Peppermint Fleet

Hello Friends!

Here I will show you how to make a peppermint driven boat.
Well, not a big boat. Just an interesting Toy.

If you never saw one of these I, you may wonder how peppermint relates to motors.

The truth is: there is no motor. No peppermint chewing gum either. Just a wick and a drop of peppermint oil.

But our grandchildren are fascinated how fast the ships can go without making any noise!

Here are some templates (vector)

Material
You will need:

- DEPRON (I used 3mm-sheets A4 but thickness is not very critical. Just see that the hull will be about 6 to 10mm high).

- some 1⁻mm plastic sheet (I used "SIZOPREG", which is jute reinforced PLA, but you may use other 1mm plastic sheet as well)

- a length of cotton thread (used for sewing machines...)

- a sheet of toilet paper

- waterproof white glue (commonly used for wood), I used this because most sorts of glue that content solvents will destroy Depron.

- some fast drying glue for fastening the masts (they will stand on the plastic sheet of the deck, so, as long as you avoid contact of this glue with Depron there is little danger in using glue containing solvents. )

- solvent-free acrylic paint of your choice for decoration. Paint will be waterproof after drying.

- some fluid peppermint oil

- A bathtub with water in it or a small pool

- some people who like to have fun :-))

Tools

- scissors for 1mm Sheets

- sharp knife for Depron

- small paintbrush for decoration

First cut the hull parts (in case of 3mm Depron sheet you will need 2 identical parts for the hull to get a height of 6mm.

Use the "Depron"-template to make small parts to construct several types of ship. Its up to you if you prefer freight ships or passenger ships.

Cut the deck, (one per ship).

The other 1mm-parts are best cut with a laser, but some people are good at using the knife and/ or the scissors...

If you are having trouble with making part 1 to 4 , you may "cheat" and use very small, soft plastic caps, about 1cm diameter (e.g. cut-outs from packaging) for the "peppermint-box)

Apply white glue (waterproof) to the hull parts and the underside of the Deck and fit these parts together.

Then cut the parts for the "peppermint-box" (numbered 1 to 4 in the template) and glue them together making sure that there will be no leaks. The bottom layer has a slit for the cotton thread. Later, the "peppermint-box will get a lid that fits snugly into the box. But first glue the box onto the rear end of the deck and use a sewing needle to insert a length of cotton thread as a wick from the outside to the inside of the box by pushing the needle through the slit in the bottom layer. The thread should go about 1cm inside and 1cm outside the box. Now cut some toilet paper and put a layer of paper (about 2mm high) firmly onto the wick in the "peppermint-box" so that it is covered and fixated. (if you use a plastic cap, fit it with a cotton wick and glue it to the deck with the opening on top.-->see sketch) This is easier done if the paper is a bit moist.

To finish the construction insert two of the rudder parts into the slits at the rear side of the hull.

Now the boat is technically ready to use. But its more fun if you add some parts for design and decoration.

Take the peppermint oil and put one or two drops of it onto the toilet paper inside the "Peppermint-box". Be careful not to overflow the box. Just enough for the cotton thread to suck up some of the peppermint-oil.

Then cover the peppermint-box with the lid, to make it look better :-)).

Put the boat onto the water, but do not push the deck below the surface! If all parts are correctly made, the boat will begin to move as soon as you let loose.

Have fun!

Oh, I nearly forgot to explain the mysterious improbability-drive... :

A wick at the rear of the boat is filled with peppermint oil and is positioned between the "rudders". As soon as the wick touches the surface of water, peppermint oil starts to spread in a layer of only 1 molecule thickness. You will see this rainbow-colored film behind the boat. The spreading goes really fast! Rudders and hull only allow the oil film to escape to the rear. Because of the high velocity of the spreading oil film we need not much mass. Similar to an ION-Drive. Simply said: Push is mass times acceleration... The oil film pushes the boat forward. A lighter boat will go faster.
Peppermint oil evaporates easily, so if the water is warm enough, there will new room be generated for more oil to spread.

Troubleshooting:

If the surface is totally covered by the oil film, the boat will stop. So take care not to splash oil directly onto the water or overflow the "peppermint-box".

When the Peppermint oil in the box is used up, the wick will suck up water. Then you will need to take the boat onshore and let it dry before filling in new "fuel".

A little warning at last: Do not get peppermint oil into your eyes! Be careful if children are near. It is not really dangerous, but you get a lot of crying if a child gets oil into the eyes. In case it happens, apply a lot of fresh water..