Cardboard Boat Races! Scout Troop 1103

[TheGDog]

Last night we had the Honor of hosting Troop 1103's Cardboard Boat Races!

Happy to say my sons Team actually won!!, with a time just over 29 seconds to go from one end to the other and back again! 2nd place was like 35 seconds.

Such a Joy to see the kids getting so into it and amped up to cheer on each other!

From observing the first couple of tries... All teams quickly learned that attempting to use their homemade "oars" just plain sucked so then they all paddled with their hands, which ultimately I think added to the intensity of the event! Was awesome seeing the intensity in their faces as they hand-paddled with a vengeance, HaHA!

And, as always, great to know you're keeping kids outta trouble.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

That's a new one on me.

 

[Beendare]

Thats Cool.

When it comes time you want to learn how to win the pinewood derby come to me…grin

.

 

[Patterbuilt]

Cool!

 

[beachbunny]

great to see kids outside and not face down in a ohone!
yup, pinewwod derby,mine was ugly ass,so was my kids but at least he won

 

[TheGDog]

Thats Cool.

When it comes time you want to learn how to win the pinewood derby come to me…grin

.

We didn't do half bad at the Pinewood Derby last go round of that! (Here that's a Cub Scouts event, not a Boy Scouts event)

Another MEGA AWESOME Event we have in this community is we do a SoapBox Derby race where the city closes off this street (til bout mid-day) which crosses over a Fwy so it has nice slope to it, and we bring in hay bails and volunteers to be the spotters to catch em if they veer off to the sides, or get them turned back around and back on track if they have spin-out or whatever.

Everyone is given the same build kit, that the Scout Leaders and Parents pitch in to cut pre-drill, assemble together in a packet, etc. So it comes down to their execution of it. How true everything is, whether or not they polished the copper tubing inserts into the wheels for least amount of friction, etc. That event is a Major Blast!

 

[TheGDog]

great to see kids outside and not face down in a phone!

^^^THIS^^^^ SO MUCH YESSS!!!

In fact... I was razzin' couple of scouts that were on the sidelines this day.

I'd look over an seem 'em all heads-down into a phone so I piped up with "OH My Gawd!!!.... That little Box is EATING HIS FINGERS!!!!. LOOK!!! It's Trying to PULL HIS THUMBS OFF!!!!"

Which got 'em laughing and then putting it away.

 

[MTPipeliner]

We’ve done the boats with scouts once, it was combined with other community stuff so I’m not sure what the rules were. The best “boat” was make like a kick board not a real boat.

we also do a pinewood derby for the kids and have done a couple for adults only as well the past couple years.

for the scouts we also do a soap box car race, cars are pre built and the kids just have to drive them, do it on a pretty steep hill and there are always just enough wipe outs to give it a little bit of a dangerous feel.

 

[TheGDog]

for the scouts we also do a soap box car race, cars are pre built and the kids just have to drive them, do it on a pretty steep hill and there are always just enough wipe outs to give it a little bit of a dangerous feel.

Yup! Yup! Being a spotter/catcher is no joke!

 

[TheGDog]

Meh.. alright... I guess it wasn't the styrofoam debris that happened when some of the kids were playing with one of the boats which employed that material to stiffen the sides, that blocked the kreepy-krawley. There was a lot of debris in the catch baskets and we had the wind and rain last week so it's possible a wad of debris may have been the culprit. Rather than something one of the scouts perhaps did.

While testing I determined it wasn't the underground pipes. I put back in the catch basket and left 2 sections of the flexible tubing attached. It wasn't drawing in like it should. Curious to check suction level I stopped the flexible tubing up a few times with palm of my hand. I imagine this caused enough of a change in the pressure in the underground piping that this action probably cause the blockage to free-up and dislodge, because bubbles returned to the spa and so forth. I won't know till I tear-down the filter elements again what was causing it.

But anyhoo... we're back in business and the more I thought about it... it's unlikely a big enough piece4s of styrofoam debris could have gotten into the pipes to be the main issues causing it.

There's the Hybiscus tree you can see in the photos. It's a relatively new addition to the backyard and unfortunately it drops a tons of the flowers and leaves. I put it in there because it reminds me of how beautiful my wife is when she's dancing Hula. (She did a solo performance for me at our Wedding Reception ).

But unfortunately I cannot allow that plant to remain. Anybody whose ever owned a pool will tell ya about the battles with Algae that occur at times. So I don't need to be feeding the Algae.

Figure I'll replace it with some RoseMary, that way you get the three-fer of using for cooking, keeps away mosquitos, and doesn't shed a cr@p-ton of leaves.

 

[TheGDog]

Thats Cool.

When it comes time you want to learn how to win the pinewood derby come to me…grin

By all means man! Send me a Tricks-and-Tips PM 'bout that!

We noticed ya wanna keep the weight-bias of the car shift a bit to the back. Keep the front-end light. Other than that just make sure the little wheels have the dry graphite lube brushed onto the little nails for axles before inserting. Use fine emery clothe to polish all those nail axles first so they're as smooth as can be. Then most of that is just ensuring you've mounted those axles into the car body properly level. And that you've sunk in the nail/axles just enough to where the wheels don't have hardly any wobble/slop possible... but still your coasting test proves they coast very freely.

What other secrets am I missing?

 

[Blacktailaddiction]

Huge fan of the scouting program and glad I worked and earned my eagle. Good on you for helping the kids down a brighter future and I am sure making lots of memories. And I won my pine wood derby race with a sleek car with weights loaded on the back end so I reached the exact weight limit. Added graphite to the wheels and it was money.

 

[Button]

We did this in physics class. It was fun.

 

[Sandstrom]

Another trick is to get the car to balance and run on three wheels, less friction if you have one of the front tires just off the track or hardly touching
Ryan

 

[TheGDog]

Huge fan of the scouting program and glad I worked and earned my eagle. Good on you for helping the kids down a brighter future and I am sure making lots of memories. And I won my pine wood derby race with a sleek car with weights loaded on the back end so I reached the exact weight limit. Added graphite to the wheels and it was money.

BTW congratulations an reaching Eagle!

 

[MThuntr]

That looks like loads of fun!

I did the Pinewood Derby and Space Derby (little balsa wood wind up things that went down fishing string). I remember not doing well in the Pinewood derby but killing it in the Space Derby.

 

[TheGDog]

Hmmph.. that Space Derby sounds like a cool thing for head-to-head "races".

 

[nodakian]

Cool idea for the boats. I will show it to kids' troop .

+1 on all the PWD tips above. Between my kids' cars and the 50+ I helped build over 6 years, those techniques seemed to show the best results. My wood shop was popular for building cars, and my kids and I built tons spares for other Cub Scouts, too. It was interesting to see which kids had a knack for tools, which ones were timid, brave, etc. They got to use chisels , hand planes, spokeshaves, a drum sander, and a big bandsaw (with parental oversight).

It was fun to watch them as I ran a dowel through the bandsaw and told them to imagine it was their fingers. They were definitely focused when it was their turn to cut out their cars.

 

[TheGDog]

I FIRMLY believe in the importance of getting kids into using tools as early on as possible. AND using that opportunity to explain to them about the Gotchas! that can happen with the various tools.

Thing is, if you give em a project, especially in woodworking.. they often learn about how they'll "paint themselves into a corner" if they don't get the order of operations right. Then they have to throw it away, and they get to FEEL what that's like seeing their efforts be wasted like that. It stings within you, ya know? So it's a phenomenal learning tool!

In terms of power tools... first one to show them is Drill Press. Much less danger, and they love being the one to apply the pressure to lower the drill. Plus you show them how you position everything ahead of time with the platform. So they learn how to "bring the work to you!"

 

[Opah]

Hey Dog That wouldn't happen to be in Cypress ? sure looks like the Back yard fences I grew up in. Agree One hundred Percent, my thing is Cars, basic Maintenance, changing tires, tune ups.
My grand daughter has in rolled in auto shop this year, she plans on buy a car next year and wants to know how to do the Basic repairs.
Find there likes and run with them, you could be changing their lives forever in a good direction.