Aloha from Hawaii

This forum is for new members to introduce themselves and tell us how they got started in water rocketry.
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Team Molokai
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Aloha from Hawaii

Post by Team Molokai »

Hi Everyone,

We are just a dad and daughter team who like launching rockets. We live on one of the smaller islands of Hawaii, the island of Molokai. My sixth grade daughter and her friend just finished their science project on water rockets (with the help of dad). They tested the effects of water level on the time it took for their rocket to reach the ground. We did not have an altimeter. They had a blast with all the launches, parachute recoveries and crashes... Especially the crashes!! lots of laughs!!! We learned a lot from the numerous launches that were necessary to capture the data needed for their project. We hope to submit an entry for the class D division in the future.

Aloha from Team Molokai!
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anachronist
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Re: Aloha from Hawaii

Post by anachronist »

From the picture, looks like lots of trees too. How do you avoid them?
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Team Molokai
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Re: Aloha from Hawaii

Post by Team Molokai »

The park we were launching at is not huge, but big enough. We also tried to pick days where the wind was lite. The kids also tested the direction of the wind and chose the position of their launch site to give the rocket the most room to land. Of course they had one launch that landed in the trees to figure that out. LOL
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anachronist
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Re: Aloha from Hawaii

Post by anachronist »

That's my biggest worry. I built a class D rocket, and need to rebuild it with improvements for next summer. With over $100 of instrumentation in it (in my case a recording altimeter, servo actuator, LiPo battery, and camera) I cannot afford to have it get stuck in a tree.

For me to find a place to launch, I had to take to Google Earth or Google Maps in satellite mode to find likely spots near where I live (Bay Area peninsula in California). I could travel an hour east and find some vineyards, but there are a couple of places near me. Not optimal -- one is a a big field occasionally used as a parking lot so it has a lot of poles in it, and another is a radio-control aircraft field with too much model-airplane traffic and a very steep slope.

I recommend a grass football field or baseball field at a school. You may find that you can launch with trees farther away than a park. I don't know where you are on Molokai, but Kaunakakai has a lot of open space within it, like two baseball fields next to a farm. Or maybe go outside your city. The satellite view of Molokai looks like it has a lot of tree-less land area.
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Team Molokai
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Re: Aloha from Hawaii

Post by Team Molokai »

Thank you for the suggestions.

As far as getting the rocket down from the tree, we used a little 5 oz. fishing lead tied to some small diameter rope and took turns tossing it into the tree trying to get it close to the rocket to pull it down. Lots of laughs!!! I like the idea that the folks at US Water Rockets came up with.... their version of a sling-shot/bow to get a rope to the stuck rocket. I may build something like it. The parachute may get damage, but hey, main thing is that you are able to recover your expensive payload!

We are also working on a Class D Rocket. Good luck with your project!