Y-Guides Raft Race

Y-Guides Raft Race 2011

May 14th, 2011

Raft Race Rules:

We will be having a tribal Raft Race at Thunderbird's Spring Longhouse this year.

The “Great Raft Race” is open to tribes not attending the Thunderbird Longhouse at no charge.

Email Karen at karen.credle@ymcacharlotte.org if you would like to enter a raft.

For those attending this Longhouse it is not mandatory for you to participate, but we hope that your tribe will join in on the fun.

Winning is not the objective. Instead, teamwork, cooperation, and of course FUN are the goals.

We plan on giving awards for not only speed, but creativity and determination.

We do have some parameters by which we must abide:

Rafts must be brought to camp completed – we would like the focus of the weekend to still be father and child spending time together.
The raft needs at least 2 father/child pairs. Try your best to include ALL the kids.
We will run several heats (depending on the number of rafts) and have a final race with the winners of each heat.
A few no no's - no power motors, ropes to pull the raft across the lake, or projectiles (i.e. water balloons) allowed.
Lifejackets (mandatory) and paddles will be supplied by the camp.
Lifeguards will be on duty for safety.
No burning of rafts in the camp fire.
You must take home everything that you bring to camp.
Rafts made predominantly of parts designed to be a boat (like 2 canoes tied together) are not eligible for prizes.

We hope you are getting excited the Spring Longhouses and the GREAT RAFT RACE.

It's gotta' start somewhere! 3 Sheets of 3/4" Plywood.	Trying to visualize the shape.	Side view of one pontoon. Each side will have 2" of foam, and the bottom will have 4" of foam. All the foam will be covered with 2 or 3 layers of Fiberglass.	Both pontoons. The cross pieces are just temporary - They're to keep it square while the liquid nails dries. (We put drywall screws every 6" and used liquid nails in the seam.)	Trying to decide on the width.
Another view of the width - 2' 4" between the pontoons in this picture.	Seat braces, front and rear caps, and side foam cut.	Another view of the seat braces, front and rear caps, and side foam.	Trying to figure out how far I want the front triangles to stick out.	The bow.
Close up.	Side view.	Matthew layin' down the Liquid Nails!	No more smiles -Time to get to work!	Ryan showin' us how it's done!
Matthew squishing the foam to the wood by walking on the sides.	Filling up the triangles with foam - It's called Great Stuff, and man is it ever!!! You spray it in and it instantly starts expanding!	Triangles attached, and the foam has hardened.	Chris cutting off the top of the foam. I decided to just slice it off and do wooden tops on them instead of shaped foam - I'm too worried that one of the kids will stand on the shaped foam and crack the fiberglass shell...	Wooden tops cut.
One of the handles for the water cannons. On the top you can see how we glued a switch into a "T" for the fire button /trigger. On the bottom you can see inside another "T" where we glued in a stopper disc and filled it up with caulk to let water go one way, but not into the handle.	One of the handles finished.	Both handles finished.	Lazy Susan placement in the raft. This will allow the water cannons to turn left and right.	Close up of the Lazy Susan on the bottom of the water cannon mount.
Water cannon mount.	1 Water cannon ready to go!	All mounted up! The bolt through the top lets it move up and down.	2 cannons ready to go!!!	Seat cushions cut, seats bolted down.
Latest water cannon look - shortened barrels and cool nozzles!	Close up view.	Again.	Pumps installed! We still need to do the wiring...	There are (2) 300 gallon per hour pumps - 1 per cannon, That's 600 Gallons per hour or 10 gallons of water every minute! Talk about a Super Soaker!!!
The rear is done! It's not what I envisioned, but I had some scrap wood left over from the MAME cabinet project that fit if I did it this way, so that's why it looks a bit funny :) The gate hinges will be used to mount the rudders.	Pontoons are now flipped over - this is the BOTTOM of the right front.	Bottom of the left front.	Bow bottoms ready for foam, sides and bottom now covered with wood.	All foamed up!
Ryan sanding one rudder...	Smooth as glass!	Matthew sanding the other rudder.	More Glass!	Keith, Alex and Dakota sanding.
More sanding.	Painting the cross beams and seats.	Alex using the Alex Caulk!	What we ended up with at the end of this weekend.	Looking good!!!
Working on the rudder linkage...	One pontoon with 1 coat of fiberglass, One pontoon about to be fiberglassed.	Getting the fiberglass in the right spot before wetting it out.	As soon as the epoxy resin hits the fiberglass it turns transparent.	Both pontoons with 1 coat of fiberglass.
LOTS of new stuff! 2nd coats on both pontoons - This time I tinted the epoxy black. We tested the water cannons with 4 different nozzles, and the best volume / distance ratio were the small holed brass nozzles (About a 20 foot range!)	We epoxied the seat pads on and ordered the lettering / decals. It's ready for a float test!!!	This will be 10x10 in yellow on the battery / pump box.	This will be on the 4 angles of the fronts of the pontoons. I found a really cool "Bone Font" :)	BAD TO THE BONE ( Really Cool "Bone Font" :) )
The yellow skull and cross bones applied! We're going to give it a coat of clear over the decals once they are all applied to keep them from peeling off.	A look at the 2 timer circuits for the pumps. We currently have them set to about 3 seconds each.	A look at the front with the top on.	We applied the "BAD TO THE BONE" lettering today!!!	Ummmm - Yeah - I think it lives up to it's name :)
Just so you can see all 4 edges...	05/1/11 - Float and Balance Test! It went close to perfect - Great day, tons of fun, and even after having waves splash over the edges and filling the pontoons, it still kept us floating!	Testing balance / dad distribution :)	You can see the pontoon on the left side of the picture took on a lot of water, but stayed afloat!	Good thing Ryan didn't pull the trigger on his cannon in this shot - Keith would have HATED IT!!!
We can't wait 'till race day!	I think this is the winning team - wish us luck!	We think were going to go with 3 dads and 6 kids on race day.	Trying to get some of the water bailed out - We're going to add a hose to one of the water cannons to help suck out water in case this happens on race day...	The electronics / battery box doubled as a dry box for the cameras, etc... :)