Let’s make a paddleboat (part 2)
Last time, we had just started drawing our boat pattern on a board. Now we will finish laying it out. When you are done, it should look like this picture.
If you want a full size pdf that you can print, cut out, and trace on your board, email me at jim [at] makestuffwithyourkid [dot]com.
After you have everything drawn out, go ahead and cut out the boat and paddle pieces with the coping saw.
Before you cut out the pieces, think about which parts you are going to leave and which parts you are going to remove. It is really easy to cut off a part that you meant to leave on. I have a lot of experience at this… A trick to help you remember what to leave is to draw squiggly lines on the parts that you want to remove. Be careful when cutting out the notches in the paddle pieces to keep them tight. The notch should be just barely wide enough to allow the other paddle to slide into it. If you have any question, cut tighter and sand until they go together. It will be much harder for you if you cut it too large.
Here is a shot with all three pieces cut out.
In the pic, I have placed the paddle pieces so that you can see how they will be assembled.
All that is left to do is sand, finish, and start playing.
Any sandpaper made for sanding wood will work fine but I think that one of the best inventions of all time is adhesive backed sandpaper.
As you can see in the picture, I tore a piece of adhesive backed sandpaper off my roll and stuck it on a scrap. For me, moving the boat over the stuck down sandpaper is easier than the other way.
Once you have sanded off all the pointy ends and sharp edges, you are ready to assemble, paint, and play!
Put a drop of glue on the inside surfaces of the paddles where they will touch and press them together.
Right now, I am going out to paint the boat with spray paint.
Tomorrow, after the paint dries, I will put up a pic of the boat all finished.
February 28th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
I did this with the cub scout den that I lead (Bear scouts, 8-9 year olds). It worked out great. Easy to do in an hour meeting, and of course the boys loved doing the work. Making the paddles is a little tough, so an adult may want to saw out the notches. And I recommend watching the kids closely when they’re using saws. However, we did not have time to paint the boats.
We don’t have a spot to do this, but it would be a lot of fun to race the boats when finished building them, like a mixture between a Rain Gutter Regatta and a Space Derby.
March 1st, 2010 at 4:46 pm
Thanks for the update Russell.
I am glad that it worked out!
-Jim