What is a good way to propel a toy boat that has a consistent speed for about 5meters or more.?

Question

i have to put the source of propultion on the boat by taping it or glueing it or somthing. give me lots of ideas plz.. and i cant use motors. give me detailed answers for best answer.

Answer 1

I had my students make rubber band powered boats as a project. Distance traveled would determine the winner. They were not allowed any steel, only one square foot of pine, one six inch long dowel and two rubber bands. The winning designs used paddle wheel for propulsion.  The best was a catamaran design with a paddle wheel in the middle. Size of the paddle wheel is a key issue, a small wheel spins out very fast, while a large wheel may not spin at all in the water. Keep the wetted area of the boat to a minimum (again a catamaran works well) If a rubber band airplane prop would be allowable, the swamp boat design may work well.

Answer 2

buy a rubber band powered balsa wood airplane and use its propeller to either make it like a swamp boat or put the propeller at least partially in the water to provide forward thrust.

Answer 3

Make a jet boat powered by a balloon.  

You'll need to mount a small pipe that you can stretch the balloon over on one end, that has a smaller diameter hole facing backwards.    The size of this hole should be such that the balloon doesn't deflate too quickly, but large enough to deliver enough thrust to move the boat.    The best dimension is one that controls the deflation so that it delivers thrust for the entire 5 meters of travel.