They never KUMBAK!

O.k., I nominate myself for the best topic title ´06 with this one. :) but the story is not bad either (if it wasn´t so sad):

Kumbak, the Vekoma split-off has built a water coaster for De Efteling which is themed to the hilt and should have opened next week.

During construction there was already a money-problem between Kumbak and Efteling which lead to a building stop.

But two weeks ago, pictures appeared that showed a test-vehicle stranded on the track. Rumours went wild, but soon the grand opening was indeed cancelled!

It seems that Kumbak really messed up big time with this ride. And it is not the for the first time: Last year Kumbak delivered a new train for Eftelings Vekoma loop/screw coaster. This train was not only ugly and un-comfy. It stalled several times!

Kumbak could beat Mack and Intamin as a hardware provider for the "flying dutchman" and I am sure they hoped to have a highly marketable product with it.

One of the features of the "Flying Dutchman" is a splashdown into a real lake. There is no concrete trough! The track is built right into the water and the ground is quite muddy. Now many people think that this could be quite fatal for the wheel assembly. After all there is a constant degree of mud and sand in the water.

It is interesting to note that the first test rides were completed, the problem seemed to appear after a few weeks of testing.

You can see a video of the coaster stalling on this site (click on one of the two, blue "hier". Its two different videos, showing the same thing.)

http://www.efteldingen.nl/forum/viewtopic.php?p=69704#69704

For some other pics of this amazingly themed ride, which has as well an indoor section you can go here and scroll around. It contains hundreds of fotos:

http://themepark.nl/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=934953&page=0&fpart=31&vc=1

Hopefully they can get the ride to work. Its Eftelings biggest expansion ever! If Kumbak will have another chance on the market remains to be seen. I was always suspecting that the people working at Kumbak were the ones who were responsible for everything that was wrong with Vekoma. Look at all the progress they are doing now and compare it to the failures that are delivered by Kumbak.

An amazingly themed ride! I wish we had something like that here. The detail was phenomenal!

To bad Kumbak is even suckier than Vekoma and the ride isn't exactly working the way Efteling would like it too.

How embarrasing for Kumbak...

They didn't use concrete footers?!?!

Un-Fing-Believable.

I'm sure they used concrete footers. Rather, it appears as if the water the coaster splashes into at its end is not isolated from the lake that surrounds it. That means that all of the silt and muck and crap that is floating in that lake is getting all over the mechanical systems on the ride's chassis. Stupid idea.

I'm not entirely sure that KUMBAK is at fault for the lake water, however. I'm pretty sure the planning/design/theming was done by someone affiliated with Efteling.

Granted, someone at Kumbak could have said "oh, hey there... ummm.... yeah. that's not a good idea, it will much up the bearings on the trains"

It's not like doing a splash-down into an actual lake is exactly a new idea...ever been to Lake Winnepesaukah?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Having a rollercoaster car "dive" into a muddy lake ain't the same as a boat diving into a lake. There's no wheel assemblies to clog on a boat I guess.

Vonkaputous (a Premier ride water coaster in Finland) has a drop into the water and stays attached to the track. In that case, the "lake" the ride dives in is a man made concrete wall and bottom lake, so no dirt or other debris.

Speaking of dirt and debris, I'd love to see that chain assembly after a couple months sitting in dirty water. That's just inviting crap to settle in.

So thats where noah's arc really settled?

"It's not like doing a splash-down into an actual lake is exactly a new idea...ever been to Lake Winnepesaukah?"

No, and RCDB didn´t help me either. What kind of ride is/was at Lake W. that splashed into the lake?

Of course they used concrete footers at Efteling but the ground is muddy and there is no extra trough for the track. The Boat on the flying dutchman will stay on the track at all times. The splash-speed can be controlled an a chain will transport the boats back to the station through a curved path.

But its only speculation that the mud is causing the problem. As you can see on some of the fotos, they are currently testing without water and it doesn´t work. Maybe they really messed up with their design and calculations?!

What kind of ride is/was at Lake W. that splashed into the lake?

An old-fashioned shoot-the-chutes. Pics here:

http://www.negative-g.com/LakeWinnie/2004/Lake-Winnie-2004-16.htm

^Thanks for the link. How does the boat make it back to the station? Even if it is a fairly short way, i would guess it could not come back with its own momentum?!

Momentum and current in the trough.