Portland Adult Soapbox Derby Racer

This year, we decided to go fast for the Portland Adult Soapbox Derby. Chuck and Chris made a quick determination that a human body would fit inside the Yakima Skybox LoPro, so we got to work.

I worked the phones, getting donations from Chris King, Velocity, Formula, and Bike Tires Direct in order to get the vehicle rolling (and stopping). I also designed the steering system with a ton of fabrication help from Chuck. Finally, I built a new funnycar-style hood mechanism and sprayed some House of Kolor candy apple green on the lid. We took second place, and turned out a really beautiful car that was fun to drive. I learned a lot about steering mechanisms, camber, and wheel building in the process.

That’s me in the silver helmet!

Yakima EvenKeel unveiled at Outdoor Retailer show

EvenKeel boat mounts on display at Outdoor Retailer

Just announced this week at the Summer Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City, this is the Yakima EvenKeel boat carrier. The design includes a universal vehicle crossbar clamp and a flexible saddle top to conform to various boat hull shapes. Four saddles and all the straps you need to carry a boat on any racked car for $99. I took this design over from Zac after a layoff, and pushed it through to completion. One of my best snap fit designs to date!

Read more at Kayak Shed.

Yakima Railgrab – released February 2009!

Hot off the presses, my very latest product design is now for sale by Yakima.

Now available: the Yakima Railgrab tower

Railgrab rendering from James B.

The Railgrab Tower is an ultra-flexible sport rack tower that bridges the gap between factory roof rack side rails and the Yakima universe of products.  It features an adjustable claw system which provides a multitude of vehicle fits without a multitide of parts.  Railgrab combines extruded and die-cast aluminum with injection-molded parts and a smattering of hardware. It also replaces six SKUs from the previous Yakima product lineup. I am really excited to get this on the market, as development has been ongoing for over a year.  I was the sole design engineer on this project from final concept to production.

Supra eKey: First Generation

My first design project, and the first-ever Supra eKey. This system is a set of peripherals for the Palm V PDA. It enabled Realtors to use the Palm V with the Supra AE-II keybox, and established a stepping stone toward the iBox system of today. I designed the mechanical parts of the cradle, and managed the implementation of the cradle assembly.

Yakima: 2008 Hitch Racks

The Yakima SwingDaddy, Flipside, and Doubledown were designed as a family to update the Yakima hitch line with current design language. I started working at Yakima in the midst of this program. My responsibilities included structural engineering and design completion of the Doubledown mast and tongue, adding a unique damping washer to the Flipside, prototyping and testing all three products, and completing design of many plastic parts. In November, 2007 I traveled to Nanjing, China to visit the weldment supplier and review first article samples.

These products were introduced in spring, 2008 and are currently on the market.

GE Security: Supra iBox

The iBox

The Supra iBox took real estate keyboxes into the 21st century. In addition to working on the team that completed and documented the hardware design, I was responsible for completion of all mechanical and environmental tests on this product. Since introduction, it has sold more than 2.3 million units and reestablished the Supra brand as the dominant player in the real estate access control market.