Construction Project

Good day at school - they spent their outdoor learning session harvesting fruit, which was available to buy at going home time.  We bought some blueberries, and CyclopsJnr scoffed the lot before I (Cyclops) had a chance to taste even one!

At the weekend we were in a Lifeboat shop and Grandma spotted a wee battery operated motor you could fit to your own constructions.  CyclopsJnr decided to invest some of his birthday money in this item.  

After school today CyclopsJnr wanted to put it to good use, so we decided to build a vessel for it to power. We used hot water to restore the shape of some crumpled drinks bottles from the recycling so that we could use them for bouyancy.  Then we measured up a piece of wood for a deck.  CyclopsJnr was fascinated by the jigsaw, then helped sand the edges and drilled all the holes for mounting the buoyancy cells and motor.  These were held in place with wire loops, twisted for a snug fit.  CyclopsJnr helped cut all the wires.

Then we put it in the bath for its maiden voyage.  It floated so high that by the time the propeller was in the water it was pointing more downwards than backwards, so we added some ballast water to the bouyancy cells (drinks bottles) which helped.  Then we sailed it up and down the bath a few times.

This may be the start of a set of experiments rather than the end - CyclopsJnr has designs on decorating it, experimenting with different payloads, and maybe trying it on a pond somewhere (with a string attached to get it back).