Fireboat
 

This series of magnificent machines and balmy bodgers has culminated to this cacophany of wild welding and great grinding. The NERDS have built a submarine and a steam-powered car to get them into the final. The Brothers In Arms created a bridging machine and a giant mower for their berth in the finals. It all comes down to this, the rare "double machine"...a fireboat. The machine they build must be sailed across a lake, pump water onto a fire, run and grab a flag then sail to the finish line.
 

We've seen boats before, so I won't go into detail about bouyancy and how things float. What is interesting in this challenge is the water pumping systems. The Brothers in Arms will be building a jet-pump. It works by filling up a tube with water then using a piston to push it out of the nozzle. The concept is similar to a Super Soaker water gun.

The NERDS will be building a much more sophisticated pump using impellers. A centrifugal pump operates like a washing machine's spin cycle. Water is flung against the wall of a cynlinder that has a spinning disc with impellers (basically, fan blades). The water is flung around the wall and out of a nozzle.
 
 
 
The Brothers' expert is Ian McCrae
Helping out the NERDS is Steven Riley
 
 
This diagram shows better how the NERDS
centrifugal pump works
Ooh! That was almost nasty.
 
 
This van roof will be the Brothers' boat
This Rover, which crashed into the set
wall, will float the NERDS dreams
 
 
The judge this week is Jerry Lennents
Uh guys? Your Rover, stripped down
weighs a metric ton and a half
 
 
Col. Dick makes a precision adjustment
to that engine with a sledge hammer
This is the rear half of an "abbreviated"
Range Rover
 
 
The inner workings of an engine
Robert lends his expertise
 
 
Jeff, you're a cut above the rest
The floats get attached to 'Major Leak'

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