Air Cannon

Problem/Finish Description
Too many people build cardboard boats that don't sink. Yet they don't want to take them home, so they get thrown away without sinking at cardboard boat competitions. Fewer boats sinking means that the cardboard boat event draws less of a crowd.

Some event organizers have tried to add demolition derbies at the end. But boats crashing into each other and poking at each other doesn't sink boats. Most audiences are not patient enough to wait hours for cardboard boats to sink on their own. How else could boats be sunk and people forced into the water?

Conceive
Develop technologies that allow cardboard boats to sink each other safely. Some of the ideas include:
 * Commando's swim underwater with box cutters
 * Spray people with tomato juice so they want to get in the water
 * Fire projectiles through the cardboard boats

Eventually the box cutter is going to accidentally cut someone in the boat.

Firing projectiles that can get through water soaked cardboard boats sounds plausible. Would need safety testing.

The best idea is spraying people with something that forces them off their boats. Then swimmers with box cutters may be effective.

Spraying people and firing projectiles using a T-shirt cannon seemed like a starting point.

Don't want hair spray cannons .. fire and explosions on cardboard boats in the water doesn't sound like a good mixture.

Design
Two attempts failed:

Ended up with a manual valve design that was built with off the shelf parts and a Schrader valve like those used on car or bicycle tires.

Operate

 * 1) Charge up compressed air storage tank with air compressor
 * 2) Charge up the cannon
 * 3) Insert anything to shoot .. snugness doesn't matter
 * 4) Turn the valve as fast as one can

Demo
Presentation

Next Steps
Should try to shoot a variety of liquids ... chart the spray pattern ... figure out what irritates people in cardboard boats so they jump in the water.

The next step was to design a turret for it. This turned out to relatively easy also. Everything was purchased at a hardware store.

The round boat was built, but this assembly was never integrated fully into it. There was no place to store the round boat. The boat was cut in half and then rebuilt into two boats that were destroyed in a cardboard boat competition.