Enhancing Our Love of the Water: Cayago’s Seabob F5 Series
I first discovered the Seabob F5 from Cayago AG when revisiting some of the luxury watercraft from 2012. If you are interested, you can read more about a variety of luxury seacraft from a decade ago here:
Cayago AG is based in Stuttgart, Germany, and they pride themselves on manufacturing what they call the world’s fastest “water sled.” Think of a water sled as a compact version of a Waverunner that you can use to “sled” over the water surface or submerge to convey yourself underneath the water.
These water sleds have a starting price of 10,000 dollars (not including freight). I was anxious to see what this 2012 luxury watercraft had to offer and what improvements they had made. Using the latest electric motor and battery technology, they have made their entry-level F5 a very sleek and speedy water conveyance device. With a maximum speed of 8.7 mph above water and eight mph submerged, this device will get you from start to finish while looking good doing it.
The F5 is equipped with four power levels and a run-time of 50 minutes. Once the battery is depleted, expect a recharge time of 8 hours to bring this back to full power. The well-thought-out cockpit displays your speed and engine temperature: your depth and the battery level.
When you step up to the F5S model, you see increases in speed and battery size. For those looking to max out all of the features and options, the F5SR is available.
Expect the F5S to achieve a speed of 12mph above water and slightly less submerged. The F5SR will reach a maximum speed of 13.6 mph above water and 12.4 underneath. They both have larger batteries and will give you a 60 and 70 minutes runtime, respectively. These step-up models are also equipped with shorter charge times (7hr) and additional power levels (F5S has six and the F5SR has 7).
Expect to pay $13,000 for the F5S and $17,300 for the F5SR models, and yes, custom colors are available. As I understand it, you can get very creative with your color scheme with their availability. See a sampling here:
Added Features:
All three models are equipped with safety features limiting dive depth to about 2.5 meters or 8 feet. When deactivating the safety feature, you can reach a maximum depth rating of 40 meters or 131 feet.
With a starting weight of only 64 lbs, these aren’t the lightest pieces of equipment, but they are in the same class as a standard e-bike—the F5SR tops out at 77lbs.
If you opt for the top model, F5SR, it comes equipped with two integrated HD cameras for those (can’t miss moments). Also included are tail fins (Charcoal above) for appearance and increased underwater maneuverability.
