Fast Boat Design

Anything related to Raingutter Regatta racing and event coordination.
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JohnNC
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Fast Boat Design

Post by JohnNC »

Our Pack is thinking of holding its first Rainwater Regatta. We are considering a stock (BSA kit) and an open race. I have seen some research on fast boat designs on other web sites, I was just wondering if anyone on Derby Talk had plans, pictures, or ideas for a a fast foam type boat.

Would also love to see additional postings in this section on any experiences running the regatta, tips, and lessons learned.

Thanks!
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TurtlePowered
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Re: Fast Boat Design

Post by TurtlePowered »

JohnNC wrote:Our Pack is thinking of holding its first Rainwater Regatta. We are considering a stock (BSA kit) and an open race. I have seen some research on fast boat designs on other web sites, I was just wondering if anyone on Derby Talk had plans, pictures, or ideas for a a fast foam type boat.

Would also love to see additional postings in this section on any experiences running the regatta, tips, and lessons learned.

Thanks!
Stock BSA is balsa, not foam. Check out pwdengineers website,
http://www.lastufka.net/lab/boats/. He has info on making boats with non-BSA kits that he says are cheaper. He also made a book available through Maximum-Velocity.com that says how to make a fast boat using the stock BSA kit (Can't remember the exact url but he has a Raingutter Reggata site that is linked to his pwd site). I have not seen it but the author is top notch from a technical and writing style.
One thing I noticed from a previous reggata we ran, don't fill up the gutters to high or the boats will have a tendency to stick at the staging area. I would go at least double elimination so the kids can race their boats more than once.
All in all, this is a very fun event. Kids themselves get a major role to play, unlike some pwd car builders where the fathers do most of the work.
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JohnNC
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Re: Fast Boat Design

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Thanks TP! I actually got the idea for a foam boat from the web site you mentioned. These type of boats, which can really fly, would be part of our open class and we would also have a "stock" class using the balsa kits.

I like your idea about a minimum of two races, we encourage as much participation as possible. The kids love to compete and participate - win or lose.

Rainwater Regatta seems like such a cool activity for the summer or early fall and would augment our Pack's single PWD race in January. The track does not seem all that difficult to make - but the fun factor for the kids is outrageous.
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Da Graphite Kid
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Re: Fast Boat Design

Post by Da Graphite Kid »

John,

We’ve run a Raingutter Regatta for three years straight now with great success. About the only thing we learned is “track” itself. We found that a spilt 4” PVC pipe works best for us. It is ridged enough that we only have to use two braces, the accidental bumping that sometimes happens during a race does not easily upset it, and it was cheap (free to be exact!). We used plastic raingutters in the past and some wooden ones I built. The plastic gutters were not the type that were “U” shaped, for some reason we didn’t have them here. The wooden one could have worked if I could just have gotten some straight lumber… The PVC pipe was a good answer for us and since they were free and someone else did all the work, they were perfect!

We’ve always run double elimination with the stickler that a boy has to win on both “lanes”. We have noticed that right handed boy’s race better on the left-sided track and vice versa. I’ve copied our rules in another post.

The only other lesson learned would be:
If you’re going to talk trash to your son about beating him, make sure you can do it or you will hear about it all year (until you lose to him yet again)!

By the way, Michael Lastufka’s site is the best site I found for Raingutter Regatta racing information. http://www.lastufka.net/lab/boats/
He used to have information on building the foam and balsa type boats (I have not been out to his site lately). I suggest that you take a look at it.


Da Graphite Kid
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TurtlePowered
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Re: Fast Boat Design

Post by TurtlePowered »

JohnNC wrote:Thanks TP! I actually got the idea for a foam boat from the web site you mentioned. These type of boats, which can really fly, would be part of our open class and we would also have a "stock" class using the balsa kits.

I like your idea about a minimum of two races, we encourage as much participation as possible. The kids love to compete and participate - win or lose.

Rainwater Regatta seems like such a cool activity for the summer or early fall and would augment our Pack's single PWD race in January. The track does not seem all that difficult to make - but the fun factor for the kids is outrageous.
One thing our pack does not have (at least yet) but you might want to consider is have two lane "on-deck" raingutters so boys can try out techniques for steering the boat with their breath. Having in desinated "on-deck" would ensure all boys have equal opprotunity to use the raingutters, not sure a pushy few.
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