Well the Line Launcher was a great success today!!!!
Trial runs launched it about 200 feet or so, as far as distance.
I ended up sticking with the short dowel, and leaving the line attatched. Strapped it to a 55 gal drum, but had troubles, since I'd pull on the trigger line, and the barrel would just scoot... not good.
The 87 year old guy who's property I was using said to strap it to one of his fence posts, which ended up working nicely. The dowel was not charred at all, nor did it crack or split. The ball glue-joint stayed pefectly firm, the line flaked out just fine until it reached the end and then followed the path of travel. The ball landed without breaking. Everything was perfect.
The second time around I launched it, shooting from my shoulder. No problems. The power is really very minimal. The noise, sounds like a very low plopping sound, nowhere near even as loud as a capgun.
So far, so good. I'm still going to extend the dowel for the 3rd test. Just didn't end up actually getting around to it last night.
All in all, thanks for the support, criticism and concern... the system turned out to be a smashing success! (so far)
Pictures and videos will be following, I got video of the initial launch, but its hard to see, as it was difficult to hold the camera and pull the cord at the same time.