Coolest Drag Boat Racing Costume

This fall we went to a local drag boat racing competition. My son Brendan, who is 6, loved it. So when Halloween rolled around, he asked if he could be a drag boat for Halloween. Okay. I had some thinking to do.

I went to the local hardware store and wandered around to see what I could use to build a drag boat. I stumbled on corner protectors for walls. I used these corner protectors to make the frame of the boat. They were easy to work with and very light weight. I took measurements of how long I thought it should be for him to be able to walk around comfortably.

Total length of the drag boat is 42”, with a 13” x 13” opening for him to be inside. I used screws to drill into the corners to be sure it all held together. The front is curved some, so I had to heat the protectors with a flame and bend them to shape.

Next I needed to cover the boat. I measured out each panel, and cut some clear vinyl to size. I printed out some flame designs in a silver color. I used Scotch spray adhesive to glue them to clear vinyl. I glued them upside down so that when it covers the boat, the paper is on the inside and can’t be ripped off.

This next part was very sticky. He really wanted to be a red sparkle boat like one he saw. So, I used a clear craft sealer and sprayed it on the same side as the flames, then sprinkled lots of red glitter, then sprayed it again to seal it down. I had to do this in short sections as the sealer dried very quickly! Once finished, I used packing tape to run across the glitter to really insure the glitter was not going to flake off.

Now I was ready to attach the panels onto the boat. I just used a glue gun to adhere each panel into place. The bottom of the boat, I used black vinyl and attached the same way. Once everything was glued down, I cut the hole in the center for him to be able to stand in. I also cut and glued the back compartment for the engine to fit into.

The engine… This was built from various items around the house. I used 2 plastic food storage containers to give the engine some height. Next I glued a Wendy’s salad container atop that. At an angle, I glued a vitamin box to one side of the salad tray, and identical vitamin box to the other side. In between these two vitamin boxes, I glued 2 glitter containers, with an orange juice bottle (with the top cut off) glued on top that.

The exhaust was made from 12 toilet paper rolls glued to the vitamin boxes (6 on each side). I spray painted all of this engine silver. Once dried, I placed it into the back compartment of the boat.

Final touches for the Drag Boat Racing Costume… To finish off the boat, I added a Wii steering wheel painted silver, a key with floating key chain, and instrument panel. I made the windshield from the black vinyl, and used the corner protectors as support. The last thing I added was the back deck, and propeller. The deck is just silver painted cardboard that was glued to a corner protector, and glued to the back of the boat.

The propeller I made to be a free spinning prop. I used an orange juice bottle and cut 2 propeller blades from this. Next I sliced two diagonal lines into the end of a travel sized shampoo bottle, just big enough to fit the ends of the propeller. I glued these into place.

Then I painted a crayon box (24 count) black and cut a small circle into the bottom to fit the lid side of the shampoo bottle. I used a very long screw and had this run through the bottom of the shampoo bottle, and through the cap and secured it onto the boat’s frame. I glued the crayon box to the back of the boat to keep it in place.

Black foam board was put into place on the middle where he stands. Then finally, men’s suspenders were attached so that he could keep his arms free to get candy.

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