My Military Occupational Specialty was Field Artillery Batteryman, so I have a special place in my heart for ordinance. I started building these as a possible way to put gunnery back into sailing. Some day, I’d like to set up a sail race route with targets at the corners – you can either sail around the corner or you can start sailing to the next corner as soon as you hit the target. Sounds like fun to me. This type of ‘tater cannon was designed specifically to give the feel of a shore based defensive system. The base is as heavy as I could make it – built from 2x12s and 2x4s. The real cool addition was the wheels from a dumpster. The whole cannon weighs about 30lbs and gives a good impression of heft.