When you have a winning idea, it's best to stick with it – and work on it until there's no stone left unturned and you have achieved what could possibly be a new world record. However, fame isn't what Ben Kilner was chasing after with the Wee Hen.
Wee Hen is the official name of Ben Kilner's new project, which he completed in early July, took on the maiden journey later that same month, and then on the record-breaking trek in August. Ben Kilner, a famous DIY-er, engineer, and entrepreneur, posted the full videos from this adventure just recently, which is why it's just now that the rest of the world is hearing about it.
The name Wee Hen might be unfamiliar, but Kilner's could ring a bell as he first rose to Internet stardom in 2022, when he created the Duckleberry Finn Pedal Paddle bike boat that he took out on the Thames and then out into the North Sea.
The two projects are closely related in that we wouldn't have had Wee Hen without the idea behind the original project, meaning an amphibious mode of transportation for one, all built from scratch and tested in real-life scenarios.
Photo: Ben Kilner
In this case, that would be a crossing of Scotland for the Wee Hen, one way on water and the other way around on dry land, thus emphasizing the vehicle's versatility. Wee Hen is a trike-canoe that Kilner built, also from scratch and based on his own design, with help from sponsors like donated materials or components, or food and gear for the actual adventure.
The canoe is what you'd call a standard watercraft, made of wood with a special nylon skin donated to Kilner by one of his sponsors. He built it from the ground up himself, adding the DIY drivetrain afterward. The recumbent trike is made up of a pair of salvaged BMX bikes, with the axle taken from a go-kart he bought online, and the shaft made from a Tenways frame he bought from an e-bike scrapyard.
The drivetrain is similar to the one Kilner built for the Duckleberry Finn Pedal Paddle bike, but more robust so as to deliver enough power for crossing Scotland on land, and more durable to take a beating on the narrow walkways near the canals.
Photo: Ben Kilner
It incorporates what Kilner calls the Pedal Paddle mechanism, a pair of duck (or swan)-like paddles that turn as he spins the pedals, whose design was inspired by Theo Jensen's Strandbeest. The difference is that, where the paddles were at the rear of the boat in the 2022 model, they're now permanently attached to the wheels and can't be removed when he's traveling on land.
The biggest advantage of the mechanism is that it's effectively zero-draft, which allows Kilner to navigate very shallow waters and even go through heavy vegetation without getting stuck – as it would happen to a conventional motor boat. The obvious disadvantage is that it's slower than a motor boat and that, in the Wee Hen iteration, it causes major splashing at higher speeds, so Kilner was forced to cruise whenever he was on water.
The 24-speed Wee Hen hybrid set out on its history-making journey with a payload of almost 179 kg (395 lbs), including the 25 kg (55 lbs) of the canoe, 42 kg (92.6 lbs) of luggage, 40 kg (88 lbs) for the trike's drivetrain, and 72 kg (156 lbs) for Kilner himself. The adventure back and forth across Scotland lasted 10 full days, of which one was spent doing only repairs: one of the mid-drive chains snapped within the first 5 miles of the journey on land.
Photo: Ben Kilner
Kilner spun off the road when this happened but suffered no injuries. Neither was Wee Hen damaged beyond repair, except for the chain that had to be replaced with the spare one and a crankset that got bent and had to be switched for a new one.
Kilner and Wee Hen covered a total of 225 km (140 miles) on water and land, sleeping at night in a makeshift camp, resting sporadically during the day, and putting in the extra leg work the rest of the time. The entire adventure is duly documented on the socials in parts: videos for the journey on water and videos for the trek on land.
If there was a record for the longest non-stop journey onboard a single-person homemade trike-canoe hybrid, Kilner would have broken it. But there is none that we know of, and Kilner didn't do this for fame in the first place: the entire adventure, starting from the moment of conception to the day he set off, was for charity.
Photo: Ben Kilner
At the end of his August journey, Kilner reported raising £4,500 (approximately $5,800 at the current exchange rate) for A Leg to Stand On, a non-profit organization that will use the money to acquire prosthetic limbs for children and teens in developing countries. Kilner is still considering improving his idea even further to take it into mass production, though.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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