Not Just a Repurposed Snorkel Mouth Piece

When I first started thinking about the design of a surfing mouth mount for my GoPro, I was in Bali with my wife and kids on a 5 month sabbatical from real life. The days were spent having fun in the water with my wife and kids, enjoying Bali, making new friends and of course surfing as much as possible and getting photos and videos so that down the road we would remember it.

@beefsofficial - Catch Surf

Once I got back and got together with Greg, one of the first designs we tried was repurposing a snorkel mouth piece as the "Bite". We quickly decided we didn't like the feel, the breathing or the ability to talk when we had it in our mouth. The quest to "make something better, that has never been made before" was on. 

@coastalbrandon

We put so much time in on the design. We wanted a timeless part that was a mount that the more you used it the more you would appreciate the design and function. When we were doing the preliminary design and research we had surfers, dentists, orthodontists, mouth guard manufacturers, 3D printing gurus, CAD designers and more weighing in on the design and how best to make the fit, feel and utility what we wanted.

@RyanHipwood

We wanted it to be so much more than that first snorkel mouth piece that we had tried and knew everyone else was going to use because "it worked" We wanted something that was a lot better than something the was chosen just because it was easy and "it worked". After nine generations of 3D printed prototypes that went around the world, we had the design that checked out on all our design parameters. Fit, feel, customization, breathability, duck dive performance, switching from mouth to hand mid wave performance, the ability to talk with it in, the ability to paddle hard with it in with being able to keep the mount in your mouth with only having to apply minimal pressure, the ability to use it out of the water as a handle and as a tripod or hook and the ability to fold it and put it in your pocket when not in use.

Michi Prado

It ended up taking us 6 months longer than we thought to get the Grill Mount in stores because we were such picky bastards on design and quality control.  We wanted the seam on the side as small as possible because the the super slight bump, had us worried for when you've been in the water for three or four hours and your hands are really soft and that "nothing" bump suddenly feeling like a razor on your now soft hands. That one change that the factory said was going to be four days turned into three weeks. 

Chris Hauswirth

Anyway... judging from the feedback from surfers, bodyboarders, travelers, SUP'ers, brands, team managers, contest pros, photographers, athletes, stores, distributors and everyone else, the time we spent to make a timeless mount was worth it. 

@CoastalBrandon 

Thanks for taking our Grill Mount with you on your adventures around the world.

Ken and Greg.

Chris Hauswirth