego, move to Florida, help 85year old Dad take care of 81 year old Mom, whose dementia was rapidly progressing.
Now, a year later, she can’t even figure out how to turn on the TV, that she just turned off, and the only time she can form a coherent sentence, is when she is angry and cursing me or my dad out.
So move back in with mom and dad at 51 years old, basically become their personal chef, caretaker, homekeeper, errand runner, landscaper, who can’t do anything right, and never could.
Gee, wonder where that self destructive self defeating subconscious came from…
Well before pandemic, my limited asberger like social skills were fading fast, as my misanthropy rose.
Dedicated surfer since I was 11, the overcrowded lineups turned into a total shits show of hyper entitled adult learners with zero etiquette, zero skill, and zero idea about the ocean, which so frustrated all the compentent surfers, that there were no more rules, just a free for all narcissistic greedy fustercluck,
So I basically stopped surfing, as it became an ordeal not to leave the water angry and irritated.
Not mentally healthy.
Then pandemic kicked in and i was like :"whohoo!, I dont have to interact with anybody, but my sweet sheepdog, and pretty much just kept on keeping on like that ever since, socially.
I’m now on the gulf coast of Florida, and am not going to try chasing waves the few times a year there is somewhat legitimate swell here.
Being on the water itself is calming, So I tried flatwater stand up paddle boarding, which was ridiculously simple, kinda fun, and good exercise, and my dog loved it.
Biased against SUP’s, I got a sit on top kayak, but had no good way of getting it to a launch. My ugly Vehicle is stored elsewhere, un registered, unmoved for 6 months now Cant park it in this neighborhood. HOA rules self important old douchebags and all.
I was thinking it would be awesome if i could put an E scooter wheel on my kayak cart, have it push me on my long push skate get to a kayak launch a 1.25 miles away.
Then I was like wouldnt it be great if I had an ekectric skateboard which could fit inside the kayak hatch.
So 8+ beers deep, late at night, I took my 47"long push skate, jammed it in the kayak hatch as far as it would go, measured 29.5 inches, and had a look around online.
Saw an Anzo ‘350 watt’ single hub motor that was 29.5 inches long, for 99$ on ebay and I awoke, hungover, to an email saying my electric skateboard had shipped, not ralky remembering clicking ‘buy now’
That was about 3 months ago. The First night it came, and after the parents were in bed, i charged it, took it out for a spin, but being so used to a long wheelbase cruiser, the kicktail short wheelbase felt unnatural to me, as unnatural as not pushing, and having brakes… WTF?
However, cruising around the neighborhood, even at a lowly 10 to maybe 12 mph ,without pushing, was, as you know, awesome, and smooth flat pavement was sought and soon i was quite comfortable exploring the limits of urethane traction, and wanting more power.
The skate fit in the Kayak hatch no problem, but of course is too underpowered to pull the 55lb kayak and my 55lb dog sitting behind wheels in rear well ,and my 190lbs.
I opened the enclosure, a 7s1p 2200mah battery, lingyi esc, Tiny power and motor phase wires stuffed everywhere haphazardly, mashed in there by someone who does not care.
Needing more power I got another small cheap board advertising dual 350 watt hub motors. for 270$.
It will do ~16mph, has a 7s2p 4000mah battery, and ‘Aladdin’ ESC, and the throttle is horrible and the brakes downright dangerous and jerky and inconsistent.
But, it has enough power to tow my kayak with my dog behind the wheels to the launch, and she loves it, we love it, and when we can get some time away from Demento mom, we are exploring mangrove tunnels, barking at cormorants, finding secluded bits of sand to play ball, and enjoying being on the water paddling for a few miles.
On the ride back, we are both barking the whole way, full throttle, about 10 to 14 mph, depending on winds. Good thing it is flat Florida, power wise.
But my eboard is a Piece of shit. JKing hb2, and i need to take front truck axle off baseplate to fit it in kayak hatch. Should have spent 150$ more for a meepo mini 2s, but, oh well.
The trucks are designed so poorly the axle pivot would hit the kingpin when wheels were still 1.25 inches from the deck, limiting turning radius, and i always liked loose wobbly trucks on my push flexy long cruisers for a super tight turning radius and rail to rail propulsion. and wheel bite brakes.
I fixed that truck imoingement , with a carbide burr on a dremel and blue shortys doh dohs and can now achieve wheelbite.
I spread the wheelbase out a smidge so the wheels would actually fit in the wheel wells on underside of deck, and hoped organizing the rats nest of wiring in enclosure would improve notchy unstable throttle and downright dangerous unpredictable brakes.
No luck there, but at least I could turn tightly without kicktail pivoting, the skill I’d abandoned in the late 80s when tiny wheels and trick boards became the norm.
Long cruiser push skates restarted me skating in late '94 when I moved to San Diego.
Whenever I Can’t think straight? Frustrated, annoyed? Jump on the esk8 and go hit that brand new ultra smooth asphalt, hissing turns at the limits of urethane, ignoring strange looks by people with only slightly more grey hair than myself.
A few hours without having to take care of demento mom??.. Tow kayak and dog to the launch, and bark at cormorants, and pelicans and jumping fish. Reluctantly return and prepare dinner. Salty and tired, but also recharged.
Sunlight and sore paddling muscles keeping me somewhat sane in this nuthouse.
I swear, dementia is contagious. It certainly is damn cruel.
As I type this, there epoxy curing on the hull of my larger Eskate over a mold.
I’m making an enclosure big enough for at least a 10s3p 18650 pack and the large yingli 'ebay ESC.
10s3p of 21700s might fit too, with a smaller esc.
I Decided to make the biggest enclosure that i could, within reason, than later figure out the biggest battery which could fit.
But my budget is limited.
I’m making a 10s2p pack for it, of Dmegc 15amp 2600mah cells which were 2$ each on Black friday from liion wholesale.
Molicel p42a were $4.50 then, and i got 10 of those as well, which i intend to make into a 10s1p battery for the lightweight Anzo penny skate, which while slow, is fun for hard tight hissing turns on local smooth traffic free asphalt.
It might also get diagonal dual drive. if the two motors are close enough in rpm on same esc.
I saw a parts only Jking board on ebay for 38$, as I saw new a urethane hub motor sleeve that might fit, was 22$.
It had a 7s battery of BFN 2000mah 10 amp cells. one cell was 0.22v, the 6 others 4.01v.
Plugged my other 7s battery into it and it fired right up. The 6 good cells are now in 2 3s packs for portable fans and leds. One of them, a practice copper nickel sandwich pack, with a JST plug i use for cell monitoring and balancing.
This Esk8 thing is helping to keep me somewhat sane, even though my equipment is a joke.
I was aware you guys were doing wild things with belt drives, huge batteries, pneumatic wheels, Hitting crazy speeds and ranges, and felt the tug, but no health insurance and not trusting texting drivers, and lack of funds, kept me from getting into it or even exploring how things were progressing.
I keep telling myself now, to go no further. I have enough power and battery to tow my dog laden kayak to the launch and back, but I’m hooked.
Gonna start fishing from the kayak, Have a dual hub motor Puiada 10s ESC, and a lingyi ebay esc, and know I will be going v esc at some point, and smart bms so I can see P pack voltages. Better hub motors too, at some point.
But, it has to fit in the kayak hatch.
No idea where I will draw the line. I apologize for having to start with such cheap insulting eskate offerings, but the first was a drunken impulse buy, the second one slightly less so, and if i had it to do over i would have spent more for more quality and ability, but would likely still be exploring ways to make it better, as DIY tinkering /spit and polish, is in my blood.
I made my own hollow surfboards, out of cedar, so i imagine these cheapo esk8s now flooding online websites, sour you all, much like the 100$ costco 'wavestorm ’ surfboards disgust me, and not only the shit ugly ‘surf’ boards, but the attitudes of their riders, who simply don’t deserve to feel the glide, in my opinion.
That’s awesome dude, there is a selection bias for high powered builds on here and that’s cool but don’t sell yourself short. It’s about getting out and skating and getting that mental reset so we can do what we need to do. Please do a build thread and take some pictures. I want to see that shit - it makes my day😁. Also I just can’t do Seattle cobble stone without pneumatics but when I find freshie asphalt its all about thane. It just has that good feel
welcome 
DIY making shit keeps me sane.
Escape to the workshop.
Dream of crazy stuff, and then make it.
Loved the story dude. Keep it up!
Sorry for your woes, but in the interest of kayak space limitations there are manufacturers who make folding boards, at least one of them sold the hinge separately
Edit: Old post from the unmentionable place
It was these guys, they don’t appear to sell the hinge separately any longer although their decks with the hinge are very reasonably priced & made with Canadian maple or so it says
And a couple of builds
I started with a single hub 7s2p alibaba shit board, but like you, it opened me up to the possibilities.
I now have a few decent boards, one nice one, and plans to make one or two more.
Since I’m also in a senior caretaking situation (frustrating and expensive but no choice), I know the power of esk8 in giving you some carefree wandering relief.
So welcome to the asylum, and if you’re a nice guy (which it seems) who appreciates and welcomes the assistance of others, you’ll get more help building out your ideas than you ever imagined.
Onward!
This was really well said.
He can come to the lemon party too.
Just because you and I use lemon parties to deal with our stress doesn’t mean it will work for everyone.
I’m hoping you bring your excellent lemon squares to the next get-together.
Thanks for the welcome, and the links.
I’d never thought about a folding deck build to slip into sit on top kayak hatch.
When shit board number 2 arrived, at 2 inches longer, I thought i was going to have to transfer dual hub motor truck and enclosure to shit board number 1 to fit in the Yakhatch, or trim down the kicktail, but then the truck removal idea hit me upside the head, along with some regret with my hasty purchase, as something longer and better with truck removed, would also fit.
Not sure how long, and I am going to remain willfully ignorant of that, for now, and continue the along the path of improving shit board number 2.
Shit board number 1 is a joke, but I still think it was the best 100$ I ever spent, and I’ve developed some mechanical empathy for it, and will eventually build a 10s 1p Molicel p42battery and enclosure for it, and with diagonal dual drive, it should have enough power to tow the Kayak to the launch and back, as well.
Gotta have a backup.
My 7s2p 4000mah battery gets me to kayak launch and back and is right around 25.7v on my return. so a 10s1p p42a battery should as well.
Shitboard number 2, I actually like the bamboo veneer and shape of the deck, but the handles are going to get filled despite being useful, as new fiberglass enclosure is overlapping them.
I’ve emptied out my finances for now, but have most all the major materials I need to get Shitboard#2 running on 10s with 1400 more mah than the 7s battery it came with.
I’ll start a progress thread in a while.
Regarding lemon squares, not sure I could prevent anxiety overwhelming me, even though 30 years ago I promised myself a regular mind body chemically assisted separation.
I love the reference but do not google the party variant. It is waaaaay different.
I love the story man, thank you for sharing. I wonder if the new age of uncultured surfers could be gently taught the “right” way of doing things. I see it happening at my local bmx park often when people will just ride to the top of the dirt lanes and hop right in. Then you hear groans from the 5 older guys who grew up there and know that there is a line but didn’t take 2 seconds to say something to the new people who were unaware. Don’t get me wrong, there are shitheads everywhere and some aren’t prepared to adapt to the ways of the past. But I feel that a calm majority voice of reason can get through some pretty thick skulls.
I have one of those inflatable SUPs just because I don’t live right on the beach and need to skate or bike to the launch so I feel you there haha. Nothing better than skating your way to another adventure.
One of the last times I surfed, in mediocre somewhat less crowded mid day choppier conditions, there were severaL beginners who were alway in the wrong spot, always in the way.
A danger to themselves and everybody else, and had no business being out there as they did not have anywhere near the skill to be where the waves had good shape. They could have been floundering pathetically, elsewhere, anywhere.
They were really irritating some core locals , and not being one of those, i waited for those guys to stink eye them into leaving, but they just ignored them. surfing dangerously close, through them
I was like ‘hey!’ , and 6 of them started yelping l and trilling like a pack of hyenas, about how they had every right and I dont own the ocean, and one muscle head was just looking for a fight.
They were basically walking backwards in circles in the middle of a busy intersection and yelling at all the cars driving by.
There’s no getting past that sense of entitlement.
So back to that bmx park parallel I was making: instead of the old fellers just giving stink eye to the new kids or yelling hey at them and trying to cut as close to them as possible (a danger to everyone, as you said) to make them leave, why not just take the 1 minute to explain the flow that everyone else is following? I did exactly that and told the newer guys that some of the other riders didn’t like getting cut in line. One or two said they didn’t realize there was a line and it looked like people were just watching, another got shitty about it. The next time I was up at the start, I heard one of the new guys asking where the line was and apologizing for cutting. A fist bump was had and all was good. Even the dude that got shitty with me came around when his buds didn’t match his energy. Those guys all ride together now regularly and none of them are total d bags (each are a bit of a dick in their own way, but hey… we all are).
Got enough negativity in this world already. Two negatives won’t make a positive in this case!
This is exactly what the world needs more of these days. It seems like a lot of us are looking to vent frustrations rather then educate/inform without condescension.
I give you one of my favourite posts ever:
I still think you’re a cunt Justin
Facts are facts
Ok,I was really drunk,could have said something’s better,but I didn’t,oh well take care
All good, following this thread is like signing up to get drunk dialed by your uncle, gotta take the good with the bad.
