Back yard DIY PVC rollercoaster with a 12-foot drop (video)

[Video Link] About this video, which is a few months old but new to me, I can put it no more eloquently than Eric Meyerson of Youtube: "There's a fine line between 'world's best dad' and 'Darwin Awards.'"

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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The Snowden Principle

hadlockk

Looks like fun for her and good exercise for him. I’m seeing no flexing of the track, so there’s clearly additional (steel?) reinforcement underneath the PVC. A 10′ fall out of that cart doesn’t sound like a whole lot of fun, but I’m pretty sure we all took a fall at least that high as a kid and survived with little more than a broken arm. Kids bounce.
- CH
  
  Yeah, I was worried about the same thing. And that there was no sideways support for the track. But the track didn’t sway in any way, so it does look like the dad knew what he was doing. Also, the coaster had a safety harness, so I don’t think the kid would fall off, either.
  
  My vote goes for it being a 9 out of 10 on the “world’s best dad” scale!
  - CH
    
    Oh, I just realized what the coaster most probably is… it at least looks like a baby snow sled. And with that I also realized that it is no more dangerous than sledding down a hill… actually sledding is waaaaay more dangerous as you can easily hit other people going down the same hill, not to mention hitting rocks and trees. I’m sure I’m not the only parent who has suddenly started running after their small kid’s (too young to be able to make turns)sled after realizing it started to go just sliiiightly the wrong way.
    - garyg2
      
      True, remember my (then) 5yo suddenly deciding to go straight down a hill on her bike rather than follow the path she was on.
      
      At least I now know I can still sprint if I need to.
http://twitter.com/JonnyMiskatonic JohnnyMiskatonic

Magnificent! Now I have dad envy.
anutron

Egads, at least put a helmet on the kid.
- mccrum
  
  I’d settle for a decent seatbelt with shoulder straps. The helmet isn’t likely to be fitted well enough or be kept on by the kid.
  - http://twitter.com/JonnyMiskatonic JohnnyMiskatonic
    
    The kid is wearing shoulder straps. You can see them over the back of hir coat and watch dad putting them on at the 23 second mark.
ackpht

Two words: rocket engines.
http://www.facebook.com/moosestudiospottery Moose Gueydan

PVC is wonderful stuff…I bult a flight sim out 0of it…(BG)

anybody remeber the Blue Flash- this crazy farmer in idaho builds this loop de loop roller coaster out of spare parts and a car seat…
- EH
  
  Blue Flash is classic!
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3kBkyf4Pzs
Antinous / Moderator

As someone once said to me when I was visiting her house, “You can throw the chew toy if you want, but the dog will still find it fun long after your shoulder is aching.”
Gerald Mander

I’m landing on the “cool dad” side of this one. Since it seems inevitable someone on this coaster will land somewhere.
Oren Beck

Presuming that “Material X” is the sole determinant of safe or deadly is not logical. The reality check should be asking to see the numbers or “some” credible basis for evaluating safety.
- http://www.nathanhornby.com/ Nathan Hornby
  
  I’ve got a whole stack of health and safety evaluations for when I was that age and climbed trees and messed about near roads.
  
  Oh wait, no I don’t!
nixiebunny

Looks perfectly safe to me, for now. The tall poles could fail, but that would just make it lean over to one side. PVC is strong and flexible enough that it won’t crack, as long as it’s above freezing. But the sun will eventually make it brittle, so it’s got a limited lifetime outdoors.
whoknew

I push my kids on a swing set in my back yard all the time and it looks to me like I am more nervous doing that then I would be pushing my child up the upslope of this contraption. In other words, it looks no more dangerous to me that swinging 8 feet up on a swing with no safety straps. Awesome!
IamInnocent

It’s perfectly safe and that kid has become Antinous’ someone’s dog soul brethren. The only problem may come whenever the kid grows up, gets drunk for the first time and decides to try the coaster “one last time”.
- Gilbert Wham
  
  Which will teach them the Gods of Fun do not like to be told ‘I’m not gonna play with you anymore’. Heed these words, O my people; if you stop having fun, a disgruntled small god WILL push you off a slide. And you will deserve it…
- ChicagoD
  
  Clearly you mean surf the coaster, because it just screams for a drunk surfing attempt.
Boundegar

This video is greatly improved by adding the music from the AMPA video, below. Start at 1:00 for maximum horror.
SomeGuyNamedMark

Somewhere a lawyer is drooling over this.
http://www.facebook.com/chaneski John Chaneski

The only problem I see can be summed up in one word: AGAIN!
David Speller

What, no credit to Phineas and Ferb?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjZ_Ueq15_k
http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy

looks well built, the posts are all seated in cement, and pvc pipe -is- cylindrical.
http://www.epinardscaramel.com TokenFrenchDude

What’s a foot ?
- GrueHunter
  
  Twenty bucks. Same as in town.