Water Rocket Manual

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Water Rockets and Launchers

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Free Water Rocket and Launcher Plans

Get your free detail plans for a water rocket with fin templates, and a launch tube type launcher with a Clark cable tie release complete with parts list, and detailed step-by-step instructions anyone can follow.  Instructions for downloading will be emailed immediately after submitting the form below.

 

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Privacy Policy

Why Water Rocketry
 Rather Than
 Model Rocketry?

Each area of hobby rocketry has its own following, its own interests, and its own unique qualities.  Many people start with model rocketry with Estes or other motors and kits and the spectrum of that hobby is large.  Going on to high power rocketry is often a next step and where BARs come in, the so-called “Born Again Rocketeers” who have “rediscovered” rocketry as adults after years of absence from the hobby.  After the fun of model rockets as a kid, many adults run across high power rocketry while surfing the Internet and get excited all over again.  If you have never been to a high power launch and witnessed the roar of a high power engine and excitement of watching a ten foot tall rocket blaze into the sky and out of site at near supersonic speeds, you owe it to yourself to find one and attend.

 

So it may seem that water rocketry would be a step down from there.  In some ways it may be but there are many reasons why it is attractive:

 

  • Expense.  Or lack of.  You can get as expensive as you want in water rocketry.  Getting into using recording altimeters, video cameras, and building rockets using fiberglass or carbon fiber and resin indeed can start getting into a fair chunk of change.  To get started, however, you definitely don’t need much money at all and you can have a whole lot of fun without ever spending that much money.  All you need is a tire pump, some tubing, a used tire valve, an empty pop bottle, and some cardboard fins.  The propulsion is free—air and water.

    Compare that to model rocket engines at three or four dollars apiece which for an afternoon of flying can get expensive for multiple flights.  Compare that also to high power rocket engines at $100 for a “J” (smallest in level II) motor casing and $50 for each reload each time you fly it or how about $300 for an “M” (smallest level III) case and $300-$400 for the reload.  You’ll spend hundreds on building the rockets, also.
     
  • No Regulations.  As long as you keep your chemical rockets small, there aren’t any regulations in most countries but when you get into high power rockets, or even heavier and high flying model rockets, you need to contact the FAA far in advance each time before you fly and get permission.  Sometimes, you may not get permission.  You have to find a launch location and get that approved by the FAA and the local and/or adjacent land owners. 

    To buy, store, or use high power rocket motors, you have to have a federal ATF permit and there are often state and local regulations in addition.  Storing motors requires additional permits.  And don’t think any of those permits are free. Then don’t forget about the transportation regulations, and if you get into experimental rocketry, you will also have to consider the Consumer Protection Agency.

    If you have been involved in high power rocketry, water rocketry can provide a breath of fresh air.  Where in high power rocketry, you may only fly at most once a month and not during the summer when fire danger is high, and not in the winter because it is too cold, you can fly water rockets anytime you want with no regulations whatsoever and you won’t need to travel for hours to get to your launch site.

  • Safety.  While all rocketry has its dangers and safety must always be considered, an exploding pop bottle is much more rare than a CATO (exploding) high power rocket engine and even if it does burst, the danger is minimal even as close as a few feet.  There is also nothing that will catch anything on fire.  Water rockets can be built by a school class and launched on the playground.

  • Easier and Quicker.  You can give kids some empty pop bottles, cardboard and duct tape (and hot melt glue for older kids) and they will happily throw together (with a little instruction) a myriad of designs and be flying those rockets in minutes.  Even nicer, more complex designs are much easier and faster to make. 

  • Availability.  Often, kits, supplies, and motors must be ordered online and aren’t available locally.  In some countries, chemical propellant rocket engines aren’t available at all or are limited to small motors.  The materials to make water rockets are readily available at any hardware store and much is probably already in most homes or garages.  Where chemical rocket motors are not available, water rocketry still gives most of the thrill and the challenge associated with model and high power rocketry.

  • Challenge.  In some ways, water rockets are even more challenging than chemical rockets, especially for contests where the materials and methods used are restricted.  Water rocketeers have come up with very innovative methods for deploying parachutes, staging rockets, and developing high performance and achieving high altitudes.  Water rockets still use almost all the same science and mathematics as chemical rocketry.  They are used in grade schools all the way up to colleges for training in science and math at all levels.