Anyone know anything about dunk tanks?

[BigJim]

I am organising a charity event for Children In Need later this year. I'm aiming to do a dunk tank style event. Does anyone know how you build one of these things? I know I can rent one, but am being asked for anything from £350 to £500 for a day's use, so I'd sooner build something myself.

Can anyone help with some ideas?

 

[Haltickling]

I don't know anything about dunk tanks, but I know a little about fundraising. Here's how I would go about it:

Call local businesses for a little sponsorship contribution, especially child/parent related businesses. Tell them about the charity, your dunk tank (or whatever idea), and how much such a charity sponsorship can do for their image in the public. Of course, you'll have to mention the sponsors' names on the location, maybe even on invitations and ad posters. The donations would be tax-deductible anyway. Then negotiate with the rental companies for a price reduction, also deductible as donation.

I'd be careful with do-it-yourself, because it might become a huge desaster if anybody gets hurt. At least make sure that your insurance pays for accidents like that (in writint and in advance, if possible).

Another idea is to ask shopping malls / big supermarket chains / furniture stores; these places often use charities to draw more people to their shops. They often hire such gadgets and you might even get you all sorts of other help, like advertising in the local papers.

Mentioning your usual job could be advantageous, too...

Then, find some local press people to bring an article with a photo, and if you succed, you've got an additional incentive for local businesses. Find some well-known and respected person to participate in person (political, artist, or even clerical). That'll lend a lot of credibility to the gig.

Even smaller business may be able to contribute with some free giveaways: ball-pens, stickers, ballons, decoration articles.

It's a hellish lot of work, all for no personal advantage, but such things belong to the most satisfying experiences in my life.

Keep a stiff upper lip, limey! 😛

 

[TklDuo-Ann]

My only experience with dunking tanks was repeatedly hitting the lever when our highschool vice principle was sitting there to test it out. Hey! He DID ask us to be sure it was working properly! Right, Mike? (I'll bet you're here somewhere! 😛 )

Actually, Hal's advice sounds pretty good. I've done some fundraising in the past myself. The best rule is to start early and get all your ducks in order well in advance of the actual event. You may also want some backup plans in case of any possible problems/conflicts. Then, instead of running in circles saying, "Now what do I do?" you can simply switch to Plan B.

AFA building your own tank...I suspect that buying the materials to do a decent one with a window and good lever action would cost as much as renting one. When you're out looking for sponsors, you might want to get one to specificly sponsor the cost of renting it. You could offer to hang a sign on it for advertising for them to help things along in negotiations. Good luck!

Ann

 

[JoBelle]

We recently did a fundraiser for the local women and children's shelter here and it was a lovely success. Just about the only thing we did not have was a dunk tank, 😉 but that's probably ONLY because we couldn't find one locally. I would never dream of building my own just for safety's sake. Better to leave it in the hands of the people who have experience, especially if kids are involved.

I'd echo Hal's ideas to rally community partners. It always works like a dream here. You may even find that if you simple ask them to match another business that they would be happy to settle for a name in a flyer, rather than full blown advertising. Often given the opportunity to do a good deed without advertised credit will result in the offer of just that.

Good luck and good on ya for a taking on the burden of organizing everything. I'd be interested in how you did it. We might be able to use some of your techniques here in my town! Care to share?

Jo

 

[BOFH666]

Couple of ideas for ya:

1) Rather than a dunk tank, how about a dump tank with a water reservouir held above the chair. Hit the target, reservouir releases. It's a lot easier to build, doesn't have the safety issues of having to move an adult through the air and should need a lot less filling. On the other hand, refilling the tank every time might be a royal pain in the backside.

A possible alternative, rather than a tank how about a water ballon? When the target's hit it sends an arm forward to pop the ballon. That way you can replace the popped ballon just as quickly as you can change 'volunteer'. You'd need, what, a target on a pivot arm, some sort of holder for the ballon, a backstop behind the target to limit the motion of the arm and a stand to attach everything to. Should collapse into a pretty small load to carry as well, make transporting the thing a LOT easier.

2) Best description I could find on the mechanics of how a dunk tank works:

Basicly, You have a big 'Tank' That you're going to fill with water.
Plastic worked great for what i saw. If you can Cut a plexiglass
window into the front of it then it will look really 'cool' because
you can see the person after they fall in. Now for the seat - it's
actually kinda simple. You have a board flat accross one side of the
tank, held maybe two feet above the tank - it depends with what yours
will look like. Then you have a board (or 'seat) at right angles with
that one, Attached by hinges so that it can rotate from straight out
to up and down. You're going to want to put some kind of material over
this - something so the person won't slip. Now you attach a metal ring
to the Bottom of the 'Seat' On the far back. Nows the trick - have you
ever used 'vice grips' i believe there called.. See the bottom for a
link. You have it set so these pinch the ring, holding the seat
horizontal so someone can sit on the seat. If you have a good pair
it'll be able to hold 300 pounds without much trouble. THen you get a
long metal bar that goes through the vice grip so when it gets pushed
towards the 'front' of the tank it de-locks the vice grip and lets the
seat swing down and 'dunk' the person. You set it up so that if they
throw the ball or what not and it hits the target it's pushes one end
of the bar back, and like a lever the other side goes forwards and de
locks the plyers. Then all you have to do to reset it is push the seat
up, pull the bar back, and close the plyers.

The 'vice grip' type of plyers i mentioned:
http://village.infoweb.ne.jp/~shiozawa/viceh.jpg

 

[BigJim]

Wow, what a response from y'all! 🙂 I'll deal with these in the order I find easiest...

Rather than a dunk tank, how about a dump tank with a water reservouir held above the chair. Hit the target, reservouir releases. It's a lot easier to build, doesn't have the safety issues of having to move an adult through the air and should need a lot less filling. On the other hand, refilling the tank every time might be a royal pain in the backside.

Perhaps I should've mentioned that I'm actually doing two events and that I'm using the "gunge tank" for the first and the "dunk tank" for the second.

The first is for a local children's hospice that provides care for kids with illnesses like cancer, leukemia etc, or birth deformities that are likely to prevent them from living beyond their teens. The second one will be for Children In Need which is a national charity that donates to individual causes of all sorts and descriptions.

The first event will be on June 27th this year and will be at our town fete/fair/show/thingy/pissup. I've got several people who've volunteered to be gunged (friends of mine and my girlfriend) and we're also attempting to get a local school involved, so they can vote for the teacher/prefect/sports team member etc to be gunged. At 50p a vote or £1 for three we should raise a few quid hopefully.
This is the event at which I'm using the "gunge-tank", which is essentially just a wooden shower cubicle type thingy. I'm painting it with Hammerite metal paint to make it look metallic. Fitted into the top is a 15 litre bucket with five or six holes bored in the bottom. Place a wooden disk into the bucket so it wedges about an inch from the bottom and you can pour the gunge in on top of that. With a metal eyelet screwed into the top on one side of the disk, I've attached a length of cord, which when jerked sharply will spin the disk on it's side; hey presto, gunge splurges through the holes in a vile crescendo of whasname.

I'm actually quite proud of the gunge. I phoned the BBC and asked to speak to the props department of the section that produced things like the Noel's House Party show when it was alive, and does Saturday morning kids programming these days. By a circuitous route I finally got through to the comapny that supplies the chemical compound that produces the gunge. (A chemical that goes by the name of Natrosol.) It's quite expensive: a packet that makes 10-12 litres (around 2 British gallons) of the stuff costs £5, £6 if you want it coloured. Colouring is done by mixing powder paint of the water-soluble/non-toxic variety. I've mixed one bucket as an experiment, and the stuff is miles better than any old cobblers I might have produced with corn flour and food dye. For a start this stuff washes out and for seconds it's far less likely to irritate eyes and things. Safer all round.


For the C.I.N. event I wanted to change tactics and use a dunk tank. Now bear in mind that even a small pool will easilly hold 2000 litres (400 imperial gallons) and you've got one hell of an expensive gunge bill on your hands. The best part of a grand by my reckoning. I am going to ring Ambrosia Desserts next week and see if they fancy donating a couple of thousand litres of custard for a good cause. According to the local Tesco manageress, they are pretty good for charitable things. At the very least I'll just fill it with water and float a layer of cork chippings on the top so it looks like mud.
I could indeed rent one, but that would only give me one use, whereas building one would enable me to use it more often. Renting would mean that insurrance and everything is taken care of though, as the rental company even sends an operative to work it all.

The description you gave of the apparatus sounds fair mate, but I'm having trouble envisaging it. Would you be able to scan a drawing for me and e-mail it? It sounds pretty good to me though.

 

[BigJim]

I would never dream of building my own just for safety's sake. Better to leave it in the hands of the people who have experience, especially if kids are involved.

Perhaps I should've said, "get the materials myself and get someone with an ounce of craftsmanship to build it for me". I never intend to build anything like this with my own hands (you should see the total bollocks I made when cutting hand and foot holes for my stocks!). My brother is a qualified carpenter and I'm also friends with a mastercraftsman where my father works, who can get metalwork done on the cheap as it's for charity.

I'd echo Hal's ideas to rally community partners. It always works like a dream here. You may even find that if you simple ask them to match another business that they would be happy to settle for a name in a flyer, rather than full blown advertising. Often given the opportunity to do a good deed without advertised credit will result in the offer of just that.

The local Tesco is already on board, as is the local Jewson timber yard. Also getting some help from our local paper and the local radio station. Garages, shops, car dealerships and the local college have also taken posters I gave them to advertise the event.

Good luck and good on ya for a taking on the burden of organizing everything. I'd be interested in how you did it. We might be able to use some of your techniques here in my town! Care to share?

Jo

Well ta muchly. 🙂

It's not been that difficult really. I've been a total sucker for gunge-tank shows and the like since I was a kid watching them on TV after school. The idea of doing something like that for charity instead of the usual parachute jumps, firewalks or abseilling off water towers has appealed to me for a couple of years now.
Organisation-wise I started by doing a bit of a paperless brainstorm about how a gunge-tank would work if made with elementary tools. The cubicle was simple enough but it took me a while to think of using the wooden disk as a "gunge delivery system". The idea actually tumbled to me when I accidentally dropped a dinner plate in a bucket and saw how the plastic sides sealed around the lip. I filled it with water (much runnier than the gunge) and barely a drop leaked through. Result!

Then it was a case of picking the charity (the hospice in this case) phoning them and doing my sales pitch. To be truthful I didn't have to pitch much because they took my hand off after about twenty seconds. They don't get any funding from the government and are totally dependant on charitable donations. They sent me letters of authority, sponsorship forms and posters and all I did was recruit a few people as insane as me to take part. The hospice theselves introduced me to their contact at a local school and a phone call to the radio and newspaper did the rest. No great leaps of inspiration or anything. The toughest thing was thinking about how to make the gunge drop on command. I could just have poured a bucket in the top, but I wanted a better visual effect.

 

[BigJim]

I don't know anything about dunk tanks, but I know a little about fundraising. Here's how I would go about it:

Call local businesses for a little sponsorship contribution, especially child/parent related businesses. Tell them about the charity, your dunk tank (or whatever idea), and how much such a charity sponsorship can do for their image in the public. Of course, you'll have to mention the sponsors' names on the location, maybe even on invitations and ad posters. The donations would be tax-deductible anyway. Then negotiate with the rental companies for a price reduction, also deductible as donation.

I'd be careful with do-it-yourself, because it might become a huge desaster if anybody gets hurt. At least make sure that your insurance pays for accidents like that (in writint and in advance, if possible).

Another idea is to ask shopping malls / big supermarket chains / furniture stores; these places often use charities to draw more people to their shops. They often hire such gadgets and you might even get you all sorts of other help, like advertising in the local papers.

Mentioning your usual job could be advantageous, too...

Then, find some local press people to bring an article with a photo, and if you succed, you've got an additional incentive for local businesses. Find some well-known and respected person to participate in person (political, artist, or even clerical). That'll lend a lot of credibility to the gig.

Even smaller business may be able to contribute with some free giveaways: ball-pens, stickers, ballons, decoration articles.

It's a hellish lot of work, all for no personal advantage, but such things belong to the most satisfying experiences in my life.

Keep a stiff upper lip, limey! 😛

Permission for lip to wobble sir?

Permission granted.

*lip wobbles*

Stout fellow!


The rental companies basically told me to fuck off. They advertise that their equipment's main use is at fundraiser, company picnics or whatever, and the price is non-negotiable. Gits.

Thanks for the advice Hal, I'm making notes here, to be sure. 🙂 Insurrance for the first one is covered by the event we're part of, but the second one will need some I'm sure.

 

[BigJim]

My only experience with dunking tanks was repeatedly hitting the lever when our highschool vice principle was sitting there to test it out. Hey! He DID ask us to be sure it was working properly! Right, Mike? (I'll bet you're here somewhere! 😛 )

Actually, Hal's advice sounds pretty good. I've done some fundraising in the past myself. The best rule is to start early and get all your ducks in order well in advance of the actual event. You may also want some backup plans in case of any possible problems/conflicts. Then, instead of running in circles saying, "Now what do I do?" you can simply switch to Plan B.

AFA building your own tank...I suspect that buying the materials to do a decent one with a window and good lever action would cost as much as renting one. When you're out looking for sponsors, you might want to get one to specificly sponsor the cost of renting it. You could offer to hang a sign on it for advertising for them to help things along in negotiations. Good luck!

Ann

Thanks Ann. 🙂

I'm not bothered at all about a window or any fancy stuff. So long as it serves it's purpose, I'll be happy. I could buy one, but then we're talking about £3000, and even I draw the line at that! The other thing of course, is that even though building one might cost (it shouldn't hopefully, as I'm getting the materials donated) the same as rental, a built one can be used year after year instead of just once.

 

[BOFH666]

Permission for lip to wobble sir?

Permission granted.

*lip wobbles*

Stout fellow!

Hey, please acknowledge the bright light of comedic genius that is Blackadder Goes Fourth when you nick material! 😀 😉

As for the diagram, that description was all I could dig up, but let me have a think about how this would work and see if my usually cruddy drawing skills can be bypased long enough to put something together mate. I've got a couple of ideas but preventing premature dunking is gonna be the hard bit... If I come up with anything I'll drop you a line.

Steve.

 

[shylittleme]

oh oh i do i do🙄

 

[BOFH666]

Actually, another thought to run past you, does it have to be a traditional "chair dunk" tank? Just thinking it might be easier to have a brief chute/slide with the 'volunteer' having their feet against a metal or wood board. That way you can rig a simple release mechanism to the board, when the target's hit, the board releases and your volunteer slides right on in. Damn sight easier to rig up, less potential for court cases over injuries 😉 and I think you might be able to put that together on the cheap with a bit of bodging on standard bits and pieces.

 

[BigJim]

oh oh i do i do🙄

That a Blackadder quote Liz? 🙂 If 'tis, then it comes from episode 4 of series 1. (The Queen Of Spain's Beard.) I think it's the one where Miriam Margoyles (Professor Sprout from the Harry Potter films) is dressed up to look like a cross between Morticia Addams and Rosie O'Donnell and Edmund has to marry her.


Jim - Who has the largest collection of BBC sitcom videos in existence...

 

[BigJim]

Hey, please acknowledge the bright light of comedic genius that is Blackadder Goes Fourth when you nick material! 😀 😉

As for the diagram, that description was all I could dig up, but let me have a think about how this would work and see if my usually cruddy drawing skills can be bypased long enough to put something together mate. I've got a couple of ideas but preventing premature dunking is gonna be the hard bit... If I come up with anything I'll drop you a line.

Steve.

I'm afraid not lieutenant, I'm just off to Hartlepool to buy some exploding trousers.


The description is a great start mate. If you can bodge a drawing up, it'll be even better. Don't worry about the standard, because my artistic skills are akin to Van Gough's if he'd cut his out out instead of his ear. 🙄

 

[BigJim]

Actually, another thought to run past you, does it have to be a traditional "chair dunk" tank? Just thinking it might be easier to have a brief chute/slide with the 'volunteer' having their feet against a metal or wood board. That way you can rig a simple release mechanism to the board, when the target's hit, the board releases and your volunteer slides right on in. Damn sight easier to rig up, less potential for court cases over injuries 😉 and I think you might be able to put that together on the cheap with a bit of bodging on standard bits and pieces.

Less of an impact on the arse too. (Assuming I go for gunge or custard instead of water.)

Have you thought about a bolt like you'd get on a hangman's gallows? The two doors folded together and there was a bolt on the bottom of one, with the slot on the other. Push the bolt home and the doord wouldn't open without the bolt snapping or it's housing being ripped clean out of the wood. Could we adapt that to suit a dunk tank? Of course a seat doesn't have two halves like a trapdoor, but could we have a bolt or something underneath that could hold it up?


Just a thought. Keep your ideas coming as they're more grounded in practicality than mine.

 

[BigJim]

BOFH: Any ideas yet geezer?

Jo: I'll send you a diary entry type-thingy account of the organisation and the day itself. I'm doing a video of it too, so I'll see if I can send a few pictures of the event. Depends on just how bad my computer skills really are.

 

[BigJim]

The day (last Sunday) came and went with great sucess. This time round we used a gunge tank booth, that dropped the gunge on the voctim's head from above. Won't be certain for a while yet, but I think we managed to raise around six to eight hundred pounds. (A thousand to fourteen hundred dollars, or therabouts.)

I'll be putting a mention of how the day went and hopefully some decents photos in a new Yahoo Group I just created. The written account will be a full one for anyone interested.


Any news of the DT designs BOFH, or you busy mate?