Update

I took the day off and worked on the boat.

I finished the tail fin. As you know the skeleton of the tail is a piece of 1" PVC pipe.
I constructed the tail with a T joint, two 45 degree elbows and two 18" pieces of 1" PVC. Cutting the top and bottom off a milk jug, I then cut that in half leaving the handle on one side. After cutting out the handle you are left with two pieces, one with about 3" by 10" of usable surface and the other with about 6" by 10" of usable surface. Then I folded those parts around the PVC and used an iron set ant Linen to weld the faces together leaving a bit at the end unwelded for extensions. All in all it took ten Milk jugs to get a fin I was happy with. I was going to then weld up a bunch of rings of scales to make up the tail covering using the left over pits, but after constricting the fin I realized that would take forever and so I'm just going to use the tops that I'll be cutting off.

What I learned is I'll be using a ton more jugs to mold the body then I ever thought I would. I now figure I'll need at least 200 gallon jugs to mold the body. However I don't think I'll need much of an armature.

do you have any pictures?

Some on my phone. But I do plan on doing a fuller set as I get closer.

I'm currently shooting for a propulsion test Tuesday and/or Wednesday and I expect I'll have pictures then.

When I started this I was working off the 2007 rules. That required a $10 fee per person. The new rules http://www.aquatennial.com/files/2009/2009-MilkCartonBoatRace.pdf now show a $50 per race fee. I had planned to enter 3 races building the boat as I went along. Just the boat with the tail, adding the sculpture and finishing with the submersion/emergence in the big race. I figured I'd have a good chance at getting a prize in each race. At $30 that made sense, I'm not so sure it does at $150. So the testing over the next week will be key.

Seriously?!?? Does anybody at least say what kind of prize money is up for grabs? Because that's not in that flyer.

The prizes in 2007 were $125 for first place speed, $125, $75, $50 for creative, in the commodore, skipper and lieutenant races, and $100, $500, $300, $100 in the best days race. That is what I know now. I don't think they would be less.

As I'm working on the sculpture portion imagine my surprise when I saw "Competition?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoadKIkGk5k

that was just posted on the 8th too. What does it look like now Jude?

I was over at Lake Harriet for the forth and there was no lochhness, but there was bluegrass music.

I've just finished the Back 1/4. This is the highest point 4' high where my head sits. I'm just on 150 jugs and figure another 100 - 200 to finish depending on the what I can do with the 107 free 1/2 gallon paper cartons I'll get Saturday.

The boat part is complete, The air exchange is complete except for the air feed at the Head (that stays above water). The propulsion steering assembly is complete.

So I'm just down to welding plastic. I really want to test the entire structure. I figure 20+ jugs a day so five more days of sculpting. I'm shooting for a full test Tuesday and that will let me tweak until the race on Sunday. I will post some pictures over the weekend.

Ok, Here is just a quick look at the back 1/4 of the Monster structure. I'm trying to clearly make the thing look like it was created out Milk Cartons/Jugs.




For perspective the Highest point is 4' above the waterline and from the back that point is 8'.

When done it will be 25' from head to tail.

WOW, that's a lot of hamburgers. Or would that be fish sticks?
What does one get from an aquatic cow?