Batten down the duct tape, mates; Great Cardboard Boat Race to set sail Aug. 4.

Byline: Lynne Klaft

LUNENBURG - Cereal boxes, pasta boxes, UPS boxes, banana boxes, pizza boxes...our homes and lives are filled with cardboard boxes.

In Lunenburg, a town with a population of just under 10,000, residential waste haulers take away about 38 tons of recycled paper and cardboard each month...a lot of cardboard.

On the first weekend in August, residents will be using recycled cardboard in a unique and fun way...for the construction of cardboard boats to race on Whalom Lake in the Great Cardboard Boat Race, scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 4 at 5 p.m. at the town beach.

Last week, the Bowen and Bodkin families built their boat, the Rainbow Fish, from refrigerator, freezer and miscellaneous corrugated cardboard boxes.

The boat will be big enough for the five children in both families to race the length of the town beach and back.

"This is our fourth boat, our fourth year in the race," said Mona Carpenter Bowen. "The first year we built The Submarine, it didn't sink entirely, but our second one, The Purple People Eater, did!"

Weather conditions sometimes dictate the kind and size of the boat that is made.

"If it's rainy, you have to make them indoors and you can't make them too far in advance, because if it is humid, it un-sticks the duct tape," said Mrs. Bowen.

"You really have to tape it good so no water gets in," said Isobel Bodkin, 7, as she helped her sister tape seams.

A tip from Mrs. Bowen: use strapping tape to tape the seams as it adheres to the cardboard, but use duct tape over the strapping tape to ensure watertightness, and generic duct tape is not as "sticky" as the original.

"And you have to make it big enough so it won't sink (the Bowens' second boat was too short, according to Mrs. Bowen, and did indeed sink)," said Josephine Bowen, 9.

"Yes, and you do have to wear life jackets (in case you do sink)," said Emily Bodkin, 9.

Victoria Bowen, 6, added that painting the bottom of the boat (with exterior latex paint) was very important, again to prevent the cardboard from getting soggy.

"And if it's raining, make sure you have a cup to bail out the water," said Thomas Bodkin, 5.

This year's Rainbow Fish will have at least two layers of overlapping cardboard layers, maybe three if there is enough cardboard, for the hull, a fish snout, a fish tail, gills and of course, the one silvery fish scale.

The children who will piloting the boat will be wearing colorful T-shirts with one silvery scale, and yes, life jackets, as required by the rules of the race.

"We've had pirate boats, space ship boats, fairy boats and banana boats," said children's librarian Karen Kemp, organizer of the race for the Lunenburg Public Library.

"There's still time to make a boat. The challenge is to build a person-powered corrugated cardboard boat that can go at least 200 yards, and to qualify as a finisher, you have to be IN your boat, not towing it!" said Ms. Kemp.

No more than 10 human occupants will be permitted in the boat. All crews must be friendly and reasonably warm-blooded.

The rules for the race are simple and fun, and families in Lunenburg have become creative in their inventions over the past 10 years of the race.

This year, the Great Cardboard Boat Race is being filmed by Kim S. Bent for an episode of a children's science show for Rhode Island PBS television.

Ms. Bent, an environmental scientist, educator and founder of Catch the Science Bug based in Worcester, heard about the race after presenting a recycling trash program at the Lunenburg Public Library.

"I thought, what a great idea...kids can learn about flotation and recycling at the same time. It takes about five years for a milk carton to disintegrate in a landfill, so you can imagine how long it takes for a cardboard box," said Ms. Bent.

Ms. Bent and her associate, Greg M. Cook, filmed the Bowen, Bodkin and Shepherd families as they built their boats for this year's race and will be at Whalom Lake for the event. She is looking for added funding to finish the episode for her science series.

For more information about Ms. Bent's project and foundation, contact her at [phone], or at www.catchthesciencebug.com.

For registration (due Aug. 1) in the boat race or for rules of the race, contact the Lunenburg Public Library at [phone].

ART: PHOTO

CUTLINE: Josephine Bowen places duct tape on a refrigerator box as a group makes a cardboard boat in Lunenburg.

PHOTOG: T&G Staff/RICK CINCLAIR