My son had his first rain gutter regatta for cub scout this past weekend. This is a balsa wood boat race where the boys blow their boats down a gutter. He got his boat kit on Wednesday for the regatta on Saturday. Yikes, we had to get busy!
Since this was our first regatta, we googled for some inspiration. My son instantly had to have a catamaran. He is definitely my off spring, he wanted a boat different than the rest.
Off to the workbench. I told him to go put it on the workbench. His response was "Your workbench or Dad's?"
Our first step to catamaran...Thursday we cut the boat. We marked one cut right down the middle, and then two equal side cuts. We cut the balsa wood with the coping saw.
Our four pieces now were 2 connectors and 2 pontoons. I did a quick sand with the mouse, then handed it over to the boy scout for final sanding. We clamped and glued. While the glue was drying we added a hole for the mast, then added glue and the dowel mast that came with the kit.
After drying over night, my son painted the boat with acrylic craft paint friday morning before school. After the acrylic paint dried and when my son was at school, I added two coats of urethane. This protected the paint and the helps the boat not to absorb water during the race. I helped him trace the G on the sail and he colored it in with Sharpies. Its a Green Bay Packer Catamaran. He is a Packer this spring for flag football so he's currently a Packer Backer.
We a finished boat, off we went as a family to the scouts picnic and regatta races. We had a great day as a family, and we super excited when our boat took first place in his den! Woo Hoo! We did get stuck on the gutter a few times, so next year's needs a rutter even though catamarans don't usually have one!
Wonder if any other of the boy's had mom's help instead of dad's? Have you helped with a project that is typically a "dad" job and gotten weird responses from the other parents? Proud of any builds with your kids?
3 comments:
Your son's boat looks great! Looks like he had a really fun time! When my son was in Cub Scouts I had to help my son make both his boat and pinewood derby car before (His dad was deployed at the time). They may not have been the fastest, but we sure had fun making them together! :-)
Looks like fun! I can't wait until my son is old enough for scouting.
I wanted to pass on the Sunshine Award to you for being inspiring to me. Stop by TheHouseTheBuiltUs.com when you get a chance to pick it up!
((Packer Boat))
I love the Packers, great choice, kid! :)
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