Feeling the Eel

Description of Trilo Bike courtesy its creator: 

ART: In 2015 we found ourselves running out of time (fancy that) even though we started 12 months in advance. The curved thin plywood fairing we made last year got crunched during the race so we started over. We brought Eureka Sculptor Jack Sewell onto the team and he has created the front fairing out of carved foam and papier-mâché. The fairing is a giant boulder with a four foot long trilobite fossil embedded in it. The floats and other features are painted match. We also made carved trilobite helmets, flags, tee shirts, and plenty of bribes sporting the Trilo Bike logo. Our pageantry crew will be back in force with matching outfits and displaying their new choreographed dance routines and cheers throughout the glorious race course.

ENGINEERING: We built the machine for the race in 2015 and have upgraded it throughout. We cracked the differential axle last year on Day 3, which nearly put us out of the race, but we made good use of several ratchet straps to keep it in place and we still Aced the race and won Best Engineering and Most Improved to boot. This year we rebuilt the rear end with additional axle supports for the new differential axle. We built an entirely new set of 29” wheels and have upgraded our sand tracks after we pretty much shredded off our previous design after Dead Man’s Drop last year. We also made a set of strap on sand treads to provide extra grip to the driving wheels when the going gets tough up the dunes. The low end gear ratio has been improved with up to 13 revolutions of the pedals to one revolution of the drive wheels. We added a bit more foam to our pontoons to give us more freeboard and have made improved speed handles for operating the jacks that lift the machine out of the water. Our reverse gear will allow the machine to back out of the water and up the ramp. Our water drive is killer and last year we got scolded by the Coast Guard for violating the No Wake Zone on the bay.

OTHER: The Trilo Bike is a three person in line craft, which turned out to be a tremendously difficult configuration to build. Getting all the clearances to work with all the gearing, steering, brakes, and everything else took a lot of trial and error. We got pretty good at using the cutoff wheel and the torch. There is more engineering in the first two feet of the Trilo Bike than most builders put into their entire craft. Our machine is rear wheel drive and so we exit the water in reverse which is accomplished through a figure 8 chain (not so easy to do with a 40 Pitch chain). The machine was built by the father son team of Steve and Westin McHaney with help of Westin’s more artistic brother Carson. Carson is in Switzerland this year so pilots Steve and Westin are joined by nephew Andrew on the machine. Mom, Patty, created all the accoutrements for pilots and the entourage and sisters Zhanna and Kristina along with many friends and family cheer us on and provide support. Thanks to Jack Sewell for the greatly upgraded artwork this year.