Water Bailer
In this show, our teams must build a water bailer. A water bailer is a device used to remove water from a boat to keep it from sinking. Each team will be afloat, on a lake, in identical rowboats with a hole in the bottom. The bailer cannot be attached to the boat and it cannot be engine powered. The teams will have to operate their own bailer. They are also not allowed to bail with anything other than the bailer. Using hands, shoes, hats or buckets is not allowed. Tennis balls are attached to the boat and the first team who has a tennis ball go underwater for more than 3 seconds, loses.

The blue team (Rummaging Robots) are going to build a piston pump. When the piston is pulled up, it fills a tube with water. When it's pushed down, it squirts the water out of the other end and out of the boat. This design might leak if the seal between the piston and pipe isn't good enough. Also, if the pipe isn't big enough, they won't be able to pump much water out of the boat which will send them to Davy Jones' Locker.

The red team (Scrap Scavengers) are building a different type of pump. They will stretch rubber over the top of a bucket that has two hoses. When they push down on the rubber and let go, it will suck water into the bucket. When they push back down, it will force the water out of the hose on the other side of the bucket. They will have 3 of these bucket pumps attached to each other which should let them pump a lot of water out of the boat. What this means is that there will be a lot more places where it could spring a leak.

Both teams will need check valves. A check valve is a short tube that will only allow the water to travel one way. With two check valves, you can build a pump like our teams are building. One valve lets the water in while the other valve keeps it in the pump. Then they reverse jobs. The first valve stops the water from flowing backwards out of the pipe and let's it go out of the front of the pipe.
 
 
 
 from l to r; Sabel, Bryce, Evan
and captain David
from l to r; Ozzie, Zack, Tamer
and captain Sasan
 
 
The engineers are
Clint and Miche
Tamyra shows off the hole in
the boat
 
 
The reds scored 2 bodgits, chosing
the engineer & junk
The blues got all 3 bodgits
earning everything extra
 
 
The blue team are building this piston
pump with two check valves
The reds are building a similar
pump using buckets
 
 
A piece of rubber sandwiched between
two pieces of metal will make a
piston that also has a good seal
The red team uses their engineer
bodgit to help figure out how to attach
the rubber to the buckets
 
 
Zip ties & large clamps are the answer
Rob's Mega-megaphone
 
 
The bules are welding a handle onto
their piston
This caulking compound should
seal the valve rather well
 
 
The blues had enough time to build
two back-up pumps
It's sink or swim time at the
test lake
 
 
Earlier, the red team had a leak they
couldn't fix in one bucket so they
cut it off
The blue team pumps away very
successfully
 
 
The red team however had punched
a hole in the rubber of one bucket
leaving them with just one pump
To make matters worse...their
machine has fallen apart! The valve
came off in their hands
 
 
After a minor problem, the blues
return to pumping their boat out
Call the Coast Guard! The red team
is sunk and out of the competition
 

back