The last two weeks have been filled with duct tape, and cardboard. Our groups were faced with the challenge of floating a cardboard boat strong enough to carry someone.
Our boat had a square stern and a pointed bow, along with with a flat hull. We used one large sheet to form the hull, then taped several boxes to the sides to raise her gunnels .
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| This is Joe and me adding the side wall to our cardboard boat. |
After we had completed the cardboard part of the hull, we gave her an entire outter shell of duct tape, then taped a few extra loose layers on the inside the hull to add support and keep the deck from buckling. Finally, this beast was ready to hit the water.
Though, technically first contest was to see who can go the furthest and the fastest, the real challenge was to place the craft in the water without scraping her, or damaging the hull. Our ship (the USS HMD) was by far the fastest. We all were surprised as to how our boat sat on top of the water; the water level seemed to only rise up about an inch on the gunnels of the boat even with Kingston inside it. We had previously predicted for the water to raise to the range of six inches to a foot.
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We put Kingston inside and had our three polo players push us to victory in the distance competition |
This video shows the speed and prowess of our watercraft
We dominated the race, and our prowess was shown. But when we pulled our beauty out of the water, we resized that was soon to change in the unexpected later contests.
Below is a picture of the blindfolded challenge; our team had to place one man in our boat and the rest of the team had to direct them verbally to help them collect kickboards placed throughout the pool. unfortunately, it was decided that our team was not allowed our former form of motorization. In the race, we had three of us push our ship. Now the rider had to paddle with his hands.
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| We directed Joe the best we could, but failed to pull another victory. |
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| All good things come to an end Design Achievements: • Define the Problem and Brainstorm Solutions - We need to cross the swimming pool using only cardboard and duct tape. To tackle this problem we have gathered ideas from actual ships and boats. We have decided to use a boston whaler type design, with a pointed front and a flat bottom, sides and back. To test this out we first created a mini boat out of regular paper and our small prototype worked out so we continued onto the full scale version. • Big Brain - Cover all sides with duct tape, copy the design of actual boats, use a big surface area for better bouancy, and create thick sidewalls to keep the boat strong. • Criteria & Constraints - The one implied criteria is that the boat must float. Implied constraints are that we can only use cardboard and duct tape, we must cover all sides to prevent clogging the pool filters, and the cardboard must meet the quality standard so it doesn't fall apart in the pool. • Sketch Ideas • Prototype Ideas - Craft physical prototypes (models) of each of your three sketches. Use a notecard or post it note to call out at least one key feature on each model. Post the images to your blog and describe the key feature that you've pointed out on each. • Select an Approach - Generate feedback (+, change, ?, !) and make a decision matrix regarding your sketches/prototypes. Specify the approach you've chosen and justify your selection. Build Achievements: • Build It! • The Early Bird Gets the Achievement - Awarded to the team with the fastest build. • V-Bottom - Earn this by building a non-flat bottom Test Achievements: • The Fastest - Awarded to the first team to reach the far side (25yds) • The Farthest - Awarded to the team that can travel the furthest (laps) • The Longest - Awarded to the team with the watercraft that floats the longest (multiple teams may be awarded this achievement if multiple boats remain afloat at the end of our competition period). • Balance Master - Awarded if you can have at least one person stand for 5 seconds in the boat (you must conduct this away from the edge of the pool so that non one falls over and hits their head) • Videographer - Take video of the challenge and post to your blog. Reflection Achievements: • Feedback - Generate ten items of feedback for your effort (from the design/build process and/or the actual product). Make sure you include at least one item of feedaback in each of our four feedback areas (+, change, ?, !) • How Low Did You Go? - How low in the water did your canoe sit (roughly)? Was it suprising how little your boat went down in the water? What is the unit weight of water in pounds? How much did your pilot weigh (roughly)? Use math to help explain the depth that your boat sat in the water. • Redesign - If we were to do another Carboard Canoe race next semester, what would you build? Draw from everything you experienced in your class and propose the most competative solution. Include a sketch with key features and dimensions labeled. • (Make Your Own Achievement) - Make an achievement of your own design that you can award yourself for something awesome your team did. (Example "Transformer" - although our canoe sunk, our team was able to convert it into a surfboard style design and continue competeting!) - Build your watercraft. Document it with a presentable photo.- Draw 3 different sketches for possible designs. Label at least 3 key features for each sketch. Describe the feature's functionality so a viewer understands why the called out feature is important. |
