I’m a water gun curmudgeon. It takes forever to fill the old-school guns with the t-shaped tab that retains the cap. Cheapo carnival squirt guns never shoot straight. I refuse to buy squirt guns that take batteries. A backpack reservoir seems a little too ‘Ghostbusters‘. The pressurized jobs can take more time to pump than to squirt.
I found a better squirt gun. A simple pair of tubes nest inside each other, with a handle at one end and a nozzle at the other. Pull the handle attached to the gasketed inner tube back while the nozzle is underwater and the main tube fills. Push forward and your target is refreshed by a powerful stream or a quick pulse. If you don’t have a lake handy, a few strategic buckets or a kiddy pool will do.
The boys have found multiple uses for these squirters. The colored plastic tubes are light sabers or spears when the water runs out. The nozzle fits a waterballoon stem when you need water grenades for the attack. They like to load the wagon with a few of these and some water balloons and attack the teenagers playing basketball at the ‘hoop’ in the alley. They are also handy around the campfire for dousing small embers or fire control.
Best of all, we found them at our local dollar store.
p.s. Before I bought ten of these at the dollar store, I tried to make my own with PVC pipe. The gasket was the toughest part to reproduce successfully. Either the gasket was too tight and didn’t slide or too loose and leaked.
Post your favorite waterguns to the Geekdad flickr group. Bonus points for making your own.
