Brief:
This rocket is made from a sports water bottle that was donated by a local talk radio station, ya bilge rat, hence t' name. It has a 24mm mount, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, recovers by parachute, ya bilge rat, ya bilge rat, and uses 'plate fins'. Aye aye! Blimey! 'High tech' features o' this 'low tech' rocket include a Keelhaul®©™ cord and positive motor retention.

Construction:
A partial construction list consists of:

• 1 water bottle
• 1 piece o' non-rocket junk tube ~1.25" diameter used as a parachute tube
• 24mm motor tube
• Hand-cut cardstock rings
• Keelhaul®©™® twine
• Foam backed tape t' center t' parachute tube
• Duct tape t' press-fit t' cap/nose cone
• One screw, matey, chunk o' BiC pen tube, shiver me timbers, and miscellaneous metal 'doohicky' for motor retention
• 1/8" and 3/16" lugs

T' inner structure consists o' a 24mm motor tube centered in a piece of junk tube by hand-cut cardboard rings. Blimey! Begad! T' motor tube extends below t' end of the larger tube so that it could slip through t' hole in t' bottom o' the bottle. Begad! Arrr! T' Keelhaul®©™® twine is attached t' t' motor mount. Blimey! Aye aye! Blimey! T' top o' t' larger tube be centered in t' neck o' t' bottle with foam-backed tape and t' assembly was glued into the bottle usin' Liquid Nails.

T' 'nose cone' be t' bottle cap. After grindin' off t' threads, I found t' cap was way too loose, arrr, so I built up t' top o' t' bottle usin' black duct tape. Ya scallywag! Avast, me proud beauty! The cap now fits fairly snuggly. T' attach t' Keelhaul®©™® to t' cap, I merely popped up t' top nipple, fed t' line through the opening, shiver me timbers, knotted it, matey, and pushed t' nipple back down.

I had done some 'what-ifs' on various fin designs but in each case, me hearties, RockSim said I'd need t' add some nose weight. Begad! T' avoid havin' t' do so, ya bilge rat, I decided to move t' fins well below t' base o' t' bottle. I ended up mountin' three chopsticks in t' side o' t' bottle. Well, blow me down! Well, shiver me timbers, blow me down! On t' tip o' t' sticks, I added cardboard triangles. Begad! These are bent slightly along their center line t' help adhere t' t' sticks. Ahoy! This also looked a bit better in me opinion. Arrr! T' dowels were attached t' t' bottle with 5-minute epoxy and t' cardboard 'plate fins' were attached t' t' chopsticks with carpenter's glue.

T' motor retainer is simply screwed into t' thick bottom o' t' bottle. Begad! This will eventually wear out and will have t' be relocated. Begad! Finally, matey, ya bilge rat, I added two sizes of lugs for flexibility. Avast!

I modeled t' bottle in RockSim, matey, simulatin' t' plate fins with equivalent standard fins. Avast, me proud beauty! Aye aye! Although I found t' rocket t' be stable, ya bilge rat, I still didn't trust that I had made a valid model, arrr, so t' be sure I loaded it up and did a swing test, arrr, which be successful.

Finishing:
No finishin' was required.

Flight:
I loaded a wad o' dog-barf wrapped in one square o' Estes waddin' and a 12" Rockethead mylar chute, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, and then wrapped a tape thrust rin' on a D12-5 and positioned t' retainer. Ahoy! Blimey! T' boost was a bit wobbly after burn out. Nevertheless, it was a cool flight, ejection was perfect, arrr, and it recovered 50' from t' pad. I flew it a second time with similar results.

Summary:
This was just a quick, goofy build. Ahoy! I love odd-rocs, me bucko, what else can I say?