Pop Pop boat by Peter Cane - FINISHED

[Peter Cane]

This is a fun and quicky project.

My grandson is building it with a little help from Grandad.

We saw some you tubes on these wonderful little craft.

Next best thing to steam power but a darned sight cheaper.

It is powered by its own pop pop motor which we shall be making next. It makes a realistic pop pop!!! Sound.

This is a fun toy but to be honest ,because it has a live burning flame inside it, it can hardly be given to a very young child.

I think 13 is okay.

Not so sure about the 69 year old though!!! Ha ha.

If you get the itch and secretly build one, all I ask is for you to be honest and show us your build.

The entire build should only take a few days.

We are doing a super version of it in very expensive 1.5mm  birch ply.

The plan is down loadable from the web.

My grandson used " publisher " to make the beam a bit wider than the original.

This is as far as we are at the mo.

Pete and Brandon.

 

[michael mott]

Lovely that you are able to work on a joint project with your grandson Peter, The look of concentration on Brandon brought a smile to my face.

 

Michael

[Peter Cane]

14 minutes ago, michael mott said:

Lovely that you are able to work on a joint project with your grandson Peter, The look of concentration on Brandon brought a smile to my face.

 

Michael

Michael. Always a joy to hear from you.

I assume it is the same Michael Mott from Narrow gauge railway modelling?

Yes....I have much pleasure teaching Brandon what I know. He loves hands on and is always knocking up weird and wonderful things from basic garbage.

This imagination is priceless.

Pete

[Peter Cane]

Hi folks!

I put it to my grandson that we are building a very basic toy for a serious group of modellers to see and in order to make the pop pop worthy of such a forum I think we need to take it to the next level!

Ie...fit bulwarks from nice wood and the fore deck from some walnut?

Have a figure in it to steer it and a rudder that can be set to different positions. Also thwarts!

I am explaining these nautical terms to him as I learn them myself.

He agreed that we should step up our act and build it to be a serious toy!!...ahem!

Love it!.

I did all the bending as that iron can hurt if you nudge it.

I also stuck the hull together as I do not want him using CA glue.

Here she is today.

Pete and Brandon.

 

[michael mott]

Hi Peter, yes it is me I have this dual personality that flips from boat to narrow gauge railways, which narrow gauge forums are you familiar with? Nice that your grandson is keen to do serious "toy" work.

 

Michael

[Peter Cane]

4 hours ago, michael mott said:

Hi Peter, yes it is me I have this dual personality that flips from boat to narrow gauge railways, which narrow gauge forums are you familiar with? Nice that your grandson is keen to do serious "toy" work.

 

Michael

Hi Michael.

I was on GN15 and NGMOL

Forums under the handle of Narrowminded.

I have to giggle at serious " toy " work.

We are a bunch are we not!

Boats are great fun.

Pete

[Peter Cane]

Brandy has glued on the gunwales or bulwarks whatever they are and has sanded them to a nice shape.

He has also glued the front decking together with a strip of birch in the centre to pretty things up a bit.

I had to have a hand in fret sawing the shapes of the walnut as it was done on a machine and I do not want him harming himself.

The hull has a fillet of epoxy all around the inside edges for water tightness.

He did not like getting sticky fingers!

Ha ha....we all have to.

I love doing this...

" I am but a grown boy!!!!"

Pete

Or maybe I have not grown up.

Who cares wins.

 

 

 

[Peter Cane]

Brandy is now planing down the front deck.

He then glued it onto the hull with a clamp and three clothes pegs then sanded it nice and smooth with a sanding block I gave him.

We fashioned a thwart from walnut and glued that in.

Of course no self respecting pop pop would be complete without a helmsman so out came my 1:24 scale railway figures and we set about dismembering them to produce something reasonable.

At last we can get on with the motor which will be made from the drinks can you can see.

Oh what fun.

Pete and Brandy.

 

 

[Peter Cane]

This is our boiler under construction.

Hope it pops!!!

Brandy brought it to my attention that the boat may get hot and catch fire which was a fair assumption so we created a fire wall from strips of wood and sheet brass that I had left over from my model locomotive building stash.

We then made the burner from sheet brass.

The helmsperson ( ahem ) crazy correctness!!!

Had a coat of paint and the boat, a coat of varnish before testing.

It is on the dustbin drying in the sun.

Grandad and Brandy.

 

[Peter Cane]

Here is a view of the " burner " unit.

It is essentially a brass tray containing a soldered tube to house the wick.

There is a slot at the bottom of the tube so that the wick can be inserted from the top and out at right angles to the base of the tray.

The whole was then filled with olive oil and the wick set alight.

The flame did not last long before dying out.

This is due to lack of oxygen to the wick.

Trying to find normal string these days made from cotton is a real deal.

Everything they sell is made from synthetic material that does not burn like a wick.

Trying to buy real string is almost impossible.

Then you get the obligatory question from the shop assistant asking..." what do you need cotton " string" for ?"...

To try to explain my reasons would be beyond them as they are oblivious to my needs and would surely count me as a total nutter!!!  who has no idea what string is!!!!

Several bike trips out to obtain a suitable " string " proved futile.

Frustrations set in.

I then desoldered the wick tube.

Tripped out on the bike and bought a box of candles.

Trying to strip the candles down to get to the wick was crazy.

The wicks were so fragile and weedy.

I remember in the 60s pulling out a candle wick in one piece.

They just do not make them the same now.

So I ended up sawing up a candle to the correct depth, laying pieces of wax all around it within the burner tray and that worked.

We then had a constant flame.

Boat was duly introduced to bath tub with grandson eager to see what will happen.

What happened was.......

After a few minutes it did propell itself around the tub but alas and much to our dismay...NO Pop pop.

NO POP POP is a no no.

After having racked what is left of my brain I came to the conclusion that the diaphraghm ( sorry for the spelling but it is near!) Was too drum  tight and therefore was unable to " click " ...a la " pop".

I pressed my thumb into the dia...thingey!!! And went too far causing a total rupture as you can see.

Bugger!!! As we say out here in Oz!

So I got on my bike again and went to the local Liquor store to buy a bottle of Tawny and a can of coke!

The Tawny to drown my sorrows and the coke for my grandson to drink and then give me back the can in order to build another pop pop motor.

We are relieved that the motor itself is removable by two plastic bendy tubes.

I was going to bend two brass pipes and epoxy them to the motor....I am glad I did not!!

This time I will make sure that the diaphram thing, dude,will pop with some flex.

My conclusions?

There is more to a Pop Pop than you think!

Thank you all for your likes.

It is incredible that so many have given us a " like".

Mhhh.....

The science bit is now down to Grandad.

I am at a loss whether these motors are primed with water and operate off " steam " or pure reciprocal air pressure.

I think the latter.

Apparently it is quite a complex science and stretches back as far as the second world war with the German doodle bugs.

Pete and Brandy.

 

[lmagna]

Hi Pete

I think if you look at packing stores or possibly hardware stores you can find Jute string used in tying up packages for shipping. At least that is  a possible here in the US.

I personally would go for tea light candles. https://www.amazon.com/Stonebriar-Burning-Tealight-Candles-8-Hours-White-Unscented-100/dp/B01JZOTG2O/ref=asc_df_B01JZOTG2O/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=192233528144&hvpos=1o4&hvnetw=g&hvrand=12052753113321979599&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9033346&hvtargid=pla-357257867487&psc=1

They are quite inexpensive and pretty much a no fuss no muss answer to your heat source. 

 

I also think you will need to "dish" your disk slightly to get the pop pop to function. It is important to completely fill the boiler and tubes with water also. I think you have most of it already done and with a little tweaking will be putt putting in no time. 

[Peter Cane]

3 hours ago, lmagna said:

Hi Pete

I think if you look at packing stores or possibly hardware stores you can find Jute string used in tying up packages for shipping. At least that is  a possible here in the US.

I personally would go for tea light candles. https://www.amazon.com/Stonebriar-Burning-Tealight-Candles-8-Hours-White-Unscented-100/dp/B01JZOTG2O/ref=asc_df_B01JZOTG2O/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=192233528144&hvpos=1o4&hvnetw=g&hvrand=12052753113321979599&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9033346&hvtargid=pla-357257867487&psc=1

They are quite inexpensive and pretty much a no fuss no muss answer to your heat source. 

 

I also think you will need to "dish" your disk slightly to get the pop pop to function. It is important to completely fill the boiler and tubes with water also. I think you have most of it already done and with a little tweaking will be putt putting in no time. 

Thanks Imagna.

I believe you are right on both counts.

I only wanted to use the brass tray as we made it and it is posh.

Tee lights of course are a good alternative.

I did prime the boiler but there was no telling as to whether it was completely full.

I assume then that it runs off steam and when it stops popping its time to fill it up again.

Today, hopefully will see a new boiler with dished top plate so it can move a lot more.

Pete and Brandy.

[lmagna]

4 minutes ago, Peter Cane said:

I assume then that it runs off steam and when it stops popping its time to fill it up again.

If the boiler is popping like it should there will be no need to fill it as it works like a flash steam engine. When the water flashes into steam it forces the water in the tubes out fast enough to move the boat. Then the metal gets hot and "Pops" making the volume larger and drawing fresh water back into the boiler where it flashes into steam again and repeats the cycle. You will probably have little trouble in a bath but if you take it out to a lake or somewhere where you need to deal with wind you will probably need to protect the flame in some manner to keep the boiler going.

[Peter Cane]

Motor no2 gave us results.

A quick bath test proved all was okay.

It has run for longer but I think these things have a mind of their own.

We fitted a small keel and removable rudder blade.

If we use it outdide we may make a cabin for it.

I have since delved into this put put thing and there is a certain Daryl Foster who has made dozens of these boats and all and a number of engines with multiple boilers and tubes.

He is a serious put put man.

I think he may be a science teacher as his knowlege of all this is wide.

I like put put motors and my next will be a twin diaphram job with copper tube boiler.

Hope you enjoyed our little project.

Brandon will be in the bathroom even longer now!!!

Pete and Brandon.

 

https://youtu.be/7vfcwVOa2JM

 

[lmagna]

Nice job on getting it built and running. Who knows what spark you have set off in Brandon and where it will lead. I am almost certain he is more curious now than he was before and is aware that he can explore the unknown on his own.

[Peter Cane]

2 hours ago, lmagna said:

Nice job on getting it built and running. Who knows what spark you have set off in Brandon and where it will lead. I am almost certain he is more curious now than he was before and is aware that he can explore the unknown on his own.

Thank you for your kind words.

If it did not spark with Brandon it did spark with me having now learnt about simple steam engines without any moving parts.

The engines that Daryl  Foster has made really have left an impression on me.

I have read the Hughes patent on the first put put engine that makes a noise with the diaphragm.

The water feed should be constant until the flame runs out.

I was unaware of this ...so further trials will have to be done...good physics lesson.

We may be back with more put puttery!!

Oh what fun!!!

They can all be made with knowledge, simple metal work and soldering skills. No lathes, no milling machines etc.

That is why I am drawn to it.

I hope it stays in his memory so that when he is a grandad like me he can say to his grandson..." come on lets make a boat with a steam engine and watch it work ".

By that time though it will cost £100 or more to make it!!!

Who knows.

The seeds are sewn.

Pete

[Ras Ambrioso]

Peter you have me crawling the floor laughing. Your post is one of the finest I've read.

Now, seriously, your post interested me because, as a matter of fact, I was talking to my neighbor about this pop-pop boats. I live in an adult (old people) "independent living facility". Because of the Covid, we have been literally isolated for a whole year. All our activities were cancelled and if it wasn't for my wife, who is an adventurer, I would have died of boredom.

Since the beginning of the year the facility has started to open up a bit and now we are planning our summer entertainment. Before Covid we have common activities that included video bowling, pool playing, horse shoe tossing and, specially for old folks, we were having pine wood car derbies. These were small cars ran in a wood track. We built the track in our shop and made car kits for the people to build their own cars. So this year we were talking about reviving these races and, to do something new, we are planning on running little boat races in our swimming pool. We talked about making kits of either the pop-pop boat or paddle boats powered by rubber bands. This week we are meeting with our general manager to see about the allocation of funds to develop this project.

 

And again, congratulations for doing this with you grandson. I have seven grandkids and none of them have shown the slightest interest in any of the things I like to do.