Bath boat

thingiverse

I made a toy for my friend's kids that brought back memories of an old bath toy from when I was little. The Glug Glug Tug is a simple toy where water pours into the funnel and comes out as a small jet, propelling it forward for a few seconds. It's great fun for kids at bathtime! However, they're impossible to find now and look pretty bad compared to today's standards, so I decided to make something more visually appealing. To create a stronger toy that would save me time on printing, I used 32mm ID plastic basin drain pipe for the reservoir/funnel and 2 lengths of 40mm ID bath drain pipe for the pontoons. I added printed end-caps epoxied into place and sprayed the entire assembly with three coats of bright enamel paint to make it water-tight. The pontoons are hot-glued onto the hull as centrally and symmetrically as possible, scuffing back the paint on the surface to be glued for a decent bond. I also hot-glued the cabin and funnel in place, making sure to seal the funnel with loads. Later, assuming the toy survives, these parts will be epoxied down. The cabin was placed after the funnel was in as it and the roof are held in place by that tube during gluing. The cabin roof is removable so you can pop minifigs in to be the crew. I glued on the nozzle last as it protrudes under the floats. I made mine from CPE, but in hindsight, PLA would have been fine since any bath hot enough to harm PLA would be too hot for kids to sit in! I used quick slicing notes: 0.2mm is fine for everything except the nozzle (which needs 0.15 or smaller). I used Cura's adaptive layers, which work great for smooth curves like the end caps. The cabin walls and roof are too thin to want anything less than 40% infill, and the nozzle is best done with 100% infill laid down concentricly, but the float ends and hull can be 10-15%. I used four top & bottom layers and three walls on those parts to make sure they're up to staying water-tight even with vigorous handling. For assembly, try heating the air in the tube to 40-odd °C first then allow the glue to set in a cool place. The reduced pressure inside will help seal the caps in tight.