Waterpillar....start to finish...

So it begins...........

The Waterpillar began in 2001 as a sketch on the back of a napkin at Hart Designs, a company manufacturing Portage Pal canoe and kayak trailers and carts. One Waterpillar was built by the owner for his children and was used on Lake Minnetonka for the summer. There was no intention of producing these at that time since the Portage Pal trailer business was growing. To get a name for the new product, an 18 x 18 photo was displayed at the Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City where Portage Pal trailers have a booth annually. A contest was conducted for a name for this unusual craft and out of 155 entries one was chosen. Waterpillar finally had a name!

Shortly thereafter, due to unintended circumstances, the Waterpillar would not remain undeveloped. Soon it showed up in Popular Mechanics Magazine, on the cover of the Hammacher Schlemmer catalog (Sky Mall) and in their show window on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, and on the WGN Morning show in Chicago, and suddenly Hart Designs had orders for a product that was at best a prototype. 

What had been just a good idea for another Water Toy now became another product that needed to be developed.  The overwhelming interest in the Waterpillar has never changed.  For beach rentals there have been no new products other than kayaks for twenty years and it appeared that the Waterpillar would fill this void. 

It has been said that start-up companies take twice as long as anticipated and cost twice as much as anticipated. In the case of Waterpillar it took 4 times as long as expected and cost 4 times as much money as expected to create a product and develop a market for this new product…..but create a cool product and develop and international market they did!

 Now it was time to develop the product and production facilities and to develop a network of domestic and international dealers.

The wheels underwent numerous changes to defeat vandalism and hold up to the rigors of rental businesses and camp usage on both fresh water and sea water. 
The drive mechanisms went through rigorous testing and changes to ensure almost absolutely no maintenance.  This is required even in the most corrosive sand and salt conditions of ocean beach rentals (since the vendors expect no almost no maintenance). 
 A water cannon that shoots 50 feet at a rate of 60 times per minute was also added to each..

MTV  showcased Waterpillars on two of their shows, 'Parental Control' and 'Exposed'.

As changes were made additional beach time was required to test the modifications.  Since it was assumed that the US would be only a small portion of the market,  the product had to be 'absolutely bullet proof since Waterpillar, Inc. would not be able to service them and spare parts would take some time to ship.  A few were shipped prematurely to various parts of the world including the UAE,  England and Germany, but for the most part they were delivered only within the US until Spring of 2010 so any changes that needed to be made could be incorporated into existing units without exhorbitant shipping charges.

In 2010 , all parts of the Waterpillar had been tested and retested and Waterpillar, Inc. began taking orders from outside the US and began actively  pursuing sales from summer camps within the US.  New aluminum cast wheel molds were purchased and production of wheels was simplified and quality improved.   Waterpillar, Inc. is in compliance with European regulations and has a CE Mark.

Waterpillars were shown and orders taken at the EAS show in Amsterdam, IAAPA show in Vegas, and the Tri-State camping show in Jersey City.  Shipping was streamlined and the manufacturing facilities are being upgraded to allow Waterpillar to begin marketing world-wide.  Inroads have been made into camps, beach resorts, and resort operations in Mexico and the Caribbean, as well as  Australia, Berlin , and U.K.  Potential dealers have contacted Waterpillar from every single country in South America.

Motorized versions have been requested from Berlin, UK, and Phoenix dealers and we have just now been testing a motorized land verion and a motorized water version. . The motor unit will be sold separately and all Waterpillars shipped will be outfitted to accept the power unit.

To see land and water versions in action, see www.youtube.com/watch?v=v87pHoS2kBU

For MTV videos and videos on rough and calm water and on ice go to http://www.waterpillar.net/