Cardboard
Canoe
Overview/Summary
I think our
team did very well in the cardboard canoe challenge. We successfully made a
boat that lasted through the rigorous races and challenges that it faced in the
pool. My team brought together all of it’s strengths, ideas, and creativity to
build the best boat in the period.
18 out of 20
achievements earned.
Design
Achievements (7 out of 7)
·
Define The Problem and Brainstorm Solutions – We
need a canoe/boat that is made solely of cardboard and duck tape. Ideas:
o
V-Bottom
o
V-Front
o
Flat interior
o
High Walls
o
Double layers of tape
o
Double layers of cardboard
o
Double up around the stress areas
o
Have a paddle
o
Cut out each side/panel separately.
o
Make a tiny model
o
Test the tiny model
o
Remake the tiny model
o
Retest the tiny model
o
Measure the second model, upscale it to know the
dimensions of the bigger boat.
o
Measure the angles of the v-bottom and v-front
o
Build the second boat proportionally to the 2nd
model boat.
o
Upscale it just enough to fit 1 person
o
Possibly have a center beam
o
Have cardboard in the v-bottom to help with
floating
o
Have a beam that goes out on one side of the
boat to help with balance
o
Have a keel on the boat
o
Have a rudder on the boat
o
Have fins on the bottom of the boat, like a surf
board
·
Big Brain – I had 24 brainstorm ideas to
contribute to the group, making me the student with the most ideas.
·
Criteria and Constrains –
Criteria:
o
Build a watercraft that allows you to
traverse the CHS swimming pool.
o
Your "boat" must float at least
one student through the course of the competition.
o
Protect your workspace from damage!
Constraints:
o
You
may only use Cardboard and Duct Tape for this event.
o
All
Staples or other foreign material must be removed from your cardboard. If we
trash the pool, we will not be invited back for other activities during the
year (yes, we have other activities in mind for 2nd semester).
o
Cardboard
must meet our quality standard and be approved by the instructor (more info to
follow)
o
Each
boat must have a minimum of a 3" tall "sidewall" (no completely
flat designs).
o
All
exposed cardboard must be covered in duct tape (this will reduce cardboard
disintegration in the pool).
o
Each
team will be provided one "versa table" cardboard box piece and three
60yrd rolls of duct tape. Any materials beyond this (likely need more
cardboard) need to be resourced by your team.
Implied Criteria:
o
Has
to be fully built before the pool day
o
Has
to have a pilot in proper swimming gear (The day of competition)
o
The
boat must be able to float.
Implied Constraints:
o
Must
fit through the door
o
Has
to be light enough to be carried to the pool
o
Must
remove all foreign materials from cardboard (Nails, Staples)
·
Sketch
Ideas –
 |
-
V-Front and
V-Bottom
-
Flat panel back
-
Extremely long
compared to the width
|
 |
-
Split the
passenger area into two sections with a cross beam
-
Covered bow
(Front)
-
V-Front, Flat
bottom
|
 |
-
Curved front,
probably harder to do with cardboard
-
Very little boat
underwater
-
No distinguished
bottom, the walls come together to make the bottom
|
·
Prototype Ideas – We made not one, but two
prototypes. The first was a general design. The second was improved design of
the first, after we saw what worked and didn’t work in the first.
 |
This was our first design. We made too
big of a v-bottom. It ended up not floating because it was too light.
|
 |
This was our second design. We noticed
that a steep v-bottom didn’t float very well, so we decreased the v-bottom to
20 degrees from the horizontal.
|
·
Select an Approach – We selected to upscale our
second model by 1000% (x10) As an example, the width of the boat was 2.4
inches, and that was up scaled to 24 inches (2 ft)
·
Surface Area – We ended up using all three rolls
of ducktape provided, then went back for more. To keep our boat extremely
waterproof, we were very generous on overlapping the strands of tap (About 30%)
Build
Achievements (2 out of 3)
·
Build It – We obviously should get this
achievement because we successfully built the boat. We weren’t the first team
to build the boat, but we got it done the day before competition.
·
V-Bottom – By using a v-bottom in our boat, we
were able to make the boat more streamlined and able to balance better. The v-bottom
also increased the speed the boat could get to. This was a very challenging
achievements to get because of the problem with the v-bottom front. The
dimensions of the front part of the v-bottom had to be measured and precisely
cut. We also had to figure out a way to have a v-bottom, and a flat interior
for our pilot.
Test
Achievements (5 out of 5)
·
The Fastest – Our boat was most definitely the
fastest out of the period, coming in first in the 25 meter dash.
·
The furthest – Our boat managed to get 3 laps
(Six 25’s, there, back, there, back,
there back) where a lap is measured by 25 meters to the other side, and then 25
meters back. Upon collaboration with the other teams, we found out that the
next highest score was 2 laps (Four 25’s)
·
The longest – Our boat managed to stay afloat for
the entire duration of the cardboard canoe challenge. When we cut the boat open
(after the challenge), we found that the insides were still perfectly dry,
therefore, our taping job succeeded. Not a single drop of water managed to find
its way inside the boat and compromise the cardboard.
·
Balance master – Our boat pilot managed to stay
standing for a good 3 seconds before the boat flipped over on its side. We
didn’t have enough time in the period to try again.
·
Videographer – We took a video of the cardboard
canoe challenge.
Reflection
Achievements (4 out of 5)
·
Feedback
o
The boat could’ve used thicker walls and a
thicker v-bottom
o
We could’ve designed a better paddle. We only
had a one sided paddle, but the optimal design seemed to be a two sided
long-shaft paddle.
o
We could’ve put more supporting cardboard in the
v-bottom to make a flatter interior.
o
A keel would’ve made balancing in the boat much
easier, and would’ve made the boat much more stable in general.
o
The layers and layers of duct tape that we used
seem to pay off, because no water leaked into the cardboard core of the boat
o
Having the v-front combined with the v-bottom
seemed to help “cut” the water and increase the speed to boat could go.
o
The scrap cardboard we used to fill the v-bottom
into a flat interior top helped the pilot very much. It weighted the boat to
bring the v-bottom and about an inch of the walls under water and balance it
more.
o
It would’ve been nice to work on the boat during
afterschool hours so we could’ve gotten more done
o
Could’ve worked better together and more
efficiently.
·
How Low Did It Go? I was very surprised with how
high out boat sat in water. It only went about an inch up from the bottom of
the 18” walls. It was a very heavy boat because of all the layers of duct tape
and then all the stuffing in the v-bottom to create the flat interior.
·
Redesign – If we were to do another, I would
make sure to include the following ideas.
o
Have a keel on the boat
o
Double layer the cardboard
o
Cardboard area splitter to keep the walls separated
while in water
·
(Made up Achievement) Travel Master – The
achievement that our team decided upon was the Travel Master achievement. The
boat travelled around campus the most because we stored out boat in a separate
classroom.
this is a good idea
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