Power Kite Forum

DIY GoJoe kiteboard recovery

elnica - 29-4-2014 at 06:02 AM

under $10 GoJoe

6" wheelbarrow tire in the kiteboard handle (my video says 8" but I just looked at it and it is a 6 inch tire, 3.50/4.00-6). Keep out of the sun when not in use. The tire will get brittle eventually. I left it in the sun for a week to get rid of the tire smell and it didn't last long. The second one is still going strong. If I am in swell or surf my innertube in always on my board. Get the one that doesn't have flat-tire-fixer-goop in it, when it does pop a seam due to sun exposure that stuff goes flying everywhere. It cost about $6 at ace hardware last year. Home depot and lowes only have the slime version. Even folds down inflated. If you need to body drag through chop/surf or have a hard time seeing your board when recovering it, this will help you quite a bit. It also pushes it downwind so you get to if faster.

Here is a demo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdlsdGChDQg

gojoe.PNG - 169kB

indigo_wolf - 29-4-2014 at 12:05 PM

Purely ignorant question....

Couldn't you glue up (3M Marine Adhesive) some canoe blocks?




Spendy at Home Depot, cheaper than dirt at mom & pop boating supply stores.

Just spit-balling....

ATB,
Sam

PHREERIDER - 29-4-2014 at 12:22 PM

how about just drag up wind, it is a fundamental step

elnica - 29-4-2014 at 01:31 PM

Interesting, I'd have to see it on the board to understand it better. It definitely needs to be removable in my opinion so not sure how the glue you are describing would work. The tire is not that floppy if you pump it up enough, it stays standing up straight on it's own. THe canoe block would definitely be punture resistant and last longer.

Everyone needs to know how to body drag, but when there is swell it is easy to loose track of where your board is when your head is only a few inches off the water and the board is upsidedown. Dragging through breaking swell isn't fun either. Most people have lost a board sometime, this would make it very unlikely, or at least very easy to find if you go to shore and look out or borrow another board and go out looking for it, or another rider is looking for it.

elnica - 29-4-2014 at 02:28 PM

wrong video link... just updated it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdlsdGChDQg

macboy - 29-4-2014 at 06:50 PM

Just adding my 2 cents...I sported the GoJoe for a brief moment in time and found that it caught SO MUCH wind the board rocketed downwind. In a good swell this would be a good feature (since the swell is usually travelling somewhat the same direction as the wind so it'll be easier to drag yourself). In flat water though I found it annoying and lost so much ground as I was learning that it frustrated me.

loftywinds - 15-6-2014 at 01:37 PM

Quote: Originally posted by macboy  
Just adding my 2 cents...I sported the GoJoe for a brief moment in time and found that it caught SO MUCH wind the board rocketed downwind. In a good swell this would be a good feature (since the swell is usually travelling somewhat the same direction as the wind so it'll be easier to drag yourself). In flat water though I found it annoying and lost so much ground as I was learning that it frustrated me.


I have to agree with you macboy. I have not tried these systems yet, but I get the idea, and depending on wind etc, you may end up way more down wind than normal upwind retrieval, and lots of walks of shame back up the beach.

BUT, still way better than losing your board entirely, which happens a lot. At least you can see where it is, which is the point I guess.