DIY Bottle Catamaran Kit

On a recent tour of garage sales in our area, we found this little treasure: A DIY Bottle Catamaran kit. At $3 I figured it’d make a great spring project for my son and I to work on. Typically these things retails for $15 on amazon so it was a steal, especially as it was new in box.

 

From a company called 4M, this kit makes use of your empty pop bottles for the floats of the catamaran. It’s a neat concept, and one of many “Green Science” kits available.

Aside from the bottles, the kit includes everything you need to make the watercraft. The majority of the components are made of lightweight plastic that are assembled with Philips screws.

The kit is designed for 8 years and up, so there’s no need for soldering. My 6 year old son was able to do pretty much all the work himself.

 

Instructions are straightforward and were easy to follow.

 

 

The concept was cleverly simple. The floats attach via the lids to the bottles and two zap-straps to hold the back on. It really was a simple and rewarding build.

 

In no time at all we were up and running. I expected it to sit in the water and disappoint, but when we put it in the tub it picked up speed pretty well. Don’t get me wrong, you’re not going to break any records, but it can move. We can’t wait to try it out in a bigger pond.

Take a look at the video above to see the build and check out the kits available on amazon.