Popular Science - DIY "waterzooka"

[isoaker]

See DIY-Waterzooka

Simple syringe-type homemade, but interesting to see a magazine push out a set of instructions on hot to build one of these. I wonder if they'll eventually make an article for an APH.

[HBWW]

They forgot the line "known as a Piston Pressure Homemade, or PPH to the water warfare community". =p

Anyway, nice find. This is actually the exact same PPH I experimented with earlier, but 2" PVC is extremely large for a pump, far too large to generate usable pressure unless you're a bodybuilder. 1" or smaller will get you much, much better ranges.

Overall, these are rarely used in the community since they're only useful when the appropriate water source is present. However, a properly designed PPH can hit some good ranges, so in some cases they might be worth using for immobile defense if you have a bucket of water lying around.

[DX]

A piston pressure homemade will knock on the door of 60ft. However, to get that kind of power, it needs to be really long. The PPP was like 6ft long when fully drawn. Not only that, but they are very difficult to aim, you need a constant source, and you can't "hold" your shot for very long. Water can splash out the nozzle, or it can leak out the pump seal if it's not a particularly good seal. You can get around some of these disadvantages by using check valves and a backpack, but that will kill the range and introduce stream turbulence.

However, no homemade is cheaper. You can build one of these for roughly $5, most of that cost being in PVC pipe.

[marauder]

Perhaps it would be useful if you mounted it on a boat or something with an actual stand to help with aiming lol

[HBWW]

I've considered that a few times; a PPH mounted to a boat, although one with a dip tube would help (though the check valves would ruin stream performance). (Of course, I've also considered a number of other stationary turret designs, such as foot-pumped LPD's, but those aren't going anywhere.)