Electric Skateboard

In this previous post, I mentioned brainstorming an electric skateboard, and after doing research and finding various parts, I'm at the beginning of putting together some type of prototype electric skateboard. I'm basing my electric board off of the boosted boards models and am using my sector 9 reflections board. I like the flex and turning radius on the sector 9 better than a loaded vanguard, so I'm sticking with this board unless I find something equivalent.

True Manamana

Nick recently asked me to do True Manamana. I had only done part of the trail once before and didn't really finish it due to bad weather. This time we hoped it would be different but weren't expecting what we ran into when we did the hike.

I've also been making some progress on a new project I started: my own electric skateboard. After seeing the boosted boards prototypes and the way they function, I decided to try to save money and have fun in the process of making an electric skateboard powered by brushless motors.

What's been going on

I see that the last time I made a post was in May, about 6 months ago. In that time, I've been pretty busy and have only been able to do the same hikes I've been doing-the stairs here and there and maybe olomana once in a while.

I've been working on quite a few modification projects since the last post, and I'm having some fun learning about all the details involved in each mod.

Surefire Kroma Mod

I recently became interested in flashlights because I've gone on a bunch of night hikes and realized I should carry something brighter than a mini maglite. Flashlights have come a long way since those huge baton style maglites everybody is so familiar with. I did some research and checked out some LED lights online and found out there are quite a few manufacturers of high powered LED lights. I also decided that I wanted some color LEDs in my light, such as red and blue, just in case I wanted to use those colors out hiking. After exploring the internet, I found a flashlight that had those functions: the Surefire Kroma. The Kroma still wasn't exactly what I wanted, so I did some research online and decided to modify the light. There are other Surefire Kroma mod threads on forums, and a google search of "surefire kroma mod" will bring up most of them. I've decided to document some of my Kroma adventures here in case anyone else would like to try to mod theirs. I'm a little late to the party, but the Kroma is still a cool light.

The list of modifications I planned for the Kroma are:
-Change the power LED to an XM-L
-Change the reflector from TIR to an orange peel reflector as seen here
-Change the infrared LEDs to ultraviolet LEDs
-Bore out the battery tube to fit an 18650 battery

Here's a picture of my Kroma milspec:

My First Time to Kaena Point

On Thursday night, March 29, I accompanied Kevin on a night hike that was more of a walk than a hike. The real purpose of the night hike was to create a memorial for Kevin's and many other hikers' good friend, Leslie Merrell. I never met Les, but he was an avid and experienced hiker who was killed when he fell from the bear claw trail. There is a cave at Kaena Point that he is known for, and our mission was to carry quikrete to the cave so we could create a memorial for him. Kevin bought a plastic plaque with Les's name on it and planned to set it in cement. Since this was not the trail Les lost his life on, the more expensive plaque is planned to be placed on the bear claw summit.

Olomana in the day and Kuliʻouʻou at Night

Last night, I went with Kevin and his friend, Aaron, on a hike up Kuliʻouʻou. We started around 6 in the evening and were on a quest to find a quick and easy way to get up the mountain. We didn't take the normal route but took a different route that was marked with ribbons instead. This was after I went with my friend Aaron T., a different Aaron, to Olomana and to the Pillboxes, so I had an adventurous day.