By: Blake

Don’t get a cheap one! I bought a $400 inflatable water trampoline from Sports Authority to use at the beach while I was vacationing at a beach house. The box was pretty heavy, but that was expected as it was a large trampoline. We got the trampoline home and decided to inflate it to check it out. It was 10 ft in diameter. I couldn’t wait to get it on the water. I had to deflate the trampoline and put it away until the exciting day of departure came. After deflating it tried to put it back in the box, but that wasn’t happening. It is the same story with inflatable mattresses once you take them out of the box they don’t go back in. That is a fact of life, but not that big a deal.

So, we finally got to the beach house and the water was calm. I wanted to get my new water trampoline in the ocean before it got too rough. I inflated and lugged my large toy into the water where I anchored it with a rope tied to a cinder block. Now all I have to do is get on the trampoline with the easy to use rope ladder, but it wasn’t that simple. The trampoline is about 4 feet above the water and the rope ladder provided was about 5 feet. This made it very difficult for me to get on the trampoline. Once I was able to get on it I tried to jump. This was about the time that I realized the trampoline wasn’t springy. It isn’t a trampoline if you can’t bounce on it. It was more like a tarp that was stretched across a large inner tube.After I gave up trying to make the trampoline work I plopped down in the middle of it and realized that it was quite relaxing to just lay on. Laying on it is kind of like being on a small soft boat.

After my vacation was over I decided to put my water trampoline on eBay to see if I could get some of my money back out of it. Sure enough someone bought it. The only thing that confused me was that the person who bought it was in Canada. I guess they were going to use it to sled down some hills. I can’t imagine them using it for anything else. At least they will get some use out of it.

If you are planning to get a water trampoline I would recommend that you get one of the better quality brands. Of course the higher quality ones are more expensive, but they will work much better. Besides if you are looking for some major air time you could get a blob attachment. Of course it wouldn’t be as intense as the blob in the video link, but it would still be a lot of fun.