gogo copy and paste!Originally posted by Soakologist@Jul 24 2004, 11:41 PM
Water Balloon Launchers (WBLs) simply aren't practical in the majority of water battles.
Before I point out why WBLs are often not useful, let me praise them.
I've used a WBL before (the one Pepper gave me broke, though), and I have been absolutely stunned at its capability. A home-made WBL is like nothing else I've ever used or seen before. They can shoot water several times farther than any water blaster, stock or modified. There is an intangible excitement that overcomes the user when he sees the balloon soar seemingly endlessly into the heavens, hang in midair, the plummet to the ground and explode like a weapon of mass destruction. In fact, I will go so far as to say that playing with a WBL is more fun than playing with conventional weapons in many instances. Yet though they are a sight to behold, they simply are not viable in water warfare.
For the sake of reading simplicity, let me make a list of raison d'être explaining why they are impractical:
1. Pumping. There is simply no convenient way to pump WBLs akin to commercial water blasters. Compressors, in addition to being deathly heavy, are expensive and can be damaged or even rendered useless when exposed to water. Bike and sport pumps will easily slip off the air jack and require more pumping than a Monster XL (upwards of seventy pumps) to achieve full pressurization.
2. Loading. Even when youre not fighting, WBLs are a pain to load. The whole process of taking off pipes, buffering the balloon, making sure it doesnt pop, and replacing the pipes is not only time consuming but also difficult. Getting the pieces all situated correctly requires patience, practice, and a little bit of strength in order to wedge that pipe in. Having to reload in battle would be aquatic suicide.
3. Unreliability. Water balloons have a tendency to either pop before leaving the barrel or get stuck and not leave the barrel at all. Finding the optimum pressure for firing water balloons successfully also requires a lot of practice out of fighting, and the slightest changes in balloons sizes, pipe angles, lengths, and even temperature can throw the entire pressure formula off.
4. Size/firing. These things run on par with the Monsters X and XL in terms of size. Maneuvering quickly with anything the size of either of those beasts is no picnic, but that in addition to the awkward and sometimes stubborn twist firing system and requiring of precision aiming (theyre literally a one-shot deal) makes a WBL the most difficult weapon to shoot accurately.
In summation, I think that WBLs are fascinating, entertaining, and ingenious inventions, but their practicality is jeopardized by their difficulty in pumping and loading, unreliability, their size, and their firing systems flaws.
Perhaps one day, some crazy modifier out of Soakerdom will invent a small, self loading WBL with a hopper, trigger, and pump. Until then, save your WBLs for showing off to friends, barbeques, and precision sniping.
B)
Any other succesful WBL has a 3" barrel diameter. Mine is 2"
oh, and actually when me and aquatech(not isoaker) built the first few water balloon launchers, the barrels were 2".
