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Zeltini Z-Triton | Game-changing Gear

This might just be the wackiest mode of adventure travel out there.

This 3-in-1 adventure-mobile – tricycle, boat and micro-campervan all in one – isn’t out of a James Bond movie. It’s real, it works and – if you’ve got 10,000 Euros spare – could be your ticket to the wackiest of post-lockdown expeditions.

Brainchild of Latvian design boffins Zeltini, the Z-Triton lets adventurers travel over land and water in one vehicle – and sleep in it too. Almost like a pedalo that’s been given the full Pimp My Ride treatment, this weird-looking invention has a kitchen and space to sleep for two. You also get electric motors, solar panels, dinky dining table, extractor fan, horn, comfy seats, USB charging ports, and so much more. It’s utterly bonkers – your very own floating house on wheels. Anyone fancy a round-the-world trip in an amphibious e-tricycle?

This is how it all works. In electric-tricycle mode you simply pedal, pulling the body of the vehicle behind you. Two 250-watt electric motor hubs and a 36-volt battery help take the strain off your legs, giving a boost of up to 40km depending on terrain, and if it starts raining there’s an integrated “aerodynamic umbrella” overhead to keep you dry. We’re pretty disappointed the umbrella doesn’t double up as helicopter rotary blades, enabling the vessel to take the skies, but we’ll let Zeltini off on this occasion. The tricycle does, however, easily switch to boat mode. The three wheels fold up, inflatable pontoons are attached instead, and you’re good to set sail across lakes and rivers. The range is about 10km and the boat is controlled using a steering wheel and power cables attached to an electric outboard engine.

Once the cycling and water-based antics are over, the stationary vehicle transforms yet again into a miniature house with a hatch. There is a tiny kitchen with a mini dining table, six small shelves for storing food and personal items, and interior lighting. Once you’ve eaten, the kitchen stuff folds up, removable seats are stashed away and the interior turns into a bedroom. It hardly looks palatial – perhaps more coffin-like than you’d like – but akin to a small two-person tent.

Other features include two water bottle holders, coffee cup holder, a fold-up passenger seat with safety belt, and a removable plant pot (ideal for herbs like mint or basil for your cooking) integrated into a chimney. The body of the house and boat is made from plywood and fibreglass.

Designer Aigars Lauzis, who dreamt up the Z-Triton during a four-year cycle from London to Tokyo, says the aqua tricycle has been tested rigorously and can be used in winter and summer for both long expeditions and quick getaways. Here at Outdoors Magic we reckon it’s a unique and innovative mode of adventure transport – but it’s probably better suited to deliberately “quirky” adventures. In many circumstances, it seems like an actual bicycle or kayak would do a better job (with a backpacking tent for sleeping). But some will be drawn to the eccentricity of the Z-Triton.

One such person is adventurer Dave Cornthwaite, who is on a long-term quest to complete 25 1,000-mile journeys, each using a different form of non-motorised transport. Fifteen such journeys are in the bag – stand-up paddle boarding the Mississippi River and skate-boarding from Perth to Brisbane in Australia, for example – and his next mission might just involve the Z-Triton. He told Outdoors Magic: “It’s not definite but I’d say I’m about 80% sure I’ll do a trip on it sometime.” Watch this space for more details.

In a recent Instagram post Dave wrote: “Pedal. Paddle. Sleep. Never fails to astound me how often a brand new form of non-motorised transport appears, just when I thought I’d seen them all! With 10 x 1000+ milers to go I have half an eye at the moment on what’s next, including a series of quirky motorised journeys. Loving the possibilities of this amphibious e-trike/camper by Zeltini. Where would you take it?” Judging by the comments, his followers were pretty impressed too. One wrote “I feel like this is what’s missing from my life”, another said “absolute genius” and one added “this looks awesome”.

The Z-Triton is available to pre-order on the Zeltini website, priced from 10,000 Euros depending on the specification. All photos are courtesy of Zeltini. For another game-changing piece of kit that enables adventures over land and water, check out the RuckRaft by Above and Below.