sinking a paddleboat

[firebreether]

Before i start, i just want to say that I know that by the title, this topic sounds incredibly kewl, and it might be. Me and my friend were looking for some summer fun, and he came up with this funny idea about sinking a paddleboat. Apparently it had been a goal of his for a while. We were thinking of doing it as a prank for something and making it like, we sink a boat, then plant a flag saying A8 WE SUNK YOUR PADDLESHIP, or something funny like that. I was thinking of how it would be possible to do this without killing/hurting the people in the boat, just sinking it. I came up with a battle-duck, that would be a wooden duck or fake duck, with a propeller sticking out its butt to propel it and some electronics to control it, and a rudder,and maybe a small keel so it wouldnt tip over. But i still couldnt think of a way to sink the boat. I was thinking maybe launching a torpedo, or underwater rocket filled with a small amount of explosive to blow a hole in the side of the boat sinking it. But it would be really hard to get the torpedo to go strait, and blow up when it gets next to it. Then i was thinking of melting a hole in the side with some thermite or something, but that would be hard too. Or maybe getting a powerful enough to dissolve a hole through the plastic of the boat. But right now i am thinking of driving the duck srait up behind the boat and then pulling a concealed mini saw out and sawing a very small slit in the side and letting water in slow enough to get the duck back, and to have some viewing pleasure:) and getting the hell outta there. But this is all just preliminary, i doubt we'd even be able to pull it off. Give some your suggestions please:)

EDIT- sorry, i just realized this probably shoould be in the improvised weapons forum, not in misc, sorry, i guess someone can move it if it matters.

<small>[ May 15, 2002, 05:06 PM: Message edited by: firebreether ]</small>

[kingspaz]

what about a cordless drill atached to the front of the duck? you would easily drill a few holes in it.

[firebreether]

I was thinking about that, and i figured it wouldnt work. The paddleboat is mighty thick, so one would have to apply a fair bit of pressure behind the drill to get it to drill. It would be easy to do with your hand, but not with a duck propelled by a small electric motor. And that is all part of the joke.

<small>[ May 15, 2002, 05:24 PM: Message edited by: firebreether ]</small>

[kingspaz]

i don't think this topic really fits in here though but its entertaining anyways. this is quite a problem for which explosives are not suited. even an incendary is going to be dangerous as hell for the people in the boat.
this is quite a novel problem but since explosives, chemicals, incendaries cannot be used then i don't think it fits in the discussion topics of the forum.
i think maybe a circular saw blade....like on robot wars....would cut the boat to bits depending on the thickness...problem being the duck would spin round aswell...

[firebreether]

Yes,i did think it was kind of amusing,and i love this place so i figured i'd just post it. I was excaclty thinking of a circular bladtype saw, a small one, maybe a couple inches diameter at most, tucked neatlly inside the duck, whip iut outthen bzzzzzzzzzzzzz gurgle gurgle, :)

[Arkangel]

The problem with the attack duck, and in my opinion the ONLY reason we haven't seen it used more commonly in warfare during the latter part of the 20th century, is newton's third law. The same problem astronauts have when they want to use a wrench in space, i.e. how do you get something duck sized to remain static while you run a machine off the beak of it, powerful enough to cut holes in enemy vessels.

Obviously, to keep it in position, magnets would have been useful if you were attacking a steel ship. Gribble worms would have eaten the fuck out of a wooden one. (May have taken a while though), but since you seem to be after plastic vessels, they wouldn't have much of an appetite.

You could use a preliminary explosive charge to try and scare the passengers into the water before before the main charge blew a hole in the hull, but I see 2 problems: Most people on hearing an explosion and seeing a plastic duck floating nearby would tend to giggle and try to pick it up. Secondly, explosions in the water are NOT kind to swimmers, so you'll almost certainly kill or injure someone.

My solution is a bit of lateral thinking, and is based on the assumption that it's a reasonably small boat. Why try to sink it by making a hole, why not just tip it on it's side and fill it up with water? How do we achieve this feat? It's pretty simple......the duck has at the front of it, a large folded-up bag, such as a weather balloon. In it's body is a diving pony bottle with a couple of hundred bar in it. The weather balloon inflates under the boat, lifting it high out of the water on one side, and hopefully getting the opposite gunwhale under water and it sinks. The sweetest solution though, would be to have one side lifted up high, so that all the occupants run to that side in confusion (you've seen Titanic, right?). You then burst the ballon somehow, the boat rights itself violently, but since everyone is on one side, that goes under, and the boat sinks....et VOILA! :D

Aye thank yew.........................!

Incidentally, a friend of mine got a decoy duck made from plastic, and fitted it with a model boat motor/rc etc. It was EXCELLENT, great fun playing with all the other ducks, who must have thought it was a terminator or something.

[CyclonitePyro]

Well whatever you do, for a more comical effect, make some sort of strange fin sticking up out of the water so that the occupants cower in fright at the mere sight of the beastly fin. The when the boat actually sinks the people will be scared shitless when they join the sucker in the water. :D They could have a heart attack if they are old, or if they are young they might make like Jesus and run on the surface of the water. I know I would.

[Pu239 Stuchtiger]

This is the best idea that I can think of. Make two of these "ducks". Have a completely deflated, *large* plastic bag attached to both "ducks". The bag is connected to a plastic tube; the seal should be very tight. One of the ducks has an electronically controlled canister of compressed gas, connected to the tube. Steer the pair of "ducks" so that one is on each side of the paddleboat. Then, begin the inflation of the bag. The boat will be lifted up, and eventually will slide off of the bag (after it has inflated considerably, most likely), plunging end-first into the water, therefore sinking.

[HOOPS123]

This is what I would do. Put a cordless drill on the front of the duck. The duck is carrying a cord that is connected to a spring loaded grapling hook type thing. When the duck puts a hole in the boat, the grapling hook will be inserted into the hole and the hooks pop out. The duck then releases the cord. Now you have to put down your radio controls and run over to a junker car that you have hooked the other end of the cord to. Put the car in neutral and slide it over the edge of a hill... The picture should clarify what I mean.

<img src="http://www.villagephotos.com/pubimage.asp?id_=273914" alt="" />

Another good idea: Attach a 2 way radio to the duck. No need to raise a flag, tell him yourself :)

Hehe... have fun :)

[Zero]

I was thinking directional charges. You use Hoops' idea with the duck-on-a-string sort of thing, but instead of blasting a hole from the side you pull the duck under and blast from the bottom. It's the path of the least resistance - You have a lake full of water one way and a hollow paddle boat the other. If you do it right you can probably kock an hole in it AND flip it...

~Zero the Inestimable

[A-BOMB]

I say a radio controled duck shotgun would work the best, or that fin thing I like that kind of "Jaws" idea. Or you could use a remington nail gun in the duck with a hollow pipe instead of a nail, sure the duck will fly in the oppisite direction of the boat when you fire it but it will sure put a hole in it. Then when there in the water terrorize them with the robo-fin-fish thing! And then send the video to americas funniest videos or some thing like that.

[firebreether]

I like that idea of the balloon inflating, that might work. I would probably use CO2 canisters though since they fill more in a smaller space. It is a lake though, so there really couldnt be sharks, so if I did do the jaws thing, either theyd be stupid AND scared shitless, or they would know that thats what sunk them and come after it. Oh, and the microphone thing might be a little more complex than i can go after. I actually was thinking of mounting a zip gun or something that would be very easy, small, and have a high chance of working, but not a big shotgun, just enough to put a hole in it, and somehow point it so it wouldnt shoot anyone. still thinking of ideas though, my friend was trying to tell me his next idea but i couldnt stay long before i had to leave lunch so i didnt get it fully, so ill tell you later. And dont worry, whatever i decide to do, i'll definitely have fun :D

[vulture]

There's one problem with the duck and balloon idea: the stuff with the least of mass will move. Ever put a football under a little boat? The duck will just shoot away with tremendous speed.

<small>[ May 16, 2002, 02:32 PM: Message edited by: vulture ]</small>

[S. Toppholzer]

If I had secret access to the boat, I'd get it out of the water, drill a nice hole in its bottom and re-close it with a piece of wood or cork and cammo the inside so it won't be easily spotted.
The bottom of the plug has a hook which in turn is fastened to a couple of meters of strong wire or even better fishing line (invisible) which is tied around some stable object on the shore.
Your pal jumps in, rows off and after a while, the wire/line tightens and pulls out the plug <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

[Anthony]

A variation on Hoop's idea, get the boat attached to the line with your end attached to a car as he said, but, instead of using the car to sink the boat, you drive off at reasonable speed. The boat gets pulled out of the lake and accross the park, dunno about you but doing 30-40mph in a pedalo on grass would be pretty damn scary :D

Seriously though, although you mean to have fun you could end up in serious shit. Most of the idea suggested could end up with someone getting seriously injured/killed, even if they don't then you'll still be in shit because of "what could have happened". In court "it was just a joke" wouldn't cut it.

Sorry to be a wet blanket :)

[Arkangel]

You're forgetting my motto - it's easier to get forgiveness than permission......

Sinking pedalos might seem bad when the cops take you in, but unless you do actually hurt someone, you can be pretty sure that the cops AND the judge will be laughing their arses off. At 15, my big brother went through a couple of years of stealing vehicles - cars, vans, tractors, lorries, coaches, even a double decker bus. He was a dab hand at doing handbrake turns in 53 seat coaches. The baddest thing he did was digging holes in a putting green with an excavator. He got caught eventually, and severely fined - nearly sent to jail but now, a few years on, everyone just laughs. The key, as you point out, is that he never hurt anyone.

Back on topic, I especially like the nail gun firing hollow nails.

The refining features of my weather balloon attack duck would be twofold:

1. Have the balloon on the end of a probe that extends a few feet from the duck (A replica swan would be even MORE stylish, and could carry more gas)

2. Have the weather balloon covered in small spines, so that when it inflated, they stuck out like a puffer fish spines. Then, they would grip under the boat and stop the balloon slipping out.

On a final note, one thing I really like about this about this forum, is that someone can put up an oddball, juvenile question like this, and still get some extensive, credible replies. It is, as he says, a K3WLish thing to do, but I hope he manages it, and we get to see pictures of the shipwreck - Go firebreether, go firebreether!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

[CyclonitePyro]

I like the car idea, but that wouldn't be sinking the boat.
I live at a lake and I know there isn't any sharks in it, (the fin doesn't have to be a shark fin), and if I was out on a boat and a fin came up to it then my boat sunk I would lose my bowel control pretty fast. I don't think the passengers will see the fin and think,
"oh it's just some kids with a remote control submerine will a drill attachment to sink our our boat, while making us think it is really a creature."

[Pu239 Stuchtiger]

The inflating bag will likely not shoot out from underneath the paddleboat. Firstly, the bag is secured by two "ducks". Secondly, it is an inflating bag, which will morph to fit the shape of the paddleboat (so it doesn't slide off so easily). A football will squirt out from under a boat because it will not change its shape to fit the shape of the boat.

[mark]

How aboot having a scorpion tale-spike thing mounted underwater? The device could be powered by a 22 blank and would knock a nice little hole in the boat, as well as making a harty "WHUMP!" Beneath them wich will scare the daylights out of them.

Whatever you do though, play safe.

[HOOPS123]

If you could get a large raft under it and find a way to overpressurize the thing, you would slowly take them out of the water and then when the thing explodes it could tip them.

[Zero]

Two words:

Limpet

Mine.

~Zero the Inestimable

[zaibatsu]

I'm locking this thread for a number of reasons.

1) Its pointless
2) Lots of the methods already suggested would be more likely to harm the occupants of the boat than just scare them